Day 37 – Onward to O'Cebriero!

While everything else in O'Cebriero is great from all reports, the internet is pretty sketchy, so we only got two pictures from the guys today. You can look forward to a double post tomorrow, showing two days of grand sights from the Camino.

But I think you will enjoy today, too, because there are a couple of very special stories to share. We'll begin with Mike's gift to us, which is both personal and spiritual; then close with a sweet package from Dave that is both touching and patriotic. I know you will enjoy the read, as I did.

Mike, by the stone wall and in the stone church.

I'm not sure what is going on with me, but I have been very emotional today. I am sitting in O'Cebriero by the stone wall that looks south into the valley, under some shade trees, with a slight breeze coming up from the valley below. I am overwhelmed by the blessings in my life. I feel so grateful to have found Lynna some 50 years ago.

It seems like just yesterday in Logan, Utah that we fell in love and wanted to spend our lives together. We would run all over campus with eager excitement for every tomorrow. We spent time at the dairy building for ice cream, Steed's hamburger joint for huge burgers, and sometimes we even went to class and studied. Those were carefree days...or at least, they seem so now. Lynna has been an indescribable inspiration as a wife and partner: a high level of unconditional support, deep insight for compassion and charity, and a wonderful forgiving nature that has extended to me for every one of our fifty years as a couple.

The wall I chose to sit beside was one where people come up that long, steep path into O'Cebriero.  It is good to watch the other pilgrims as they take that last step upward to their destination. They are relieved, thrilled to have endured to the top, greatly satisfied to now reap the enjoyment of the hard journey. But now, the afternoon pilgrimage has slowed to a snail's pace because of the heat. Everyone is seeking shelter, and I have found mine in the church.

I've slipped into the small, simple, and unpretentious Church of Santa Maria of O'Cebriero. The church is quiet, very quiet; so cool and peaceful. Most of all, it has a sweet spirit...a soothing, sweet spirit. Jesus Christ is displayed, as He is all the way along the Camino, hanging from the cross. He is rarely displayed here as the resurrected Christ, which saddens me, at times. We need to remember His victory as well as His sacrifice. But I am not critical. It is lovely here, the candles partially lit by pilgrims seeking help from their Lord. Music plays softly, solemn hymns not familiar to me but beautiful and heaven-sent. I feel an unusual closeness to God through His Spirit, giving me great peace in my heart and deep inside my soul. Hard to describe with words, but I love the feeling.

I just sit here. Several times I have started to tear up, overcome by gratitude for many, many blessings received through the years. I love life and what it has given me: my love; my family and their loves. It is hard to describe, but the feeling is good.

I want all of you to know that I feel your love and support for the last several weeks and with some of you for even longer. I'm especially appreciating Dave and Sue and their great love and sacrifice for me and us over the years. Thank you so much. (You're welcome, and right back atcha!)

This little church is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to walk the Camino again. It was just four weeks after we lost our grandson, Max, that we climbed the top of the Camino to O'Cebriero and received solace and comfort in this small, simple church. I love the comfort I received as I walked into it again today. Again, hard to describe in words.

On the lower altar where the chalice (ask Lynna about that chalice) is located I found these words, which I thought sounded just about right for a disconnected (from wifi) pilgrim.

Most high, glorious God

Enlighten the darkness of my heart

And give me, Lord,

A correct faith, 

A certain hope,

A perfect charity,

Sense and knowledge,

So that I may carry out

Your holy and true command.

{music for the soul}

Dave's patriotic hat pin says it all.

My thought for today is the Pledge of Allegiance, because today is Flag Day. I was in a store up here and got a pin with the American and Camino flags joined together. As you can see, I have placed it in a favored spot on my hat. The shop owner gave it to me when I told him it was Flag Day in the United States, and he didn't even charge me. He simply said, "Buen Camino."

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. (poem below)

Broad Stripes and Bright Stars

©2014 Susan Noyes Anderson

We reverenced the flag when I was a young girl…
proud and strong we stood, hand over heart.
Deep emotions were raised as we saw it unfurl;
our allegiance was pledged from the start.

We were taught by our parents’ example…
their knowledge that freedom was fragile at best.
They had seen evil threaten the world and
defeated it soundly when put to the test.

Liberty was an essence that sang in their blood
for the blood of brave countrymen slain,
and the flag was a symbol of all we had lost
and a tribute to all we retained.

From ocean to ocean, our voices were raised
in an anthem proclaiming our worth.
As heroes had given their all, so would we,
in upholding the land of our birth.

We honored the flag and the nation it stood for.
We sang, and we pledged, and we stood.
We were grateful enough to hold sacred a symbol
defining our country as good.

Today things are changing. So many young people
just watch the parade passing by.
They stay in their seats or stand carelessly slouched,
quite unstirred by our flag in the sky.

Our patriot songs are less known and less sung,
our allegiance less fervently vowed.
Cold winds of dissension blow harder each day,
and the roar of contention is loud.

If united we stand and divided we fall,
then survival demands common ground.
Our roots lie in legacies, planted by love
of the country our forefathers found.

True freedom is more than the right to dissent;
it’s respect for the things we can share.
When the patriot dream seems elusive, our flag
carries hope that the dream is still there.

Those broad stripes and bright stars are reminders.
Embrace them. They help us to know who we are.
In peace or in conflict, they fly on a standard,
and we must keep raising the bar.

On Memorial Day, as we reverence our dead
and remember brave souls, let’s be clear:
We live in a land that requires our devotion
and honor each day of the year.

A nation is fed by the people it nurtures,
and all of us drink the same cup.
Our stories are told in the symbols we share.
May every heart treasure them up.

∞§∞

Tomorrow the guys will be heading 

to Triacastela, a 13-mile hike.

Click below to support suicide prevention

and mental health, the causes Mike and Dave

are championing with their walk.