Fr Tristan Writes 22nd September 2024
It's well worth catching last Sunday's episode of Radio 4's Illuminated programme: an episode entitled "Hervé's Way". It is about a French gentleman who, having lost a leg, spiralled into depression, even attempting to take his own life. Then, despite his disability, he walked the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela. The interviewer joins Hervé on the 'camino', exploring with him, in a very positive light, his new-found relationship with nature, God, the Church, Our Lady and the Mass. The road, he says, 'saved me'.
In today's Gospel, we find Jesus also "on the road", observing His disciples bicker about which of them is the greatest. There is an irony here. Despite Jesus's revealing to them about his impending death and resurrection, they have not yet recognised that their Master is Himself the true Road, the Way that leads out of self-obsession, which causes disharmony, and into selfgiving love of the Cross, which brings inner peace. Petty problems (in the parish, at home or work) can easily cloud our eyes to a true need for communion. Much better to consider that the person beside me may need my help "on the road" in life, and that it is - like Hervé's way - a road to joy and redemption.
