This is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life!
As I contemplated my impending trip to Rome, where I will pass through the Holy Door in Saint Peter’s Basilica, opened specifically for the Jubilee Year, I realized that right now in my life, I am walking through another door. A door of change, in several ways. A door of newness that takes courage and discipline. A door of challenge. I know I am not alone. Perhaps all Catholics this year, are called to do the same thing, whether or not they can get to Rome or another place with a Holy Door (apparently, all cathedrals have one). It’s not the door that really matters, it’s what it symbolizes. It’s the change it encourages in one’s life. Holy Church invites us to cross a great threshold of holiness in this year of graces, at a time when it is most needed.
Of course, the spiritual is of greater importance than the temporal. However, it is often mundane matters that require the analysis and discipline which leads to spiritual growth. So we might wish to ask these types of questions:
What is my door?
What are my goals? What must I change in my life? How hard am I willing to work? (Maybe it won’t require working harder, but smarter.) What needs to shift? What must I let go of? What’s working in my life? What isn’t? What obstacles need to be removed? What structures need to be built?
“The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.”
Frances Willard
3 years ago, late at night, I slipped in the doorway between my kitchen and the hallway and received a bad concussion. It was life-changing, not only because of the physical and mental effects (some of which I still suffer from), but because of how it challenged me and was part of a spiritual transformation in my life. Every night I walk through that same doorway on my way to bed and remember that rite of passage. That doorway hurt me but it also mysteriously helped me.
“And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.”
Romans 8:28
Life has many doors…reminds me of Mary Hopkin’s beautifully haunting song, “Water, Paper and Clay.” Water representing Baptism, paper representing the wedding day and clay, burial…universal, speaking to the deepest parts of us. Each of these doors create instant change. But the kind of change we must initiate through force of the will and maintain, is difficult. The Holy Door concept gives us the encouragement and motivation we need. We can all traverse our own Holy Doors, whether they are actual ecclesiastical doors, or something more personal. Holy Church during this privileged Jubilee Year beckons us all to a renaissance of the soul…a resurrection in some way resembling Our Lord’s, bringing us closer to Heaven.
Meditation on the Resurrection
From EWTN Vatican, with brief commentary and stunning photos…
Pilgrims From All Over The World Pass Through Holy Door Of St. Peter’s Basilica
From Pilgrimaps, a respectful article on the Holy Doors, including history, symbolism, and the universality of such passages across cultures (sorry about the flashing thing on this website, but it’s worth reading)…
The Holy Door: The Meaning of Crossing the Threshold
“I am the Door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.”
John 10:9