After spending the night in Holmsbury, St. Mary, we awoke to set our eyes on Canterbury. Canterbury is the home of the worldwide Anglican Communion and when we finally arrived that evening, we felt as if we had accomplished something great on our pilgrimage. Since we had spent the entire previous day with nothing but our own sense of direction, a twenty-year-old map, and the presence of God, we were fully transformed into true pilgrims on the Canterbury trail, ready and waiting for what God had in store for us upon our arrival.
Walking through the Cathedral in Canterbury served to be more powerful and magnificent than I ever would have expected. The stairs that headed from the nave up to the quire had been worn down from hundreds of thousands of pilgrimages over the years. Just behind the quire rested a monument representing the four swords that murdered Thomas Becket. We talked about the situation in which Thomas Becket had been murdered. What we all realized was that Becket had willingly unlocked the Cathedral doors to make a statement, while knowing people were coming for his head.
I wonder a lot of the time, what I really do hold dearest in my life. I talk a lot about my faith, and working with young people in a church, I am forced to reflect on my faith all the time. But is my faith so important that I would willingly leave the Cathedral doors unlocked, just like Thomas Becket? It seems more often than not, I put my pride before anything else. My ego just seems to get in the way of all that I deep down am trying to accomplish.
Heavenly father, help me to leave my ego behind and put my heart forward so that I can better serve you so when that time comes to unlock my doors, I am ready to put you before all else. Amen
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