Here we choose to seek God
in step with others,
even though not always in common with others –
each of us on an apparently separate path
and yet all of us in veritable community
with one another on the way –
as lifelines,
as mentors,
as guides,
as models,
as brothers and sisters in whose loving company
we choose to make our common journey to God.

Our Lenten study group is reading The Monastery of The Heart by Joan Chittister and that passage from our reading yesterday really jumped out at me. I am spending a lot of time thinking about my journey, try to discern, with the help of others where my path is leading.

Early on in the present leg of my spiritual journey, a friend spoke with me about the Camino de Santiago, the great pilgrimage in northern Spain that seekers have travelled for centuries. The stories I read of the pilgrimage frequently spoke of being a common community, while not always travelling together.

I’ve been thinking about the online component of my journey: this blog, various other blogs, mailing lists, Facebook Groups; a spiritual rhizome, to build off the idea of a group of digital higher education pedagogues I hang out with online.

Somewhere in this crowd, are the poets, the mystics, the post-structuralists, all making a common journey, no matter how much they recognize the commonality and no matter how different the languages are.

Somewhere in all of this, is the rule of life, from St. Benedict, echoed by Joan Chittister, and providing a framework for the journey. Somewhere in all of this is the writing of Wilfred Bion looking at how groups work together, and the ideas growing out of this around primary tasks, roles, boundaries, authority, and to return to St. Benedict, humility.

Somewhere in all of this is the homeless man, who’s had a rough life, knows he should deal with his drinking problem, and is struggling with God. Somewhere in all of this is the victim of domestic violence, who lost her son to cancer, and is struggling with Allah.

This Lent, I am seeking to spend more time studying, praying, and listening. There doesn’t seem to be enough time, so a bracket in Lent Madness slips by unattended. A blog post gets scrimped on. Hours of sleep are cut short.

And still, I make my journey.