Fellow Travelers

Homily for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

“We are fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys”

Those are the words of Charles Dickens from his classic tale, “A Christmas Carol.” And I find these words particularly meaningful and poignant for us today. Today we stand poised before “the thin time” celebrated in the church by All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. When we are reminded that the barrier between life and death is very porous. And that we are ALL fellow travelers to the grave.

And today also marks the official conclusion of the first session of the Synod on Synodality in Rome. And the word “synod” basically means: “Meeting together along the way.” So we can ask: What might it mean that the church is made up of fellow travelers to the grave and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys? A church called to recognize ALL as fellow travelers to be met along the way.

I want to take a moment and reach back to the beginning of this month of October and recall St. Francis of Assisi. We perhaps all know his famous conversion story. Francis, horrified of what he found ugly, labored under and intense fear of lepers. Finally, one day he finds the courage to enter a Leprosarium and washes the feet of the lepers and even embraces or “kisses” them. And then Francis’ conversion is complete. But not because somehow the “face of Christ” miraculously appeared as some separate entity, but rather because the face of Francis appeared. He saw in the face of the leper his own face and whenever we allow ourselves to draw close enough to our fellow travelers we also see ourselves in the face of the other we fear or despise and then the face of Christ also appears.

In our first reading today from Exodus God reminds us: “You were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt!” Like the Israelites before us, we too can easily fall into the illusion that others are somehow “another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” But the truth is we are all fellow travelers to the grave. We need to look into the face of what or whoever is “alien” to us (or we think is “alien” to us) and see not some other creature bound on another journey, but a fellow passenger on the same journey as you and I.

Recall in the Emmaus story how the Risen Christ walked up beside the two disciples along the road, met them along the way, and walked with them side-by-side. The evangelist, Luke, describes Jesus in this story as a “stranger” to the two disciples. Or better said, as a resident alien. Someone who is here but is not from here. A man trodding a path of Life that no longer recognizes death. And his voice awakens the resident alien in each of the disciples and their hearts burn and their eyes are opened and they are then able to proclaim a shared path of life-through-death meant for all of us. That is they are enabled to proclaim the gospel!

Perhaps no one knew this reality better than St. Paul, the resident alien par excellence! The Persecutor-turned-Apostle who says to the Thessalonians: “You know what kind of people we are.” So be imitators of us!! See in me your own alienation. See in me that you too are a fellow traveler to the grave. See in me that you are one walking the same journey with others as a resident alien, as one who is here but not from here, as one called to proclaim the message of life-through-death for all people.

Division, war, violence, hatred, intolerance, and exclusion all this stems from the same problem. They are the tragic and natural effects emanating from those who insist on living as if others were another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

But what happens when we remember we are all Fellow Travelers to the grave? I would suggest then we see ourselves in each other’s faces, as we truly are. We see our shared resident-alienation, we see Christ. And we see the life-through-death that is ours in him.

And then we can do the one thing we are all called to do: Draw together and bind the Love of God with the Love of Neighbor by way of the Love of Self. Through the “Self” who walks the same journey, shares the same resident-alienation; the “Self” invited to the same gift of life beyond death. The “Self” that binds the two loves as one by recognizing fellow travelers along the way.

We are all fellow passengers to the grave and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. Let us recognize anew then the thin veil between life and death; the thin veil between you and I, and recommit ourselves to our own synodal path by meeting each other along the way; by seeing our shared status as resident aliens and thereby striving together to proclaim the message of a Life free of death and intended for all.