In our own age where do we go seeking to find life?

 

We celebrated the Feast of St James on 25^th July. This is the person who was the first apostle to be martyred for the faith. He was taken by legend by two of his disciples and buried in a field in Northern Spain. In 823 a peaceful hermit, known as Pelayo, lived in his house in the Forest of Libredón. In the evenings, mysterious lights, coming from the forest, began to capture his attention. Surprised at the strange radiances, Pelayo decided to share his restlessness with Teodomiro, the Bishop of Iria Flavia, at that time. Both men came to the place where the flashes came from and discovered the Marmárea Ark, which was buried. So, the lights were interpreted as divine signs.

Inside it, rested three bodies. They were quickly attributed to Santiago the Apostle and the two disciples, Anastasio and Teodoro who guarded his remains until their death. The bishop immediately informed the King in those years, Alfonso II, of the surprising discovery. It was this discovery that initiated this place of St James Tomb as a pilgrimage place that is now known as Santiago de Compostella, or literally St James in the field of stars.

So why do millions of pilgrimages journey to Santiago in our day. This has become popular since Pope Pius XI and later Pope Pius XII saw it as an important place of pilgrimage for our modern age as it sought to reunite Europe after the ravages of war. Many movements that were birthed at that time took up the challenge to provide leadership to the Christian World including Cursillo, Opus Dei and the Neo Catechumenal way. But it recognised how the Christian faith was born at a time where destructive conflict had been ever present in people’s lives. There was a call to find a new way that sought to look deeply within their own hearts for a rule of life that could sustain them in a world that sought to rebuild hope. This includes such movements as Taizé, Focolare and Young Christian Workers among many others.

There was a desire to find life that allowed people to build on solid foundations.

In the gospel today we hear the same movement arising in people’s hearts the seeker, the finding, the joy and the seeking to invest everything in this treasure. In our own age this goes against the smorgasbord approach to life that seeks to find a little bit of goodness in everything.

We are called to develop a discerning spirit as we have heard over the last week that seeks to find good seed in our lives. It is where we are called to listen to the voice of God in scripture, in our sacramental celebrations and in our daily lives. Father Brendan Byrne SJ notes that in The First Reading, 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12, “comes in here in the sense that what Solomon prayed for – and received – was a discerning heart, a heart that, amid all the wealth and opportunity with which he was surrounded, could tell what was of true and lasting value.”

As Father Brendan Byrne SJ comments: “The two brief parables encapsulate the essence of Christian spirituality. Christian life requires a measure of detachment. It requires freedom from being completely absorbed and immersed in the attractions, pleasures and concerns of this world – not because these are bad in themselves but because we have been 'captured' by a sense of God’s love and God’s future for us that relativises all these things and puts them in their place. We do not yet possess the treasure but the prospect of it, unseen but grasped in faith, is already working transformation.”

So, in our own age where do we go seeking to find life? What will sustain us in on journey of faith? Who do we discover that will help us discover the kingdom of God that is ever ancient and ever new?