Jesuit Community
I spent this past July walking more than 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. I am often asked: “what was the high point?” It’s a hard question, because there were no blinding flashes of insight, and the beauty of Northern Spain was so constant it’s hard to identify a single moment that stands out.
What was the high point? Well, really, just walking.
Did my companion and I give ourselves to regular prayers, Scripture readings, liturgies, sitting in churches, conversations about God? Of course. But those activities gave focus to the main work of the pilgrimage, which was not just to walk but to walk with intention.
When Jesuits talk about “finding God in all things,” the presumption is that, to a person with a seeking heart, God is present in the activity at hand. You just need to allow yourself an imaginative horizon to see it.
My experience on the Camino confirmed an alternative understanding. When I am aware that my body, mind, and soul have come to a point of greater integration that IS praise of God. When I reverently accept who I am, in all of my uniqueness, in my particular convergence of body, mind, and soul, that IS reverence for God.