This ostentatiously opulent gated mansion, appropriately located just across the street from the local church, readily caught my eye and profoundly disturbed my spirit … “People will often ask you the question ‘How is life treating you?’ And yet my question to you is this: ‘How are you treating life?’ For on that question, and […]
I saw Jackie in her yard as I was heading out of town, and was blessed to speak with her for awhile – powerfully testifying to my Walk and its underlying Way of Kindness; doing so fluidly in fact that she freely offered me a few apples and a loaf of bread for the Road […]
“The soulful walker (a.k.a. a true Nature Lover) will in many cases prefer to walk alone; and not because he revels in the joy of the same, or because his solitude shows him to be self-contained, or because all his adventures and experiences combine to make him independent of all company, or because by doing […]
Later I arrived in the village of Castillon, and paused there in its local church – a pause that, as usual, was filled with Peace & Purpose … “In every ancient religious and sacred text, faith is a verb; a thing to be humbly & courageously demonstrated, not something to be arrogantly & mentally believed. […]
“For real Love to truly live our Circle of Compassion must be repeatedly de-bordered, and this is why it is per se beneficial to walk in pilgrimage. For pilgrimage – especially those walks taken in lands strange or foreign – is by its very nature a forced widening of our horizons; both literally (i.e. the […]
It was then that I came across the lovely Paroisse de St. Jacques en Saubestre; a lovely Romanesque chapel where I spent more than a few moments in calm of mind and cool of climate … “To encounter the sacred is to be alive at the deepest center of human existence. Sacred places are the […]
I was feeling pretty exhausted by the time I finally entered the city of Arthez de Bearn, and headed straight away into its local church. This was a noticeably larger affair than the many other churches and chapels I had encountered of late, and maybe that is why it lacked much of the aforementioned’s sense […]
Even though I had already found a temporary Residence for the night, it was still early enough to flow a bit through the neighboring sections of town to see what I could See. And very soon thereafter I walked up to the local Maison des Pelerins, where Nadine – the hospitalera on call that night […]
There are two ways for pilgrims (and indeed non-pilgrims as well) to truly & deeply clean their clothes – one is wash them attentively (and preferably let them dry outside overlooking a lovely garden), and the other is to give them away lovingly* … 🙂 “We must Wake Up. If we are going to find […]
I woke super early again this morning and headed back to the town’s church at 5am, where I offered thanks to the place for offering refuge the day prior (even though I stayed elsewhere thereafter) and then dozed a bit sitting on a chair in its peaceful courtyard until it got light enough to walk […]
It soon got light enough to see The Way, and I set out into the calm crisp morning. Both birds and bats swirled and dipped and danced above my head and I was awash in appreciation & gratitude; knowing that I was in no hurry and also knowing that I would not tarry or dawdle […]
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