December 1 ADVENT

 So, I begin my 30 day journey again.  In the quiet of my home.  I will review my pictures of each day, along with some Jesuit assistance. These 25 days will coincide with the walk, beginning with Day 1 in October.  I will be reviewing 25 Spiritual 🎁 Gifts, 25 Spiritual Hero’s, and our daily meditations from the walk.  I will take my words from the Ignatius Gifts prayer site.

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• Week 1: considers God’s great love for us and our sometimes flawed response to God’s gifts. We pray for the grace to see ourselves as sinners, yet loved by God.
• Week 2: focuses on Christ’s mission to save and heal the world. The retreatant discovers more intimately Jesus’ compassion and fundamental love of the people. The retreatant grows in a desire to join Jesus in his mission.
• Week 3: centers on the passion of Jesus. The retreatant is asked to travel the way of the cross with Jesus.
• Week 4: explodes with the chaos, wonder, confusion and awe of the Resurrection. It is from this intimate experience of God’s power of life over death that propels the retreatant on their mission post-retreat.
• ** from St Regis University/ https://libguides.regis.edu/c.php?g=882343&p=6379574

Words for the day:  prophetic listening

I often talk before listening closely. One of my goals for the Camino was to learn mindfulness.  It is a hard practice for someone who buzzes around and has difficulty being still.  

So, I review the first day of the Camino.  This was our introductions, meeting one another, preparing.  Much like Advent.  And I will share some pics of our first day!  I met my 15 fellow pilgrims with whom I would be walking (or not) and had our guide, Fr Josep Iriberri, SJ.  Our first night was spent in a convent, Casa de Spiritualidad Jesus Maria in Azpetia. 

The convent where we stayed.  Individual rooms!

                      My humble abode for 2 nights!

  Little did I know 7 days later, I’d be spending 5 hours in an emergency room, on another small bed;  due to fever and severe cough. It was a pesky virus and the cough lingered for nearly a month!

So, thoughts from the first day of Camino: 

Yes, prophetic listening: so important for mindfulness! I spent 40 years as a counselor.  Why it was “easy” to be present to my clients(for the most part); yet so difficult in the rest of my life; is a mystery I hope to solve.  Or at least improve!

The meandering stream of the river Erbo.  We would follow this river, meaning iron, for much of our trip. How fortified we needed to be for this trek that turned out much more difficult for me than I imagined!

          The hills around Azpeitia, another convent!  Being aware of the beauty around me was a special gift

So, 1st day of advent thoughts: maybe my new mantra:

“Be still and know that I am God.”  Psalm 46:10.

Fr. Josep, our guide stressed the importance of living in the moment.  As a person who likes to know what’s ahead (a bit or a lot of control); it was hard for me NOT to know the plans of the next day until the end of the one we encountered.     

Our first day included a prayer 🙏 for detachment.  I’d forgotten he was stressing detachment from the beginning!  Letting go of control.  What I would lay before the Black Madonna 3 weeks later.  “Being mindful” of God!  

Journeys can be hard!    Jeez Louise!