There is a scene in the movie Shrek where the limbs of the Gingerbread Man are being pulled off one by one. I felt very much like that at one point during my second pilgrimage, the time after Spain. Significant brain fog prevented me from formulating coherent sentences to be read by the public. Writing...
Change is difficult for all creatures. I’m reminded of that every time I put my dogs in the car. Swapping what we know for something unfamiliar provokes all kinds of anxiety, compounded by the grief of letting go of people, places, and things we’ve come to love and enjoy. Even when we know the...
This is a favorite of mine by Max Ehrmann. It used to hang on the wall of our laundry room and was a reminder of peace growing up. Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with...
In the fourth century, a group of Christian hermits fled to the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, and Persia in a quest for clarity, to know their true selves, and to achieve purity of heart. These Desert Fathers removed themselves from the world in order to seek a way to God unmapped by others before...
On the evening of April 29, I sat around a large wooden table with about 20 other pilgrims in the small French village of St. Jean Pied de Port. Each of us would begin our 780-kilometer trek to Santiago the next day. Just before dinner, we shared the “title” of our Camino – a summary...
