An eerie silence filled the fields, as the harvesting activities I saw here last time were replaced with quiet growing. Even the tombstone of the New Englander Methodist minister seemed quietly stoic today.
My feet felt great during the walk though my left foot by the end of the day persists in blistering. I walked around town and figured out that in conjunction with a festival this weekend, there will be a bull run through town on Friday!
I attended a singing church service offered by the nuns of this monastery, followed by a blessing. Then I had dinner with Jote (from yesterday) and Teo. He just returned to finish the Camino. He walked from the Netherlands 2400 km to get here, went home to run a marathon and do some family functions, then returned to finish.
I spent much of the time alone: resting, roaming, and people watching. And listening to lots of storks and church bells. The walk was silent, the day was silent. Silence dominated.
And it made me think of a blog post I wrote a few months ago: http://www.letallwhoarethirstycome.com/2016/03/the-silence-between-notes-lenten.html
I was grieving at that point and I'm not grieving now. Yet I'm here, in my Benedictine cell, and I feel peaceful silence protecting me, as it did all morning on the Camino.
Between the high notes and low notes comes the silence. And it's the silence in between the notes that, as was stated in that blog post, we get music. Today has been the needed glue to make all this background sound - slowly, magically, patiently - transform into music.
May the music of silence fill your head and heart, and bring you peace, beauty, and rest.
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9:38 PM, Wednesday, June 8, 2016
ReplyDeleteDear Mel,
The primaries are over save for Washington DC next week. No glossy pictures of candidates in the mail today. I am still thinking about your post wondering who you are, is the Camino Mel, who you are in other places - if I understood your question. Richard Rohr has been writing about the brilliance of the 12 step program in terms of people figuring out who the are spiritually and their purpose. Today he writes about praying to the higher power for God to reveal what God's purpose is. Have you ever prayed to God that God reveal what God will for us and for God's helping in being able to carry out that plan. I don't think I have. It seems that Richard Rohr doesn't mean this is a one-time prayer either. The meditation is too long to include here.
Step Eleven
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out. [1]
Gateway to Silence
Thy will be done.
So maybe that's who you are in life - a Pilgrim who is discovering God's will for you and making that real in the world.
Love,
Phyllis