(Our moon is in it’s New Phase, 0% illumination.)
(photo R Densmore)
As someone who has embarked on two separate multi week, spiritual pilgrimages in Italy, both of which were focused on the lives of Saints Francis and Clare, it may have been obvious that some aspect of letting go would be involved. After all these two came from families which were very well off and both took extreme vows of poverty. At a minimum I thought my thinking would be challenged about letting go of physical possessions, which it was, but there was another aspect of letting go I hadn’t considered.
In my journey to Italy in the fall of 2015 the pilgrimage explored the Saints lives in Rome, Reiti Valley, and my beloved Assisi. After a week in Rome, I became very sick in Reiti. Being sick was not in my plans, it was not on my agenda! As we reached Assisi, where we were to remain for 2 ½ weeks, my heart was breaking. My only other experiences in the charmed, Umbrian, hillside town was during 2 different day trips with La Romita School of Art, located in Terni Italy, where my Aunt Charlotte taught art classes for many years. One of my lifelong dreams was to spend 3 full days in this hillside town to freely explore it’s rich history as well as to observe the medieval city waking in the morning and to participate in the picturesque display of the colors of sunset.
As I struggled to rest so I could help my body heal, my frustration and disappointment must have been evident to the group. While I was just strong enough to join in the daily excursions, I had no energy for any additional adventures of exploration or reflection. At one point one of the pilgrimage leaders, Father Murray Bodo, lovingly pulled me aside and suggested that perhaps God wanted me to have an inner pilgrimage this trip. My only reply at the time was that I hadn’t spent thousands of dollars to come to Italy for an inner pilgrimage when I could do that California for free!
What I didn’t understand then, and really didn’t began to fully grasp until this year, was the process of letting go of my expectations for the reality I was being faced with. As this year has shown me and many others, we can have our plans, hopes and dreams, but sometimes reality doesn’t move in alignment with the direction we want to go. What I have gained from the experience of my time in Italy back in 2015 has better helped me to face the challenges of 2020. While this year has not been one that any of us had expected, I think back to Fr. Bodo’s words and perhaps this year we were all meant to have an inner pilgrimage. In Rachael Marie Martin’s words “sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are actually living.”
May you find strength and joy from your inner pilgrimage of 2020!
Rho Densmore
CSWBC
Thank you, Rho!!
You are welcome. 😊
🙏
❤️
Thank You Rho for this.
A HEART breaking story with a great lesson attached.
May we, as you say, learn the difficult yet simple lesson that “We are not running the show”.
Trust and Journey on.
Warm Loves.
William.
William, it can be a hard lesson to learn but an important one yet it takes some of us a lot longer to learn it than others.
Trusting the journey…trust the Camino. 😊
Rho
Dear Rho, thank you so much for this! I’ve had the same thoughts ever since this all began and am more and more convinced that things turn out the way they are supposed to if we just let go and appreciate where we are.
And my jaw dropped when you mentioned that one of the pilgrimage leaders was Fr. Murray Bodo! He was my creative writing professor in 1983 at the Convent of St. Martin, a rural outpost of Cincinnati’s Xavier University. I was a timid, recently divorced housewife with 5 kids and not much education and Fr. Bodo and the nuns at the convent made my re-entry so reassuring that I began to believe in myself again. I still take out his “Letters from Pleasant Street,” from time to time to reread his marvelous words about inner-city Cincinnati.
Mary,
Thank you for letting me know my post spoke to you. ❤️
Fr Bodo is a very special person and how wonderful it must have been for you to have him as a teacher. I found him to be very kind and had the ability to live in the present moment unlike anyone else I know.
On our pilgrimage I was the only non Catholic in the group and he took me under his wing for the duration of the pilgrimage. We shared some special moments which I am ever grateful for.
Is “Letters from Pleasent Street” one of the books he has written? If you haven’t read his autobiography be sure to get a copy of “Gathering Shards, A Franciscan Life by OFM Murray Bodo”.
❤️
Thank you, Rho!
One of the best advices I was given was that “none of us escape from our humanity”…
Hugs to you!
❤️
Cris
You are welcome Cris!
Hogs to you too.
❤️
Great writing Rho! And such lovely, introspective thoughts and ongoing lessons learned. I’m sure this has helped as you transition into your next life chapter in Arizona. Thanks for your shared wisdom.
PFJ
Thank you John!
I ran out of room to share in my post how in the beginning of the year Jim and I had all 12 months of 2020 laid out on a huge white board in our office. Each month had several goals and also listed was a short list of end of year goals. Around August I walked into the office one day and he had erased everything that had to do with our objectives for 2020. The beginning of the year looked liked just another year. However, now here in October we had never anticipated Jim being laid off from his job of 24 years and a move to Arizona.
2020 has certainly become a year of learning to let go and trusting in God.
Pace e Bene,
Rho
Oh, Rho! This is so, so true and thanks for posting this reminder. It’s always a delicate dance between overcoming obstacles or realizing that the direction must change. Sigh . . .
Thanks so much.
Love and hugs to you,
Debra
You are welcome Debra!
It is challenging and even more so when we resist. Holding our expectations loosely is a mindset that can be hard to practice. I wonder if those who have spent many weeks on the Camino or were able to take the time to walk the entire route in Spain were faced with this lesson at some point?
Hugs back to you too!
Rho
Rho:
Just wanting to let you know how much your post moved me. Yes, lessons of letting go surround us every day. I admire the courage it must have taken for you to hear Fr. Bodo’s advice and act on it. May we all have the courage to listen to today’s whispered reminders to let go, whether they come in dreams, conversations on distanced walks with friends (and Caminoheads!), screaming news headlines, or ZOOM calls. I am newly inspired by your example! Thanks for sharing it!!