Today is Oct. 27, Sunday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the blind man Bartimaeus, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Mark the evangelist records, “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way” (Mk 10:52).
The Didache, a first-century Christian text, opens with the striking words: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.” In fact, the contrast between the two ways is a major theme mentioned throughout the text. The most prominent use is moral, comparing sins (the way of death) to virtues and the norms of Christian living (the way of life). In one of the passages I recall best, the Didache illustrates how vices give way to bigger sins. For example, lust is the way to fornication, and “murmuring” (we might say “complaining”) is the way to blasphemy.
But it’s not just the Didache that makes the phrase important. “The way” is one of the earliest names for Christianity. In fact, it’s used in the Book of Acts of the Apostles more times than the word “Christian.”
In the Old Testament, walking in God’s way, means keeping his commandments. Consider these verses from Deuteronomy, which read, “Be careful, therefore, to do as the Lord, your God, has commanded you, not turning aside to the right or to the left, but following exactly the way that the Lord, your God, commanded you” (Dt 5:32-33). The way is a traveled road, a journey, and for we who are striving to be faithful, it is the shape of our life. It is how we live.
In one of my favorite lines from St. Thomas Aquinas, he urges: “If, then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because he himself is the way: This is the way; walk in it.” Today, may we all travel the way of Christ, the way to heaven.
Let us pray for the grace to persevere long the way:
Almighty ever-living God, increase our faith, hope and charity, and make us love what you command, so that we may merit what you promise. Through our lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
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