It was shortly thereafter that I entered the small village of Maneru, and it was shortly after that entrance that I came upon The Way’s next sleeping saint – a fellow mendicant pilgrim taking sonorous refuge under the pavilion of the town’s central square. I wondered what dreams he was dreaming that morning, as well as to which destination was he headed, and why had he originally set forth? Far more importantly, of course, I wondered for whom was he walking, and – like myself – to whom today would he give his Love …

“How wonderful, you say, that God created something from nothing. Yes, to be sure, and yet far greater still is His perpetual mission to inspire sinners to become saints … Saint Anthony is known to have once noted that he sometimes encountered devils who looked like angels and at other times found angels to look like devils. When asked how he could ever tell the difference, the saint said that you can always tell which is which not by the way you feel after he or she has left your company, but rather by noticing what he or she has done (or not done) for others in need nearby … and are these men & women of a special and mostly unattainable stature? Can we the lowly ever truly aspire to even remotely become as they are? And the answer to this all-important query is this: Of course we can! For the saints, too, had consistently wandering minds and repeatedly grasping hands. The saints, too, had to constantly recall their meandering minds homeward. In truth, they became saints not because they succeeded in permanently taming their little wanderer, but rather because they – just like the Good Shepherd himself — chose to ever rise anew and set forth to transcend the same.” ~ via Soren Kierkegaard, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Peter Kreeft

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