Leaving To Wander

We read a couple books on the Camino de Santiago walk before we set off to walk it, to get some idea of what we were getting into. Reading the following quotes from the book “The Way of the Stars” by Robert Sibley has a bit more meaning to us now.

“To be a pilgrim is to leave community and wander off across the cultivated fields in wild and foreign lands.” “The Way Of The Stars” (Robert Sibley)

Terri and I had never attempted an adventure like this before, where we left our our home, family and community for such a long time to walk through Spain’s  “cultivated fields”. It is interesting that reading about something like the Camino and doing it are really such different experiences. We really did get quite a “pilgrim experience” that we could never get by reading about it.

I have written about so many of our Camino experiences on this blog. I think for those of you that have followed this Camino blog have a good idea of some of the lessons we learned. They could not have been learned by reading more Camino walk books only by walking it.

“Sometimes you have to act before you know the meaning of your actions. The knowing comes after the doing” (Thomas Merton)

There is real value in leaving our community and wandering off across “cultivated fields in wild and foreign lands”.

Blessings,

John

Camino Pano of the Week

Muxia Storming

The majority of the Camino pilgrims end their walk at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. Some of the pilgrims continue walking 3 more days to the ocean on the west coast of Spain. We decided to take a tour bus to the ocean. This panoramic is from a storming day at the coastal city called Muxia.

Having Patience With Each Other

I have been a “quote collector” for a number of years. Whenever I come across something that strikes me as profound or important to remember, I save it in my “quotes file”. Over the years I have built up a large catalog of quotes and sayings. I wanted to share with you one today that I hope you also find helpful. It definitely was important to remember during our Camino walk.

This is the quote from a USA Today article written in 2012 by Judith Valente about her experience in a visit she made to a Benedictine monastery.

“I began to see how monastic practices could have practical application in my own professional life. In the past, whenever sisters were assigned to work together on a project, they would bow to each other and say, “Have patience with me”. I often think how much more pleasant my work day would be if, setting out to report a story for PBS, I bowed to my producer, bowed to the camera person and the audio technician, and they to me, and we asked each other to please have patience with our human frailties.”

During the Camino walk, we were faced with some very tight quarters in the “hostel like” Alberques where we spent the night. There often was very little privacy or space in some of the Alberques. Needless to say, it was very important to have patience with each other as we all shared a small space together. I would say on the whole, most of the Camino pilgrims were very patient with each other. Maybe it was because we were all facing the same challenges each day and had a shared destiny.

I believe that having patience with each other does not come naturally, yet what a difference it can make in our relationships if we all practiced it more! We all face situations regularly that test our patience. Maybe next  time we should bow and ask each other for patience with each other!

Blessings,

John

Pano of the Week

This week’s pano was taken in the last region of Spain that we walked through called Galacia.

Entering Galacia