They are no more than carefully woven strands of rope – but they are, literally, bridges in the skies.
For centuries the Indians of the Peruvian Andes have linked their villages across mountain ridges and river gorges through a series of long rope bridges that are engineering marvels. The bridges were responsible for the remarkable commerce and communication that gave rise to the great Inca Empire of the 15th and 16th centuries.
In the remote South American highlands, these traditional bridge-making skills survive today. The entire village is involved in the process, which takes several days to complete. Lengths of ichu, a strong grass plentiful in the high altitude plains, are bound together and cut into bundles of twelve and pulled taut. Lighter lines, weighted with rocks, are hurled across the chasm to be spanned and then used to haul the heavier ropes across. Four ropes serve as the planks for the bridge floor; two others provide handrails. Finally, villagers weave the supporting balusters, working from both ends of the precarious rope skeleton to the middle.
Working together, Peruvian villagers have created highways in the heavens, creating a community among scattered, isolated hamlets.
Today we celebrate the birth of the last great prophet, John the Baptist, the bridge between old and new, the forerunner of God’s Christ. Like the Peruvian bridge makers and the herald John sent to make a “highway” in the desert, we, too, are called to be bridges to unite the human family, to be God’s points-of-entry into the deserts and isolated places of our world. It can be harrowing and demanding work.
As John was called, we are all called to the work of the prophet – “one who proclaims.” By virtue of our baptisms, God calls us to be agents of integrity; illuminators of the light of truth in every dark and hidden place; consciences of our homes, our schools, our workplaces.
Despite the “deserts” we wander through, despite the ridicule we must endure, despite the “grasshoppers” we may have to swallow, God asks each one of us to be bridges across the divides of despair and fear so that others may cross to God’s compassion and grace.
by Fr. John Frauenfelder