Distance: 22.8 km, Easy
Today’s journey departs from Sarria, the most popular starting point for the Camino de Santiago. Its popularity comes not from its beauty or accommodations but from its proximity to Santiago de Compostela, the end of our pilgrimage. In fact, Sarria is precisely 114 km (70.8 miles) from Santiago de Compostela, a distinction that marks the minimum distance one can travel if they wish to earn an official Compostela pilgrimage certificate, indicating they completed the journey.
Ten days into our pilgrimage in everyday life, this minimum distance invites us to consider the quality of our engagement so far. Have we set time aside each day to prayerfully reflect with God? Has the grace we initially asked for when we set out become more apparent in our lives or has it transformed into a different grace that we might be more in need of?
As we consider these questions, we pause to ask God if there is more (or less) we can do to be faithful to the path we are on. Jesus, where are you leading me? Help me to pay attention to your lead.
To help draw your attention to following Christ’s lead, today you are invited to the prayer practice of the labyrinth. For ages, Christians have used labyrinths to focus their prayer and reflect on the spiritual journey. Some labyrinths are embedded in church floors (most famously perhaps at Chartres Cathedral in France), others fill outside spaces at retreat houses, and still others are carved in tabletop form.
To pray with a labyrinth, one simply begins the pathway from the outside in. Whether walking it by foot or tracing the pathway on an image with your finger, each “step” in the labyrinth is an invitation to feel ourselves more grounded with God. Each step is a prayer: Jesus, lead me.
Some people reflect on their day (or a set period of time) as they follow the path. Others reflect on their lives and the spiritual journey more broadly. Whatever you consider as you “walk” the labyrinth, you can notice the way the pathway ebbs and flows. Like in the spiritual life, sometimes it is when we are closest to our center (God) that we are then led out to the very edges. The path we walk folds back on itself. In and out we go, all in pursuit of (and with) God.
Yet, in a labyrinth, there is nothing to do but go deeper with God. We don’t have to choose which way to go; we only need to put one foot in front of the other and walk with Jesus. The path leads to the center. We come home to God always.
As you pray with the labyrinth today, rest in God. Know that Jesus is your companion on the journey, walking with you. Feel God’s presence. If it’s helpful use the following poem “Rise and Fall” by Sister Colleen Gibson, SSJ to begin your prayer/walk and to draw your attention to God’s presence in you and with you at this moment (and every moment.)
Or if you feel like taking a field trip, why not visit the Labyrinth at Clock Tower Park in Wellesley (at Washington St. and Maugus Ave.– beside the Unitarian Universalist Society and across from Green’s Hardware)? Take this opportunity to stretch your legs and walk a bit with me and my group from a distance!
Rise & Fall
Twenty-two thousand times a day
your chest will rise and fall.
Each single breath,
a wonder.
That thousands of gallons of air
would pass your lips
seemingly unnoticed
Yet so it is,
until it’s not.
Rise
and
Fall
Rise
and
Fall
Ever Ancient,
Ever New
I trace the marks on my hands
which have somehow become my mother’s
as I ponder the mystery of our becoming
the people God intended us to be.
One breath at a time,
a tiny leap of faith,
a miracle of openness.
Evening then morning
Each a marvel of creation.
We share the air from age to age
like faith well worn
passed on and built upon
Rise
and
Fall
Rise
and
Fall
Rise and fall
You remain
to forgive our foibles
to save us from ourselves
to love with a grace
that comes so steadily
with each rise and fall
reminding us
that to live is to surrender
to float on the breath
that was and is and ever shall be.
And in that you hold us,
Oh so tenderly
Our dying and our rising
That we might be only yours
with each and every
rise and fall.