Curious that I didn’t mention God in my post yesterday, maybe the most important component. What do you make of that? Maybe a silent partner? Maybe someone so pervasive, underlying and obvious that it goes without saying. Perhaps.
I guess my very personal view of the Camino as I saw it in August of the year, the busiest month, was a social one. I wasn’t a solitary monk walking alone to gain some new personal level in my relationship with God. I think for me all that came came through people, those that I started with and those that we met along the way. It was sort of finding the love of God through finding love for your fellow man. Does that make sense?
That seems like a very reasonable sort of mechanism. That seems to be what was working for me. We all have our own Camino, as they say, so maybe it is only one personal take on the situation.
But my relationship with God did change and become more profound. It became simpler, more intimate, more internalized. That was happening while walking and afterward, an evolution. One of the things that influenced me the most that I can point to was a notion in the Pilgrim’s Beatitudes which was written , “the silence of prayer”. I changed from giving wordy prayers that attempted to conjure up God or invite Him in from afar to almost wordless prayers that speak to intimacy. So, yes God is there, always was, always will be.
And thank you for all the comments on the post yesterday. Maybe that is the most that I have gotten on a single day. I’m glad you are all awake out there. Thanks for coming, love, Felipe.
Your observations about seeing God in the people around you are the same as mine. We didn’t have to work out some sacred ritual – we were living God’s plan, studying hard the meaning of love and practicing it with each step along the road. That is why I felt that the physical Camino is just like life compressed into some weeks. Words are not so needed as they only make sense once the heart has been brought alongside, and by that time, no words are even needed.
Thank you as always for pressing the keys to share words with us each day.
Peace (and I do read your words every day even if I comment only once in a while.)
Ron ~ hi. We will talk about this more today. Cris brought up some thoughts on beauty which I want to fit in. Thanks, Felipe.
I find it interesting about yesterday’spost– it ended up with so much resonance and deep probing for so many. I was thinking about you writing it. Goin up to the plate, doin your job, just there to advance the runner, just tryin to make contact, hit a single. Not swinging for the fences or aiming for a ‘five-run at-bat.’
And you put a good, level swing on it: Home Run.
Though I am somewhat of an outsider vis a vis the Caminoheads, the blog is always my first reading. As an outsider, I need to ‘translate’ to get the gist over to my part of the uiverse. It’s corney, but it seems part of an appropriately self aware spirituality is just doin our job– just makin contact, playing for the team, not trying to swing for the fences. When we do– well, Home Runs can happen, huh?
Your pal
Esteban
Esteban ~ good to hear from you. You are just the right amount of outsider to come in with good comments the way you do. Obviously you are just warming up to write your own blog here one of these days. This topic has many facets and it’s fun to jump from one to another. Raining here, Felipe.
Hola Felipe,
I think yesterday all of us were inspired, and inspired by your post too. Today’s post is another one… today’s one can open a large discussion… The vision of God is as wide as the vision of the Camino… isn’t it? Each of us has our own. The Camino, funny enough, helped to find mine: for me, the Camino was Beauty.
And then, in John O’Donohue’s words, I found: “God is Beauty”. And then, listening to a recorded radio show, when he was asked what was Beauty, he said “Beauty is the presence in which we become more alive”.
One year after arriving to Santiago (and before having read that book of John O’Donohue), I wrote:
“One year ago I arrived to Santiago de Compostela, after walking without interruption for 34 days. I can summarize the experience with one word: “Beauty”.
I learned about the beauty in the world, the beauty in the people, the beauty in the souls, the beauty in the hearts when they open or when they are closed, the beauty in the art of listening and speaking and being listened, the beauty of friendship, the beauty in sharing, the beauty of what is painful and poigneant and yet beautiful because it is what gathered many of us, the beauty of love, the beauty of being all human beings in this planet: ones receiving, others giving, ones looking for shelter, others waiting for us. Certainly one of the most humbling experiences of my life.”
The Jesuits (and Pope Francis!!!) philosophy is “finding God in all things”.
Effortlessly then, all three Words (with capital W -Beauty, Camino, God-) are connected.
BCG hugs,
Cris
Cris ~ these is just such a nice piece of writing that I want to move all or part of it to the blog post today. Thank you for bringing up beauty as a catalyst, as a way. You made me go back to relive those days on the Camino and remember being overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. Thanks, Felipe.
Thank you for the warm welcome and the opportunity to feel connected. I feel “walking with you” in my local Everday Camino may be a turning point toward healing for me in All ways. With deep gratitude, kathleen
Kathleen ~ so glad that you are feeling the connection. It’s real. Stay tuned to the Camino Family for more. Felipe.x