Adventure

I was socked in this weekend, and Fr Michael was on a movie kick. On Saturday, we watched Up again. When Carl Frederickson meets his boyhood idol, Charles Muntz, he learns something about searching and adventure. The famous explorer was obsessed with finding the bird "Kevin." He was consumed with that search, so much so that he believed the bird belonged to him already. His goal was to take it home and have his fame restored. It was a selfish quest - one that led him even to evil, bringing other explorers to their sad ends.

By contrast, Carl learns through his wife, Ellie, that the adventure is the search and not necessarily the destination. Simply because their dream of reaching Paradise Falls together was never realized, Carl assumed that Ellie's life was tragic and disappointing. Only when he opens the "adventure book" does he realize that every moment they spent together was the adventure for her.

For us, as people of faith, we can learn that the faith we share is also an adventure. Belief in the Carpenter from Nazareth brings us into contact with great mystery and adventure. It is not a matter of "solving" that mystery - or even of having all the answers. Rather, it is a life lived in relationship with Christ, which brings us into relationship with each other. The "search" is the search for that relationship, and the adventure comes along the way.