Camino—Day 16

Camino de Santiago—Day 16

April 10th
CASTROJERIZ to FROMISTA

“…I am reminded how much my own life has been squandered in posturing.  The presence that comes from making something LOOK RIGHT on the surface, while ignoring the underlying lack of integrity and the feeling of discontent that follows.  Tamed person (man/woman) addicted to the approval of family & friends masking the wild person (man/woman) desperate for the freedom that comes with AUTHENTIC living while painting a larger canvas…”
(pg 148/ A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago)

For the past several days now I have walked the landscape called the MESETA—the peace & quiet of crop fields.  As I journeyed through this region, I have been especially mindful of the Parable of the Sower (and of my dear kindred Soul, Grace, who walks with me).

In many ways the parable I’m recalling, plays itself out in reverse of how it is shared.  It is the springtime of the year—so much is beginning to bud with NEW life.  There has been so much greenery and the wheat fields are FULL—they grow on the better soil.

I press forward and come to rough, stony earth, my feet feeling every bit of the broken terrain as does my spirit.  A strong will transcends my being—pushing me, driving me, as the BLISTERS create NEW soles.

The parable of the sower ‘sinks’ deeply into me—scenes of my life reveal my walking ‘in’ each terrain AND each terrain a part of the journey…my life.  I’m always growing and then there are the moments when NOTHING seems to be happening yet, in reality, EVERYTHING is happening…I’m simply NOT ripened to SEE.

My bruised feet, broken, leaking—healing themselves each day.

THIS Temple, in HARMONY with the soils I walk, brings me HERE to Fromista and the Church of Saint Martin.  Three hundred nine figures can be seen within these stone walls—various images of vegetables, geometric shapes, animals and monstrous human representations.  They contain stories, fables, endowed with meaning, and yet, lost in our contemporary culture.

Parts of the elements contained within the figures represent stories from Scripture leading to Christian doctrine.  Motifs were used to speak to the people who understood what we would call pagan expressions.  Still, it was through STORY…connection to the Universal MYSTERY…that I stand here NOW believing in what cannot be transmitted in words, but through every breath I take I am a part of CHRIST’S unending liturgy of Life.