Forward ho!

Forward ho!   In western movies, this was the cry of the wagon train master each morning to get everyone moving on their way.  It was about keeping them moving in the face of the challenges of  the wild west, never looking back.  That was the way to go to reach their aim, despite all misadventures.  

After eight years waiting and struggling, a refugee family moves on to their new home. A new beginning.  

From its very beginning, it has been the same for the church.  We may harken back in time, but the fact is a simplistic remembering of the past is not an answer for living in the present.  The early church did not leave us the model church for all eternity.  Rather it presented a model for being church.  It was a model of operation it gleaned from facing changing circumstances, constant challenges, the ever present struggles, ever responding so as to move forward, never looking back.  

Forward ho for church is based on our being true friends here and now with Jesus, the Risen Lord, who is living in our midst.  It is about listening and responding to the Spirit, with our constant focus on the Reign of God.  It is about being true to our tradition and  actively listening to our world and each other.  It is about Pope Francis' way of Synodality.      

Francis shows us the way in his homily this year for the Solemnity of  Peter and Paul, as shared here.  

"We are called to be a Church that promotes the culture of care, tenderness and compassion towards the vulnerable. A Church that fights all forms of corruption and decay, including those of our cities and the places we frequent, so that in the life of every people the joy of the Gospel may shine forth. This is our “fight”, and this is our challenge. The temptation to stand still is great; the temptation of that nostalgia which makes us look to  other times as better. May we not fall into the temptation of 'looking back'."

Never look back.  Always forward ho!