The comic above is from my favorite cartoonist Pithless Thoughts. As he says, it is a reprint of a “classic” and classic it is. During this period of Lent, we are called to examine ourselves and to stop deluding ourselves. And it is so easy for me to do that. Every year most Orthodox parishes hold a Lenten retreat sometime during Great Lent. At that retreat we will hear classic Orthodox thoughts. It may be the Philokalia. It may be the Ladder of Ascent. We might be intrigued by the latest writings of Metropolitan Kallistos or hear about Schmemann’s theology. And, I can come out of one of those retreats with my heart beating and excited about what I have heard.
But, then I have to put it into action. There is where I fail. When the old time pilgrims went on pilgrimage, they often went fasting and praying. The journey was often difficult and time-consuming. At the holy places, they would stop and pray. They would meditate, and use the whole time of the journey as an opportunity to change their lives, so that by the time that they returned home they might have some expectation of change. In fact, even back when, it seems as though the closer the place of pilgrimage was to the pilgrim’s home, the more likely that the pilgrim would either behave like a tourist or go to the pilgrimage site expecting a quick miracle or a quick change. For a pilgrimage to be successful, it appears that both time and circumstances (fasting, type of lodging, etc.) have a part in the process.
But here, all I have to do is to get into my car and drive to the church that is hosting the Lenten retreat. And, I spend maybe 24 hours there, much less if the retreat is close to home and I can drive back and sleep in my own bed. This would be true of many parish retreats. It is all too easy for me to look at that time as being a time in which I have made the decision to come closer to God and to let him work upon me. Yes, there is much truth to that. And yet, sometimes I have this niggling feeling in my mind that what I have really done is tried to fake God out by spending a few easy hours sitting in a comfortable chair, listening to a hired speaker who is to call me to spirituality, while tickling my ears with thoughts of how spiritual I am for having given up what amounts to less than an entire day.
I suspect that I would have to be very careful if I ever visit the Holy Land, Russia, Mount Athos, Greece, etc. Would I like to? Oh yes, I would so wish to go to those places! I know that I want to go there to see the holy places and pray there, to be where the holy people trod and honor them. The problem is that I know that I would not really be going there with the true pilgrim’s mentality. I would be going there with the tourist’s mentality, seeking to get a “contact high” from being in the presence of holiness. But a “contact high” is not what God wants. What he wants is my life, and that needs time and commitment, not a simple and quick visit.
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