Day 089o: Malevolence at Midday … (July 12, 2019)
This day proved to be exceptionally hot and exceptionally dry and exceptionally dusty; all conditions that made for a quite tired arrival into the town of Boadilla. The pathside bars and hostel cafes here were already filled with dozens of pilgrims by the time I arrived; pilgrims who had not walked as far, and yet pilgrims who had clearly succumbed to the same discomforts I was feeling. This was one of the first days of my pilgrimage where I can remember feeling the distinct effects of walking at a much higher tempo than my compatriots – with almost all the pilgrims I had met & befriended being several miles (or in some cases several days) behind me, and all of the walkers I was now meeting giving me the curious glances and cautious distance like the outsider I was. None of the aforementioned rest-stops seemed even remotely inviting to either myself or my cause, and yet solace was found there that day nonetheless, in the unsurprisingly welcome confines of the local church – a shaded & solitudinous sanctuary where I could sit and rest and reaffirm my resolve …
“ The least appreciated among the virtues and also the most misunderstood is the virtue of humility. And yet humility – sincere & all-encompassing humility – is the very groundwork of The Way of Christ. Humility is a grace of the Soul that can never be adequately expressed in words (however gentle or self-deprecating) and is only properly shown or known by one’s deeds, specifically those that are radically kind &/or joyfully self-sacrificial. In this fuller sense, humility is an unspeakable treasure that is truly a gift of God – who has quite clearly noted that we are to learn not from angels, nor from men, nor from books; but rather from His presence; both the shining virtues and loving actions that reside within you.” ~ via William B. Ullathorne
“And the heavenly Father will give you another Advocate to be with you forever. And this will be the Spirit of Truth, whom the mundane world cannot receive because it neither sees It nor honors It. And yet you will know It because It will abide with & within you.” ~ Jesus Christ (John 14:16-17)
“Remember that God is love, and that those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” ~ 1 John 4:16
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