Distance: 22.9 km, Easy
On this second day of really walking, we notice the gift of our bodies. Each step that we take, we feel the shifting of our weight and the engagement of our muscles. We are embodied people and as Christians, we are blessed by a God who knows what it means to have a human body too.
By becoming human in Jesus, Christ takes on flesh and feels all that we feel. He knows what it feels like to ache. He knows the way tension and stress sit in our shoulders or the way we clench our jaws almost unconsciously. His face was surely traced with lines from laughter; his eyes knew the sting of tears. Fully human and fully divine, Jesus knows what it feels like to walk the earth.
Even as God knows, we can sometimes forget the gift of our bodies. Think about the times you have been under the weather. On those days, you are mindful of the gift of breathing freely or the blessing of an appetite. As we age or face injury, we come to appreciate what we once had– the fluid movement of younger joints and the uninhibited gait with which we took to the world.
Even in preparing for this journey, my body told me what it could or couldn’t do. Push too far and for days you might feel the effects. Yet, when the ache subsides (as it hopefully does) we are all the more grateful for the absence of pain, giving thanks that our bodies can recover and that our muscles build strength as we go.
As we make the Camino (either by walking or praying) we are invited with each new day to be conscious of our physical being. Wherever you find yourself today (either walking or praying), pay attention to your body. As you sit or stride, feel the muscles in your body flex and relax.
Try starting at the top of your head and with each breath (or series of steps) moving downward toward your feet. Feel where you are holding tension—is it in your face, your shoulders, your fingers, your toes? Wiggle these parts of your body to release any tension. Let yourself feel God’s presence with you.
Think of Jesus’s own body. At the end of the day, where would he feel the strain of his ministry? When he healed others, how/where did it resonate in his body? Do you think he ever marveled at the body he was in or that Mary, his mother, would marvel at the man he grew into?
Today marvel at the gift of your body. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Pray with this excerpt from Psalm 139 and let your body rest in the loving embrace of the One who made you and loves you.
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely…
You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know…
How precious to me are your designs, O God;
how vast the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sands;
when I complete them, still you are with me.
(Psalm 139: 1-4, 13-14, 17-18)