[Gocamino] [saintjames] two Sellos per etapa

[blaroli at aol.com]

In the Universities where I teach many students sit in as "auditors"... which means that they need not?comply with testing requirements and, consequently, do not receive? accreditation from having taken the courses.? Several of them have told me that they take the courses because of the knowledge that they will acquire, and not because of one? "diploma" or another.
Surely, ?many Santiago pilgrims have undertaken the pilgrimage for such self-fulfilling reasons, and the obtaining?a Compostela does not signify,? (if, in fact, it was ever considered), ?in their endeavors, nor would it need to do so.

But for pilgrims seeking to sustain their willing-but-weak spirits, like myself, the sight of a Compostela attesting to actually having completed a difficult physical undertaking, nurtured by a vaguely perceived spiritual purpose, is endearingly reassuring.....? very, very much so, ..... indeed!

My walking stick, and my framed Compostelas, hanging from the walls of my bedroom, remind me every day, as I wake up, of the wonders of life, ?and of the vast reaches of the heart pumping the blood onto the legs, and of the spirit guiding?the body forward, across the meseta, and up and down the?soul-expanding?ineffable?Galician mountains to Santiago.... and of having actually reached the Cathedral and hugged the symbolic image of the Apostle Saint James. 

Those?reminders, stick and Compostelas, ?are priceless to me..... particularly when the?busyness of every day threatens to overwhelm my human resources. 

Golly!, they remind me: If I could walk hundreds and hundreds of miles, with my life-supporting belongings on my back, and wholly? dependant on the good will of? just-met others, who never failed me and finish the course,......surely I can withstand and deal with the problems, pains and difficulties that are part and parcel of every-day?work and home life.

Someone once wrote that love is "the mirror on which we see ourselves". My framed Compostelas, in a way, do something similar for me.

Hugs!

Rosina?? 


 
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