While most of the larger churches I entered on my Walk were ironically less than impressive (with most of them somehow being too cavernous & looming to provide the warmth and spiritual intimacy that my own pilgrim’s Soul seemed to crave), the main sanctuary in Espalion proved to be a lovely exception to this rule … 😀

“Certain sacred places exist among the endless abodes of every major city, places that serve as sanctuaries fully separate from the present and the mundane. They are immune to the hustle & bustle of economic life, the sounds and the furies that in the end bring little and change nothing. Like long unopened tomes sitting upon dusty shelves, these places of calm are somehow filled with a deeper knowledge that has somehow been kept hidden from the profanity and the routine of the everyday. And yet buried even as they are by time, there still abides in these enclaves of solace seeds of truth and integrity patiently awaiting the proper conditions for germination — the proper humility, the proper reverence, the proper conviction, the proper courage. And there is some process that repeatedly occurs within this apparent dormancy, some subtle shifting of the fabric of reality that tangibly affects all who enter and yet that science will never fully declare. And so it is that from such holy places occasionally springs a gigantic oak of knowing whose day has finally come.” ~ inspired by James Rozoff

P.S. The church’s stone-carved raised pulpit was something to behold …

… and this particular stained-glass window was pretty impressive as well … 🙂

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019) by Scaughdt