Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
(from my journal) Nájera 09 April La Rioja: Somewhere West of Ventosa, Early Morning The Vineyards of La Rioja Viola with a Shepherd’s Hut We left Ventosa at 7:30, despite our best efforts to be out by 7. Nevertheless, here we are drinking café con leche, 10km on, at 9:30 in the morning. The Streets of Nájera The Streets of […]
» Read more(from my journal) Ventosa Annunciation of the Lord Short, difficult day today. The roads were actually fairly easy, but all of us are still feeling yesterday. Cliff left first, and he was soon out of sight. Charlie is taking a rest day or two. Ali, Eamon, Patrick, Petra, Viola, & I set off together. Breakfast in Logroño and then a […]
» Read more(from my journal) Logroño Divine Mercy Sunday / 6PM Petra and Claus having breakfast at our wonderful albergue in Los Arcos Charlie, setting out from Los Arcos Today I walked 28 km. From Los Arcos it was a delightfully easy 7 km to Sansol. Onward, we walked over easy roads through olive trees and vineyards, culminating in a steep, undulating […]
» Read more(from my journal) Estella Easter Saturday / 5:20AM I woke up early and surprisingly refreshed. I wrote some post cards and will attempt to pack my bag before everyone else it up for breakfast. It’s snowing. Breakfast in Estella. Eamon and Patrick in the corner. Los Arcos 4:30PM Arrived in Los Arcos about 3PM. This morning, Charlie, Eamon, Petra, and […]
» Read more(from my journal) Mañeru Easter Friday / Noon Seven AM wake-up call and on the Road. Ali and Cliff remained in Puente la Reina. Ali is getting some help for an allergic reaction to her socks. Cliff’s blisters are getting worse, so he’s planning on resting a few days and taking a bus to Logroño. Morning in Puente la Reina […]
» Read more(from my journal) Puente La Reina Easter Thursday / 7pm Arrived exhausted, physically, mentally, emotionally. 9pm Showered. Clothes washed. In a bar looking forward to food and wine. I’m utterly wiped out. My feet are numb and my shoulders ache. This is the day my pilgrimage actually began. Fortified and Ready to Start Walking! We started the day in magnificent […]
» Read more(from my journal – the day by day account continues!) Irotz Easter Wednesday / 11AM This morning about 8AM we left Kristof behind and set out for Pamplona! No coffee or breakfast until now. A Farewell to Zubiri Walking mostly with Eamon or by myself. Ali has lagged behind out of sight, and Cliff has pushed ahead, not wanting to […]
» Read more(from my journal) Roncesvalles Easter Tuesday / 6:52AM “Wake Up, Little Susie” at 6:30, played on guitar and sung by a very enthusiastic minstrel. Oy. Looking back at Roncesvalles Setting off at last! This is the photo that every pilgrim has taken. Zubiri / Albuergue Zaldiko Easter Tuesday / 3:45PM Set off with Linda from Germany. We had breakfast in […]
» Read moreA rough day, full of missing the Camino and my Camino family. I believe I will deal with this by using this one-year anniversary to begin typing my journal – rough as it is – and posting the entries to my Camino blog day by day. Let’s see what happens, shall we? If we’re fortunate, and the technology still works, […]
» Read moreWe are rapidly approaching the one-year anniversary of our Camino. And, God willing, exactly two years from today we will leave on our next one. In the next month or so, I’ll be posting photos, day by day, of last year’s Camino, with my ruminations on each day a year later. This is not exactly for you, dear reader (though […]
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The mercy of God is a scandal – Christ offers His infinite mercy to every worst kind of sinner, excluding no one. This eternal upwelling of mercy overflows, cascading upon the whole of the human race. It extends to murderers. It extends to rapists. It extends to thieves, and liars, and stalkers, and vandals. It extends to tax collectors and […]
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LISTEN, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of thy loving Father, that by the toil of obedience thou may return to Him from whom by the sloth of disobedience thou hast gone away. (Beginning of the Prologue of the Rule of Saint […]
» Read moreWell that got your attention, didn’t it? It’s not quite true of course; Patrick may have been born on the isle of Britain, but in a time before the Angles had arrived and started making it Angland. No, his family were Roman Catholic churchmen from the Roman Imperial province of Britannia. Today, nobody is going to go around speaking in […]
» Read moreThis past week I was privileged to attend the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church with my good friend Greg. Can I say? The liturgy was absolutely beautiful and quite affecting – and of course there was much with which I was completely unfamiliar. The choir was beautiful, and the chanting – in English – really […]
» Read moreAs the Altar Server coordinator for my parish, one of my jobs is to train Servers, old and new. This past Saturday, I conducted my first formal training. We had a very good turnout and a very productive training. We ran half an hour over on time for what was already scheduled to be a two-hour training. The first half […]
» Read moreWelcome to all those who found my Camino blog via Craig Sailor’s great article in the Tacoma News Tribune! Being a blog, the articles are in backwards order in terms of time, but the Archives link on the left hand side of the page should help you find the oldest posts so you can read them in order. Enjoy! thom
» Read more“Remember Man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” And with those words, our Lent has begun. Holy Mother Church calls us to make these next forty days until Easter a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a pilgrimage, in a sense, through time if not space, through death to resurrection. A pilgrimage of penitence. […]
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