Isaiah 49:12. "Lo, these shall come from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene." In the prophecy of which this line is a part, God is proclaiming, through Isaiah, that the desolate, the prisoners, and those in darkness shall be called to "Come forth" and "Appear." They shall be led by "he who has pity on them" who will guide them along springs of water. God's mountains will be made a way and His highway raised up to lead all people to Him. All shall be called to this highway, from every land and place on earth.  (Isaiah 49:8-12)

This morning I was having a conversation with someone I run into from time to time about the Church. I do not know this man very well, I only see him when I am walking, so I don't know if he practices any religion, but I often talk about my faith when it comes up in conversation. We were talking this morning about the tendency to classify everyone, including priests, as either conservative or liberal (he corrected me to say progressive, so that is the term I will use), and how divisive that can be. A recent AP article on more traditional younger priests came up, and he asked me how I would feel if my pastor was replaced by someone more conservative. I said I think God is using everyone's unique talents and ways of thinking to bring the Church to where He wants it to be, so I don't like to get too hung up on whether any particular priest is more conservative or more "progressive".

There is only one reality, and only God knows it fully, we do not. We are all blind in some way, looking at reality through our very individual and very distorted lenses. But if we give ourselves fully to God, and I like to think most priests have, or at least are trying to, then He will use us to accomplish His will. In doing this, He will, in time, bring us out of the darkness. We all have something to contribute, and are all needed and wanted on the highway that is the Church. God will correct the places where we are seeing things incorrectly (and we are all seeing things incorrectly in one way or another) in order to help us make our contributions.

While this conversation was not about people from other nations, it was about how different people are all welcome in the Church.  All are called to God, none are excluded. The highway is open to everyone who is willing to follow the one who has pity on them and is leading them. We all are in need of pity from our God, because we all are blind in some way. As long as we don't become too attached to our distorted view of the world, but are willing to pursue the truth honestly, then God will cure our blindness and lead us out of the darkness. Then we can use our talents to help Him build His highway, and bring more people to it!