While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:
“This is the way; walk in it,”
when you would turn to the right or to the left.
When I run my motorcycle tours I mostly ride on routes that are produced by a non-profit group called Backcountry Discovery Routes or BDR for short. This mostly volunteer organization creates off highway routes across numerous states and regions of the United States. After mapping out the routes the group produces a full length video to highlight what to expect on the trip, creates gps files and maps of each route. All the work is carried out by people who donate their time, effort and funds to the projects. Giving back to the community of riders.
One of the fundraising projects BDR engages in is called “Keep it 100”. It asks people who have ridden a BDR route to create a video of the experience that is not to exceed 100 seconds. The BDR community then votes on their favorite video. This year one of the videos featured a volunteer organization called “Motorcycle Relief Project (MRP)” MRP brings together military veterans who are experiencing emotional issues related to their service. Mostly those dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). MRP brings these individuals together to train and then to ride in remote locations together. In doing so, it helps create an environment where the participants can feel a sense of freedom to discuss and share what they are going through in their lives with other veterans who have similar experiences. Allowing some healing to take place.
The video MRP created for this year’s Keep it 100 took place on the Arizona BDR. The BDR organization has several mottos to help riders have the best possible experience when riding a BDR. One is called “Ride Right” The intent is to remind riders to stay to the right when riding on roads and trails. There is a tendency when riding a motorcycle in remote areas to believe that you are the only one out there. As a result of this fallacy, we tend to cheat a bit on blind corners. Stealing a bit of territory that belongs to the person coming the other way…who may also be stealing some ground that is rightfully yours. Thus increasing the potential of a head-on crash. Ask me how I know. I have had a few occasions where I have come face to face with the grill of an incoming vehicle or another motorcycle.
The MRP video took the idea of Ride Right to a new level. Applying it to life. To staying solidly on the right path. To not cutting corners and to not take the easy path. To live right and to be right. To always strive to do the right thing. By doing so, we can keep our lives in correct order.
As Catholics, we can take the idea of Ride Right a bit further. We are called by God to be righteous. Now this term gets a bad rap. I think because we confuse it with being SELF-righteous. To thinking we are superior to others in the way we live our lives and try to demonstrate to others how religious and holy we are. But true Righteousness means that all things in our lives are in correct order. That God, and what he asks of us, comes first above all things. It is only after having this priority do we then fulfill our commitment to our families, our friends, our neighbors and to those in need. I often think about it in terms of the safety suggestion on airplanes when we are told to put our oxygen masks on first, before assisting others. We are not to be cutting corners in our relationship with God.
In today’s first reading from Isaiah we hear the prophet telling the people that God will protect them, provide for them and guide them. “This is the way; walk in it,” when you would turn to the right or to the left. To Ride Right always. What does this look like? It is putting Christ at the center of all things, at all times. That our choices are not based on possible outcomes and how these outcomes may best serve ourselves. Whether a choice is difficult to make, or costly to ourselves, matters not. First and foremost we are to act in a manner that God intends.
I am currently in Senegal, West Africa visiting my daughter and her family. She just had her fourth boy, our fourth grandson. While in the past we have stayed with her family in their home, Elise and I decided that it would be to the benefit of our sanity to stay in a hotel for this visit. To create some needed space, while spending quality time with our grandsons. One of the things I do occasionally is to read to them. One of the books involves a grade school lead character named Danny. In the book there are places where Danny, and the reader, must make choices on the best path of action. For example, one morning he is playing in his bedroom before school and must decide if he should keep playing or get ready for school. The choice to keep playing results in a cascade of events throughout the rest of the day in which Danny is late for, or misses entirely, activities at school. In the end causing a conflict with one of his best friends. His choices have consequences. As does ours.
As Isaiah tells the people of Israel, and us, let the Lord lead us along the right path. Neither straying to the right or the left but remaining righteous. In right order with God at the heart of our decisions. The last line of today’s Gospel reading states, “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” We have received many gifts from God without cost to ourselves. We have received the gift of life, of parents and of the graces that come from the sacraments. Jesus tells His disciples and us to then gives without charge. To expect nothing in return. To live right and spread the Gospel message. And one way to do that is to model the Gospel to others. To live right. To Ride Right.
