Feast of St. James 2021

          In the Catholic tradition, when the Feast of Saint James (Santiago) falls on a Sunday, that year is considered a Holy Year, and so a time of great celebration in Spain and on the Camino de Santiago. In honor of this, I offer the following brief excerpt from my book, Into the Thin. Here, I'm kneeling before the reliquary said to contain the bones of the Saint. It is the physical object of the pilgrimage - a moment of prayerful consideration. From Chapter 20 of the book...

​         Here I choose to suspend my skepticism regarding its contents. Are they really the bones of the Saint, or a Camino legend hovering in some vague netherworld of superstition and fact-tinged belief? Was this merely an elaborate story created to inspire the Spanish people in their fight with the Muslims and then perpetuated throughout the centuries? I do not care. Its truth lies in the journeys of those who have made their way here for over a thousand years through mountain passes, deep rolling hills, and seeming endless, unshaded plains through all manner of weather. It lies in the kindness afforded them by strangers and each other, the infinite stories and purposes that called them here, and the mysterious intelligence that carried them on its power. The truth of it lies in every realized revelation of every pilgrim who ever walked. It lies in their utter surrender to the ways of the road. Whatever is contained in this reliquary has served Creation exceedingly well. And so I pray and honor those who came before me and those who will follow. I honor every thought that comes to them on their own country roads of home that lead them here.