[Gocamino] (no subject)

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
Grant put some pictures on the Web, and in Youtube, of the San Juan de la Penha Monastery? (How he does those things is a deep mystery to me.)
The pictures were taken during the summer last year with a typical pilgrims' camera: small and weightless and with very limited capabilities, and I think they are clearer on the? pictures' site than on Youtube.
Some explanations:
The capitals of of the columns around the cloister are all different and contain sculpted biblical scenes.? The ones on the pictures show a) the raising of Lazarus; a) Jesus with the fishermen on a boat in the sea of Galilea; c) Cain killing Abel; d) Joseph's dream, e)?and the Last Supper.? There are a great many more there, like the entry into Jerusalem, the nativity, etc., but those pictures did not come out well , and, being the summertime, the monastery became full of people and taking photographs became difficult.
If you see the pictures you will notice that the eyes of the sculpted are unsually large; while no one knows the intent of the sculptors, there are several theories:? that the surrounding area and the Monastery are so beautiful that normal-sized eyes could not encompass their beauty, or that the Monastery was a place of safe-keeping for the Holy grail and those there would need to be ever so vigilant to protect the Cup.
One of the pictures shows the chapel (one of four in the monastery) where the Grail was kept.... deep in the bowels of the cave.
The Monastery grew out of a cave (the whole story was posted here sometime ago), and, in time, became an intricate and large structure with several chapels. One of the chapels is quite lavish, and some medieval vainglorious Aragonese monarchs chose it as their burial place. The other chapels are humble and quiet, mostly meant for contemplation and prayer, and the one where the Grail was maintained is at the inner middle?of the structure.
That the monks were able to safeguard the Grail for centuries was in no small measure due to the location of the Monastery:? way up on the side of a rocky mountain and, in mediaval times, very difficult to find if you did not know that it was there.? The monastery also contains a museum, a library, kitchens and a refrectory; these, however, are not generally open to the public.
The locations and the beauty of the structure take one's breath away.? I, for one, never tire of admiring it.... and the next time I go I will be sure to take a good camera with me.
The first time I visited it the monastery I was rendered speechless, which being a fairly emotional person would not have been out of character for me.? But besides me?there was a middle-aged, tall fellow from England which appeared to? be a military? person. He, too, stood there visibly moved.? When he finally spoke he said that humans may travel through space and even go to other galaxies, but that the?miraculous? point in time when faith, imagination, creativity and Christian spirituality came together to build such a wonder as the San juan de la Penha Monastery would never happen again. 
I think that most of us who have visited the monastery would agree.

Hugs!

Rosina 
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