It is the conversation and sheer Kindness emanating from Bosco that somehow pulled my tired & aching body up the steep and stony trail that day – up & up & up & up; all the way to the tiny mountainside town of La Faba, where Bosco sits me down and buys me a beer […]
Bosco and I waited for the rest of his compatriots to arrive in La Faba, and all of them eventually did so. All but Gaspar (who chose to walk on ahead to Ocebreiro) then sat there awhile to rest and partake of food & drink, fully enjoying each other’s company, and laughing heartily over each […]
And we walked & stumbled & limped & stumbled & limped & stumbled & walked some more – all the way to where The Way began to gradually level, and the border from thew region of Castile & Leon to the region of Galicia was crossed together … “The world is indeed a wide & […]
And so it was that we all eventually arrived at both the day’s & the mountain’s summit – the gorgeous stone-secluded village of Ocebreiro … “The best moments in our lives are their more passive or receptive or relaxing times. No, the best moments ever occur when our bodies & minds have been stretched to […]
As usual, after arriving in town I made my first stop the local church, in this instance a refuge that held extremely fond memories from my pilgrimage past; memories of arrival and reunion similar to today’s, yes, and yet also memories of bone-deep calm and unadulterated peace – a calm & peace that were provided […]
I then was heading towards the Municipal Albergue to check in (a volunteer in the church had heard the tale of my Walk and given me a church-sponsored “pass” to overnight in the same) when I crossed paths with James from Texas, a fellow pilgrim who invited me over to his pathside table to share […]
Well, it turned out that the Municipal Albergue would not honor the “church pass” I had been given without me producing some sort of official personal identification, which of course, I didn’t have. This somewhat callous rejection from the only hostel in town was highly disturbing to Bosco and the rest of my young friends, […]
And so it was that what had been a relatively arduous and stressful day (both physically & emotionally) had mellowed into a renewed appreciation for my Mission of Peace – a reawakening of True Self that was almost immediately “rewarded” with a showering of unexpected blessings: first, the arrival of Maikel & Maria from Herrerias […]
I woke after a surprisingly restless slumber and headed back out onto The Way. My back was still spasming quite painfully (as it had been since awakening in Pieros a few days prior) and yet I simply kept reminding myself that “It’s only pain” and that every single step was being taken for the world […]
“What is a Wanderer? Bound by no boundaries, contained by no countries, tamed by no time, ever pursued by both pain & purpose; he chooses to walk ever onward and thereby becomes the force of nature’s course.” ~ via Roman Payne “Traveler, put down your stones. Why are you trying to break the window when […]
Fittingly metaphorical (both for this particularly painful day as well as for human history of religion in general) the tiny church in the small town of Linares was simultaneously beautiful to behold and impossible to enter. “The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Christ, the poorer we become, and the more we simultaneously separate […]
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