Robert Barron - Strength for the Journey
Peace be with you. Friends, we're continuing our reading of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, all about the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life. And we're looking at different dimensions of it. So it's a very useful exercise to spend time with John 6, especially again during this time of Eucharistic Revival. Here's my take on our reading for today. I hate traveling. I like getting to places. So I've been, because of my work, all over the world, but I've always hated traveling, I must say. And I do a lot of it, unfortunately.
I go back to when I was a kid. We lived in Detroit, but our family was based in Chicago, so we did a lot of car trips when I was a little guy between Detroit and Chicago, which is about five hours. I hated those trips, being stuck in the car, cramped, you stop at restaurants for bad food. And so a five-hour car trip, I hated that. I remember when I had my first really long car trip. I was 19 and we were moving my life to Washington to Catholic University where I was going and we had to put my clothes and all this and my stereo. Remember those days, some are old enough, with speakers and all that. And we piled in my dad's car. And then we drove from Chicago to Washington DC which is about a 14-hour trip.
I think we stopped near Pittsburgh somewhere overnight and then went on 14 hours, I thought it would never end. Whatever was bad about the five-hour trip was now three times worse. And I just kind of vowed I will never get in a car for that long. Well, I have during the course of my life. So car travel, it's bad enough. Air travel. When I was a little person, I didn't fly at all, but I started flying around that time in my life and I have flown so often. And don't get me started about airports and airplanes. In my early years of flying, maybe I'd gone a three or four hour trip the most, I think once to California from Chicago.
When I was in my late 20s and with my family, I flew for the first time across the Atlantic Ocean to London. We did a trip to England and Ireland with my family. Well, I had never been on a trip that long before. It was like a maybe 10-hour flight, something like that. I thought I was going to die. I really did. I thought this will never end. And I was back in the economy class, I probably was in a middle seat. And cramped. I'm kind of a big guy, so planes are difficult for me. Bad food, long lines just to get to the bathroom and what, we've been on the plane, how long? Four hours and we've got six to go. Are you kidding? It was just overwhelming the first time I had one of those long flights.
Well, how many times since then? Because I was a doctoral student in Paris, so I flew all the time from Chicago to Paris and back many, many times. So I did kind of get used to it, but everything about it is kind of uncomfortable. Don't get me started on COVID flying. When COVID hit I was in California and I was a bishop, I had to go to all kinds of events and meetings, all the which seemed to be on the East coast. So COVID travel meant get to LAX and then put the mask on all during the time in the terminal, onto the plane, and then the whole time on the plane with the mask. You get off the plane, you're still with the mask in the terminal to get your baggage. So we're talking about, I don't know, seven, eight hours with a mask on.
And I remember during those years, sometimes the flight attendants would be like prison guards and they were monitoring that mask. And you may lower it for a moment while you take one bite or one sip, but then the mask goes back on. I remember one time during COVID, I had somehow managed to fall asleep on the plane and the mask had slipped like a little bit. And the flight attendant came by, I'm sound asleep, shook me awake. And she said, "Sir, put the mask back on". I think too, my traveling years of hotels. Once in a while you get kind of a decent hotel, but hotels are kind of uncomfortable. You're not home. You're in this kind of strange environment.
And I'm old enough to remember, so older people will remember this with me. Remember, you'd call for room service and a nice person would show up with a tray on wheels and they'd bring it into your room and had linen cloth on it, and they would set it up and you'd have real silverware and a napkin and you'd have a decent dinner. Remember that? Does that exist anywhere in the world anymore? I mean, after COVID, you're lucky if there's some kid throws a bag in your room and the food is in a plastic container or something. Okay. You're wondering now why is this Bishop telling me all about his difficult travel? Well, here's why. Theresa of Avila said, "You know what this life is like? This life is like a bad night in a bad hotel".
I've had a few of those too over the years. You're in a hotel and someone next door to you is making a lot of noise. There's music playing or something. This life, it's like a bad night in a bad hotel. You say, well, isn't she just an old grump? No. What's the point she's making? It's the point I'm trying to make in my own way. This life, everybody, is not the life we are finally meant for. We are on the way somewhere else. We're on a journey. I know it's kind of a hackneyed image, but it comes right up out of the Bible. We've left behind the ways of sin through baptism and the life of the church. We've left behind the ways of sin. We're heading somewhere. We're heading toward what the fathers call the Patria, the fatherland, the homeland. We're not there yet though.
