Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
In 1916, the American poet, Robert Frost, published what was to become one of the most famous poems in the world, “The Road Not Taken.” Since its publication, literary critics have rushed to say that although the poem is well known, it is just as frequently misunderstood, turning it into, as one critic wrote: “… a piece of Hallmark ‘Happy-graduation-son, seize-the-future’ puffery.”
According to Frost, the point he wanted to make was not that when we come to a fork in the road, we should study the footprints and take the road less traveled or even as Yogi Berra’ quipped: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
No, what he meant was that in order to make life meaningful and worthwhile, we must choose one road, choose how we are going to live.
Frost is not the only one who believes in the power of choice. Sociologist Alan Ehrenhalt writes that many people go through life like the person who sits in front of the TV, constantly tapping the remote control, what he calls:
“that ultimate weapon of personal choice, proceeding in the course of an hour to select and reject dozens of visual entertainments whose ability to satisfy us for more than a few minutes is crippled by our suspicion that there may be something more stimulating a couple of frequencies further on . . . . Too many of the things we do in our lives, large and small, have come to resemble channel surfing, marked by a numbing and seemingly endless progression from one option to the next, all without the benefit of a chart, logistical or moral . . .”
This is the world in which we live: a world of a multiplicity of choices. But even in this cultural context, Jesus, who is yesterday, today and tomorrow, is unmistakable in His choice. We heard it articulated in this morning’s Gospel: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” His choice is to announce the Kingdom of God, to bring to fulfillment the hopes of the poor, the imprisoned and the oppressed. He is the one appointed by the Father to begin a new era.
It is no accident that this passage is used every year for the Chrism Mass. Here we bless and consecrate the oil that is used in the Sacraments that make of us “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that (we) may announce the praises” of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.
The meaning, then, of this Chrism Mass could not be clearer: As those called to continue the mission of Jesus, the Spirit of God rests upon us, consecrates us, and bids us to go forth to proclaim His peace, His joy. But to make that Spirit real in our lives and the lives of others, we must choose the road of discipleship.
The choice begins with God’s gift: the experiences we have had of authentic love; of forgiveness without strings; of mercy beyond that for which we have dared to hope. We are called to share what we have been given.
The choice continues in two movements: first, “following” or “coming after” the Lord which requires the establishment of a personal relationship with Him. That is more than attending Mass or saying an occasional prayer. Being in relationship with the Lord demands spending personal time with Him, opening ourselves to Him and allowing Him to lead us. And second “being sent” by Him to proclaim the Good News.
Our entire history as a community of faith has been structured upon a series of calls from God to go forth. This is the ancient and eternal cry of God to His friends – “Go forth,” said God to Abraham, “go forth from the land of your kinsfolk to a land that I will show you.” “Go forth to Pharaoh,” God said to Moses. “Go forth from Babylon!” God said to Isaiah. “Go to my people Israel,” said God to Amos; “Go where the spirit leads you,” said God to Ezekiel. The Lord says the same to us today: “Go forth! Put down the remote, choose a road, and proclaim the Good News.”
That is what Pope Francis means by the word “evangelization.” In “Evangelii Gaudium,” he writes:
“Evangelizing pre-supposes a desire in the Church to come out of herself. The Church is called to come out of herself and to go to the peripheries, not only geographically, but also the existential peripheries: the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, of intellectual currents, and of all misery.”
To evangelize, in adoration of Jesus Christ, we must choose to bring glad tidings to the poor, that they may know that their lives are precious in the eyes of God. We must choose to proclaim liberty to captives, so that those who are paralyzed by fear, doubt, and despair may feel their shackles dissolve. We must tell those blinded by ignorance and anger that they have the grace to see God within and without. And we must speak the truth so that all who are oppressed by prejudice, isolation, poverty, violence and abuse, may know that they are indeed the children of God, beloved and blessed, and are held dear not only by Our Father in heaven, but also by all of us in Northeastern Ohio in concrete, recognizable and tangible ways. That is the road of discipleship: to live like Christ.
St Clare of Assisi, a woman who knew a lot about choices, said it well:
What you hold, may you always hold
What you do, may you always do and never abandon
But with swift pace, light step, and unswerving feet,
So that even your steps stir up no dust.
Go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly
On the path of prudent happiness
Believing nothing,Agreeing with nothing
Which would dissuade you from this resolution,
Or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way,
So that you may offer your vows to the Most High
In the pursuit of that perfection to which The Spirit of the Lord has called you.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us. We have nothing to fear. Chose to live like Christ.
Originally Published in the Catholic Exponent: