For the past 25 years I have lived within walking distance to where I work, and the jobs I’ve chosen have often required a great amount of walking. I just love it — the feeling of the ground passing beneath my feet, the accidental discoveries in a world shaped by both God and man, the visceral sensation of the body moving through space and time, and finding that the bodily expression of walking influences the interior state of the mind and soul, propelling life in new directions. Problems are solved when walking, ideas are generated, and a path to self-discovery is blazed. Every long walk feels like a pilgrimage bringing me closer to Christ and His intentions for my life. A long walk is like a travelling classroom, the instructions coming at you from unexpected directions and through surprise encounters.
Think about it. As Jesus and his disciples walked throughout Galilee, what happened? Jesus taught them as well as all the people whom they met along the way. Miracles were performed, and the paths for those who were touched by His words and acts were irrevocably changed. Each life touched branching off into a network of new paths, forging a brilliant interconnected map throughout human history — the veins of Christianity spreading to every corner of the world. Pope Francis said, “Jesus did not come to teach a philosophy, an ideology, but rather ‘a way,’ a journey to be undertaken with Him, and we learn the way as we go, by walking.”
Some paths are not easy to walk, they cause pain and at times you stumble. Not all ways are clearly marked by caution signs urging you to tread lightly or not to enter. The road to Golgotha was like that, and we all find ourselves at some point walking the ‘Way of the Cross.’ Most roads, however, are more like the road to Emmaus or Paul’s journey to Damascus, bearing points along the way that challenge the mind, body, and spirit, and presenting unique opportunities to discover wisdom not commonly present on paths of certainty and low risk.