Scottish Catholic Observer

‘YOU have reached your destination,’ the lady in the satellite navigation system informed Jim and Helen. They looked round. The destination looked familiar. They were at Buchanan Street Bus Station. Unfortunately, they were going to a wedding in Partick and this was certainly not their destination.

Perhaps it was the same lady in a different satellite navigation system who informed Eddie Lennon and I, ‘you have reached your destination.’ A casual glance let us know that we were in the middle of an industrial estate on the outskirts of Falkirk, not in the car park of HMP Polmont. The prison chaplains’ meeting would have to wait while we asked for directions.

It is all too easy to become reliant on technology. Technology is wonderful when it works but it is certainly capable of reaching the wrong conclusion. There was a happy outcome to both of these instances. Eventually we did arrive safely at our respective destinations.

If our own technical ability is limited, the ability of pigeons to navigate to their home from distant places has always been a source of fascination for me. I have spent more years than I care to think about observing pigeons. I may get boring talking about pigeons but they themselves are never boring.

As the racing season for old birds drew to a close two weeks ago my attention was focused on the race from Cleremont in France. My friend, John Hodgson, is an outstanding pigeon fancier and each year I breed a few pigeons for him and he races them and I look on with interest. Since I gave up racing birds ten years ago I still harbour the notion that one that I breed will win a National.

John had seven pigeons competing in the race, two of which were bred by me. The race was on a Saturday. I have evening Mass at 4.30pm and at 6pm so I was not able to go to John’s loft and gaze into empty skies with hope. Once again I was dependent on technology. The text message is a fabulous way of communicating. I checked my phone after Mass and the message was timed 18.12. No not the Overture but a pigeon had arrived from Cleremont.

The whole convoy of birds had been liberated at Cleremont at 6.30am. I knew immediately this was a potential winner. A quick call established that it was not one of the pigeons which I had bred. It did not matter

John is no novice when it comes to pigeon racing. His birds have already won six National races, a feat unprecedented in pigeon racing in Scotland. Once again it was wait and see time. It takes a couple of days to collate the result from a National race but confirmation came that John had won his seventh National. I don’t know who was happier, him or me. A National race is not won by chance. No one that I know works harder with his birds than John. It takes care and attention to every detail to become as successful as John has been. It takes commitment, especially when things don’t go according to plan. It takes single mindedness. Then it takes patience to wait and see.

The hardest part of any success is not the effort, not the preparation, it is the anticipation it is the waiting for the effort to come to fruition. This is not just true of pigeon racing it is true of life in general. Most interestingly, as the season closes, the dreams and plans are being put in place for next year. There is no standing still.

When Jesus tells us the story that we read in this week’s Gospel He is challenging us to stay focused on our own particular journey. Each one of us has her or his hopes and dreams whatever our chosen path in life happens to be. Each one of us would like to achieve her of his full potential. Inevitably this requires effort on a day-to-day basis.

Our journey through life is a means to an end. It is a journey that we hope will lead us to God’s Kingdom. To that extent we are unlikely to hear a little voice tell us any time soon ‘you have reached your destination.’ If we do imagine that we hear this voice then we are working under a false assumption. Yes it would be nice to sit back and relax. It would be wonderful, if like the man in the story Jesus tells, we could imagine that we have arrived. If we do imagine that we have arrived, then it is time to check our personal satellite navigation system. We have given it the wrong information and it has brought us to a wrong destination.

In life, we are very used to journeying and to arriving at very finite destinations. The journey to God’s Kingdom is a different kind of journey, it is a whole life journey. We don’t put our feet up and say ‘I have arrived.’ We don’t even get to say, ‘when will I arrive?’ We are invited to focus on the daily movement. From time to time the journey will be enjoyable and fascinating. From time to time it will get dull and boring. From time to time we may even get a little lost. At the beginning of each day we are encouraged to begin again. We never know what this day will bring. That is the excitement of the journey.

We live in hope and in expectation.  When the destination is God’s Kingdom, we do have a navigation system. It is called the Gospels. We have a definite destination in mind. It is called The Kingdom. Only our arrival time is uncertain. However, we will certainly arrive. Enjoy the journey.

—Fr Eddie McGhee has been a priest of Galloway Diocese since 1972. Currently serving three parishes in the Kilmarnock area he helps on a part time basis with chaplaincy in HMP Kilmarnock. He holds a diploma in religious education and a masters in education and has worked extensively in Catholic schools as an advisor in religious education. A columnist for the SCO since 1991, his hobbies include fishing, pigeon-racing and poetry. He can be contacted by email: [email protected]