Journey to the Center

Recently I attended the workshop “Dream Work on the Spiritual Journey” at Immaculata Monastery and Spirituality Center in Norfolk, NE. During my stay I had the opportunity to practice a form of walking meditation using the labyrinth on the monastery grounds. Labyrinths are symbolic of pilgrimage for people who cannot travel to holy sites and lands and remind us of our journey to God, who is at the center of our being and of all things. Here are some thoughts on the spiritual journey that came to me as I walked:

• We need to trust the path, even when it seems to be leading away from the Center instead of toward it.

• Parts of the path are straight and other parts are twisting, but it is necessary to walk the entire path to get to the Center.

• At some parts of the path we are tantalizingly close to the Center when in actuality we still have a long way to walk.

• Parts of the path are beautiful, offering lovely views and marked by lush growth, whereas other parts of the path are undeveloped, dull, and boggy.

• You can’t take a shortcut to the Center.

• Sometimes you end up to the right or left of where you want to be.

• Walking the path takes as long as it takes.

• The desire to get to the Center will lead you there.

Finally, it was appropriate that I encountered this labyrinth at a Benedictine monastery, for it made me grateful that I am on a Benedictine path with my Benedictine companions.