Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Another start

Last thursday night we went to the movie about the Camino called The Way.  It was a good movie.  It encourages me to go further and as the characters reached Santiago I had the same excitement and amazement as I think they portrayed in the film.  There is, I believe, a 3-fold way to happiness and health for oneself and that encompasses the body (physical), mind and spirit.  Over the weekend I went to St. Paul's Cathedral to walk around and see what a cathedral really looks like.  I wanted also to be inspired to make the changes in my life, though I don't know how or what they may be in the end.  I walked around the cathedral reading all the information about how it was built, who the saints were that were celebrated here, and what were the meanings of the cathedral's design.  I sat in a pew and observed the choir practicing, people moving about and when a strange man asked to pass me in the pew though there were many other open pews I took it as a sign to move on.  I went downstairs to where I had come in having seen most people entering through the basement earlier during mass.  There is a gift shop of sorts there, a hallway to a museum that is under construction and a chapel.  Doors lead elsewhere beneath the cathedral and people passed in and out.  I went into the Cana Chapel and it was shadowy there.  I went to the front of the chapel and knelt down. People were passing by behind me, I could hear them, then someone turned on the lights.  It wasn't so dark a person couldn't see and I was happy to be in the shadows.  Enough light came in through the chapel windows.  As I knelt in the chapel I was overwhelmed by a sorrow I couldn't define.  It was something of a loss of the time in my past that has not been well spent.  I felt as though this was the beginning of my spiritual journey and that many more tears would fall before I reach Santiago.  It was a cleansing sorrow and I am so thankful that I have had this chance beginning.  There is a reason for this pilgrimage beyond walking the miles and I hope to find the reason for me.  Then, as the characters in the movie had to answer the question to get their Compostela at Santiago, I will be able to say how the Camino changed my life. 

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