Life is a Journey

The following is from the book Toward God by Michael Casey, OSB.

Our life is a journey that makes sense only on the supposition that we are going somewhere. When it is difficult to keep moving ahead, ‘we need to reanimate our desire. This theme is beautifully developed in a passage by Saint Gregory the Great:

The present life is but a road by which we advance to our homeland. Because of this, by a secret judgement we are subjected to frequent disturbance so that we do not have more love for the journey than for the destination. Some travellers, whenever they see pleasant fields by the road, contrive to linger there and thus they deviate from the route undertaken in the journey. As long as they are charmed by the beauty of the journey, their steps are slowed. It is for this reason that the Lord makes the path through this world rough for his chosen ones who are on their way toward him. This is so that none may take pleasure in this world’s rest or find refreshment in the beauty of the journey and thus prefer to continue the journey for a long time rather than to arrive quickly. It is also to prevent one who finds delight in the journey from forgetting what it was about his homeland that had enkindled his desire.

Prayer operates as a function of our journey toward God. It is successful when it makes us want to continue the journey with greater urgency than before. If it makes us want to stop by the roadside for a picnic and a sleep in the sun, it is not prayer but delusion.