On the Road to the Kingdom
Here is a link to today’s readings.
Recently, a list of the worst cities for safe driving in the U.S. was published by a prominent insurance company that compared crash frequency rates among 200 cities. Being from Massachusetts, I was amused to see that Boston was ranked last. Apparently the stereotype is true. My own city, Worcester, took the penultimate position. Honestly, it’s nothing to be proud of. With around 38,000 traffic fatalities per year in the U.S. alone, we should think about driving as a pro-life issue. The bishops at Vatican II did exactly that, writing in their Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes #30), for example, that we must obey “laws establishing speed limits” because those who don’t “imperil their own life and that of others.”
In today’s Gospel, one of my personal favorites, Jesus sends seventy-two of his disciples out to “every town and place he intended to visit.” It’s not just the twelve here. It’s seventy-two. We could think of it as seventy-two times seventy-two times seventy-two… go out there, go out there with power! In other words, this Gospel is about us. We are being sent into every place where Jesus wants to be, and as it turns out, that’s everywhere. Everywhere we find ourselves, Jesus wants to be present through us. There is no insignificant place or person.
Jesus sent his disciples out without any distractions, telling them to “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.” Nowadays, we do this work of visiting “every town and place” usually by driving. Getting there safely and keeping others safe is an important part of the mission. We really need to get rid of all the distractions as well. Shut the cell phone off. Leave the radio alone. Adjust the GPS before the trip. Avoid driving after having a few drinks at a Fourth of July cookout or a summer tailgate. Our work for the Reign of God depends on this first priority.
If you’re like me, this isn’t always easy. On the roads, I definitely feel like I’m sometimes a “lamb in the midst of wolves.” (Sometimes, maybe I’m even a wolf.) Psychologists tell us that when we are in a car, we find it easier to act aggressively towards other people as if the anonymity permits us to lay aside our normal values. Yet, impatience, cursing, and aggression on the road may be as much a sin as anywhere else. In fact, because of the possible ramifications, we should take it even more seriously as part of the fifth commandment to preserve life.
So, how is your driving? How is mine? Do we ever think about it in moral terms? Have we recognized it as part of the work of a missionary disciple? Does our driving communicate a message of respect for life? Does it proclaim the Good News as a sign of peace in a hectic world as opposed to conveying competition, aggressiveness, and road rage? Do we think of driving as an opportunity to focus and to pay attention—skills that are becoming increasingly rare in our society but which are essential to the spiritual life? Do we consider driving an opportunity to strengthen our virtues: patience, forgiveness, humility, gentleness, and love?
When the seventy-two “returned rejoicing,” Jesus said to them, “Behold, I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” We are given that same power and that same promise. Everywhere we go, Christ is present in us and among us, defeating all the evil forces in the world. Sometimes that battle is very ordinary. Driving safely is a way to live out the Gospel of Life. Let’s all agree—don’t you think?—to work on this in our own lives so that Jesus might say to us, “I have observed satan fall like lightning from the sky” simply because we have preserved the “image and likeness of God” (Gen. 1:27) in ourselves and our brothers and sisters through driving carefully every day. Happy summer everyone!