So think you're in that car, stuffy car. It's uncomfortable. You can't stretch your legs out. You got to stop every few hours to go to some messy bathroom. And the food you're eating on the way isn't that good. But you give yourself comfort in the sense that you say, well, I'm not meant to stay in this car. No, no, this car is taking me somewhere where I want to go. Think of the joke about the little kids in the car. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Well, they're giving voice to this very deep spiritual longing. A lot of us in the depth of our soul say some version of, are we there yet? Are we there yet? How much longer? Or think of when you're on one of those transatlantic or transpacific flights. I'm uncomfortable. I don't like it. I'm hungry. I'm bored. I'm tired and I can't sleep.
And I walk around, but then I feel cramped again and I don't like it. I don't like being on this plane. I hate traveling. I know, but you're not meant for this plane. Think of the best plane trip you ever had. I'll tell you what, mine was. LA to New Zealand, I was giving a retreat to the priest of Christchurch, New Zealand. And they flew me business class from LA to New Zealand. And I remember getting up, they just served dinner or something, and then the steward has said to me, "Would you like me to prepare the bed"? And I didn't know what she meant. I mean, I knew about planes where you could recline the seat and all that, but she said, "No, no, I'll make this bed for you".
So I went to the bathroom, I think, and I come back and sure enough, she had turned the seat into a bed with sheets, blanket, pillow, and I slept for, I don't know, six or seven hours. It's like I had a good night's sleep on the plane. Hey, that's about the best plane I've ever been on. But what if someone told me, and you'll live there forever. You're going to go to New Zealand and back to LA and to New Zealand and back to LA forever on that plane. I don't think I'd be too happy. It was the best plane ever. But I don't want to live on the plane. Well, look everybody, I know it might strike our secularist time as weird to say, we're not meant for this world. This world is like bad night in a bad hotel. Or St. Augustine, a little more positive image said, "It's like we're being carried in a litter".
That was in the ancient world, they would carry people on these, they kind of bear them. So you're on this litter and you're moving through the countryside on your way somewhere else. And Augusta said, "Take in the countryside, enjoy it. Beautiful. But don't get caught up in it. You're not meant to be on this litter the rest of your life". You're going somewhere, you're on the way. I wonder everybody if it might give us a certain sense of hope when we find ourselves frustrated in this world. Things aren't working out. It's not what I want. Yeah, there are nice moments and all that, but I'm uncomfortable. You're not meant to be comfortable in this world, it's carrying you somewhere else.
The first reading is from 1 Kings about Elijah and that wonderful story of Elijah being pursued by Queen Jezebel and he's about to give up. He's on his journey, but I'm through. And the angel is sent with food and drink. No, no, eat, eat, drink. Keep going, keep going. This life is bad night in a bad hotel. It's like an airplane that's taking us someplace. It's like a car, it's taken us somewhere and it's kind of uncomfortable. But what should we always be aware of? During the journey you have to eat. You have to find sustenance for yourself during the journey. That's the Eucharist. That's the Eucharist. What keeps us going during the difficult years of travel? The Eucharist.
As compared in the last couple of readings we've had the last two weeks is compared to manna in the desert. Same image, isn't it? The Israelites have escaped from slavery in Egypt, but they're not in the promised land yet. Where are they? The desert. They're in between. They're on the way. They're on the plane, they're in the car. It's a bad night in a bad hotel. They're journeying toward the true goal. What do they need? They need Manna from heaven. And beautifully Manna is from this Manhu in Hebrew. What is that? Say what is that food that looks like ordinary food from this world, but actually carries the power of the heavenly world?
Doesn't Jesus say, "I am the bread come down from heaven. Your father's ate the man in the desert, but died. I want to give you the true Manna", listen now, "that will sustain you during the long and often difficult journey to eternal life". Why is this world so difficult? Because you're not meant for it, ultimately. When will this trip be over? It will. It will through God's grace. But eat and drink. Sustain yourself with the Manna from heaven, which is the Eucharist. Otherwise, the problem everybody, it's like being stuck on even the best plane in the world. But I'm just between LA and New Zealand all the time, just going back and forth. I'm not meant for that. I'm not meant for that. No, I'm meant even now to eat the bread that prepares me for eternal life, and it gives me strength for the journey. And God bless you.