Yesterday I drove out to The Abbey Of The Hills (formerly Blue Cloud Abbey) in Marvin, South Dakota, to spend all week with the men in diaconate formation. I am one of the deans of the class of men scheduled to be ordained in December, and this is the fourth summer I have gotten to spend time with them at the abbey. It is a ton of fun. The easiest way to get there from the southern and western suburbs of the Twin Cities is to take Highway 7, which for miles and miles cuts straight as an arrow through beautiful west-central Minnesota farm country before finally hitting the granite outcroppings near the Minnesota River. Much of the road was recently repaved, and where that has been done, the highway department folks have installed rumble strips at the edge of the shoulder of the road, and also in the middle of the road between the two oncoming lanes. If you get distracted or lose your focus on driving and start to wander off the road (which is almost-all just a single lane in either direction), the annoying sound and vibration of the rumble strips quickly gets you to steer back into your lane. Obviously that's a good thing because heading into the ditch, or into oncoming traffic, produces bad results. We read in today's Gospel (Mt 7: 6, 12-14) about the narrow gate and constricted road that leads to life. With that in mind, I wonder if God doesn't put rumble strips of sorts along that road, like those on Highway 7, to help us when we're about to head off the path. I say that because it is easy for us to leave the narrow road that leads to life-- the world provides so many opportunities -- but doesn't it seem like when we're going to do that, there is at least a momentary vibration, almost a sound, telling us that we're headed the wrong way. We almost have to make an affirmative choice to avoid paying attention to that annoying rumble strip, and move across that barrier. For just a second we're on the cusp of a decision, and the sound and vibration make that very clear. Once we've crossed over, though, we have clear sailing, right into the ditch (or worse), although we might not realize that for a time. The road that we're now travelling on, having left the narrow path, looks wide and easy. It just turns out not to be. But pay attention to that rumble, that vibration, that feeling in your gut that you should turn back and stay on the narrrow road. If you listen for it, you'll hear it and feel it-- although the more you ignore it, the fainter it becomes until it is quite hard to notice, you've gotten so used to it. That rumble is put there by God, to help us stay where we belong. Like the rumble strips on Hihghway 7, we ignore it at our peril.