Rafael Vallejo commented yesterday that the word ‘halakhah’ which is often understood as “Jewish law” more appropriately seems to mean “the path we walk”. I am fascinated by the fact that in so many major religions, the ‘way’ or the ‘path’ is a central theme. Each person has a path to walk in their lives; so in Lent, are we walking two paths? One which is our internal path of spiritual life, the other a path to resurrection? Or is Lent perhaps where the paths converge? There are so many images around paths and roads. How often do we stick to the path, or road, which is travelled by a majority, instead of taking the less travelled one?
When Norio and I travel, we usually rent a car if we are planning to stay awhile. Each year in May we go to Moncarapacho in Portugal, using a house there as a base, and then drive around. We never use the freeway, but rather the regular roads. After five years of doing this, we almost have the map of the country in our heads – and yet – there is always another road we haven’t driven yet. Two years ago, we got off on a sideroad, and discovered two sets of “standing stones” in circles, several miles from each other – no one knows who put them there, or what they were for. The best that can be done is a guess at how long they have been there, as they are old stones. Last year we went to a location just a few kilometres from the house, once again off on a sideroad, to a farm built by Romans in the 1st century; it was added onto in the 10th century. On this farm – along with the baths, exercise yard, kitchens, fields and plots, there is the ruin of a beautiful temple dedicated to one of the sea gods. Some of the mosaics are still intact. What struck me about the temple area is how three religious groups were incorporated and given recognition; there is a Christian burial space, and a Muslim burial space, as well as burial space for those who still believed in the Roman gods. It seemed a place where paths converged, and people were able to walk together and grow together. Spain and Portugal are both countries where Christian and Muslim clashed, but from the looks of this farm – they were also able to learn to live with each other.
Maybe that’s where this reflection is going today – that all of us are on a path, to enlightenment. Maybe our paths are different part of the time, and yet there are those times when the road comes together and we realize our common humanity and common goal.
