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In fact, when I was a child in Catholic school, we would sing an English version of Tantum Ergo with the line “Lo! our ancient forms departing/Newer rites of grace prevail.” Our faith tradition, it seems, does not encourage looking back but rather being open to new forms, new ways, new life.
The same encouragement to follow new paths is repeated in Scripture: Abraham leaves Ur, Moses leads the people out of Egypt, Jesus sets his face for Jerusalem. As counterpoint, there is the story of Lot’s wife who did look back! All of these stories suggest that responding to God’s call is about moving forward, letting go of old ways and being led somewhere new.
This prompting to journey into newness strikes me as important. The pandemic shook up life as we knew it - and offered us the opportunity to find “newer rites of grace,” new ways of living. The question now is will we continue on the trajectory or will we, like God’s people in the wilderness, tell our leaders that we want to return to Egypt, that we prefer the comforts of former ways to the adventure of traveling toward a Promised Land.
This Sunday ends the liturgical season of Christmas and Epiphany. We have been given a vision of the future God would like us to have. We have been called to create a world “when there will be peace on earth and good will toward men” - and hopefully women and children as well. As we enter Ordinary Time, I pray the words of this liturgical season will sound again and again in our hearts, prompting us to live lives more in keeping with the one to which we have been called.