For the times we have taken the broadway instead of the narrow path that you want us to take,
Lord, Have mercy...
Having taken the narrow path, for the times we have grumbled on the way,
Christ, have mercy...
For the times we have failed to understand the difference between what it means to take the broadway and what it means to take the narrow path,
Lord, have mercy...
The Road Less Traveled...
In his famous poem, “The Road Less Traveled” written in 1915, Robert Frost has this beautiful yet thought-provoking ending:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Before Robert Frost, it was Jesus who invited us to take the road less traveled by…
In the gospel text of today, Jesus invites us to enter through the narrow road by saying that those who choose to enter through this are fewer and few…
So, the narrow road is indeed the road less traveled….
This is as opposed to those who enter through the broad way.
As the song ‘Highway to Hell’ rightly puts it, it is the broad way
Where there are no stop signs,
where there are no speed limits
Where there is nobody to slow you down
Where there is no restriction as such…
And it s a one-way ride, asking for nothing, reasoning nothing, and caring for nothing…
It is the road to destruction and death…
On the other hand, the narrow road that Jesus invites us to take today is the road
Where there are stop signs.
Where there are speed limits and speed breakers…
Where you are watched and reminded about your speed limits…
Where there are U-turns when need be…
Where there are Yield signs to respect
Where there is the right of way to be respected for fellow passengers…
Wherein one considers and respects the other’s journey as important as one’s own…
As Jesus reminds us today, the narrow road is the road where we treat others as we want them to treat us…
It is the road wherein we do not profane what is considered holy…
It is the road wherein we appreciate, treasure, and grow in our pearls - our strengths, our gifts, and our God-given talents, as well as those of others…
It is a narrow road because it is the road of self-annihilation…
It is the road of self-sacrificing…
It is the road where others’ concerns, difficulties, and challenges become so real to us that we care for them and encourage them to walk with us together…
It is the road we accept and respects the differences in and around us…
How narrow is the road that you have chosen to travel at this moment in your life?
How determined are you today to continue traveling on the road less traveled?
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