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Columbus Day reflection - the need to explore
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Christopher Columbus has been celebrated in history as a great explorer. His trips from Europe to the “New World”, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean were intended to discover an eastern trade route to Asia. Initially Columbus and his crew thought that was where they ended up when they reached the shores of islands known today as the Bahamas.
Columbus had to have faith that his arduous journeys would bear fruit. At the same time he was motivated not only by a sense of adventure, but a hope of riches and fame. You can read about the history of Columbus at Biography.com and note for yourself that he, like a lot of us, desired to control circumstances in his life. And he wasn’t always a nice person in those pursuits. The island natives certainly resented his forced labor of them in his greedy search for gold. He also had a rocky relationship with the Spanish Crown who financed his expeditions.
A lesson we can gleam from Columbus is that in our zeal to discover new worlds and to further a message of Christianity there can be selfish ambition and abuse of the very peoples to whom we hope to proclaim a message of Jesus Christ and love. Sadly that has been the legacy of much exploration in the name of God and country.
We all have a need to explore. We want to discover new worlds where we can apply our talents and find fulfillment. This drive to be explorers is planted in us by our Creator.
If we believe we’ve been sent on a mission to proclaim the Good News we should approach that mission with reverence, respect, humility and a pray for guidance from God to do it in a true spirit of love. The message of Jesus Christ is a very great one; we have an obligation to fully explore the meaning of the message and to live it as well as share it.
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