Boats scudding across the Sea of Galilee. Our opening scenes in today’s gospel passage Jn 6:22-29, where a veritable sea of humanity plows through the waves with one goal in mind. And when they find him, they pose the first question of the day: Rabbi, when did you get here?
Granted, not the finest of queries—if you’re allowed just the two questions, this is exactly the one you wouldn’t ask. And as is His wont, our Lord won’t answer the trite (I wonder, would ‘6:30 am’ have satisfied this crowd, do you think?) but divining their unstated intent, he takes the opportunity to remind them to reach beyond the temporal (that which perishes) and strive for the eternal.
And this prompts the second, a real peach of a question, one of the life changing variety: What can we do to accomplish the works of God?
Well, it’s one we would do well to spend some alone time with, but in this instance, the question was posed to Our Lord, who provides the answer: Believe in the One He sent. And it prompted me to think of two words. Creed and Credo. Creed is the common faith, the sum of the precepts, tenets, decrees, statutes and laws that we hear in Psalm 119. But it’s only when we put our signature, our Amen to it, that it becomes Credo (I believe).
Pilgrim Experience
It reminded me of the beautiful melodies of Credo Peregrino (Pilgrim Creed), a hymn composed by Martin Valverde, which I had the good fortune of hearing for precisely 48 days that started February 15 and ended April 4th. For this past Lent, I had the exceedingly good fortune to go on a Virtual Pilgrimage & Retreat through the Holy Land. The English pilgrimage was led by a consecrated woman, Kathleen Nichols who is the modern-day equivalent of Beatrice in Dante’s Divine Comedy. But this wasn’t just a tour of the Holy Land, it had it all – from sacred music including Matt Maher’s Light The Way (theme song), taking in the scenery whilst praying at diverse altars of salvation history and as an icing on the cake, a deep dive into the Creed.
Each day, Kathleen took us on a guided tour, and provided a brief meditation centered around a particular mystery. For example, we visited Dormition Abbey for Holy Saturday, which I thought was brilliant! As a consecrated woman, it’s a dream come true for her to live and work in the very place that Jesus manifested his love and his salvation for us. We got a chance to dive deeply into different sections of the Creed. You know, those words that roll so glibly off the tongue. So, for those of you who have longed to go to the Holy Land, head on over to magdala.org and check out the Virtual Pilgrimage. Not only will this whet your appetite to go to the Holy Land, this is a ‘once in forever’ experience of being in the sacred shrines of the Holy Land without any hustle and bustle, since the Experience Magdala group got permission from the Franciscans to visit during a time when there is nobody else present due to the lockdown. Imagine the grace to be able to enjoy these sacred places in prayerful solitude but do spare a thought for the guardians who are longing for the faithful to return.
So, let’s bring up the question again and credo it: How are you (and I) accomplishing the works of God?
