Feast of St. James.

Part of the Camino road leading to Compostela

Today the universal Church celebrates the feast of St. James the Apostle. On this day I naturally think of pilgrimage. Today thousands of pilgrims will gather At the cathedral church of St. James in Compsostela, Spain. Many will have walked 700 kms to be there for the feast. Some years ago I did a much smaller version of the Camino myself. I manages the last 200 kms. This poem by Joy Cowley was my walking companion.

God, I come before you
as empty as a paper cup,
waiting to be filled
with the wine of your presence,
Somewhere back along the road a bit,
I dropped all those things
I was going to offer you,
the doing, the giving, the praying.
I'll pick them up again later,
but right now,
it's just you and me, God,
and there's not much of me.
It's a good feeling
to be this empty, this open
to the amazing stillness of you,
not knowing how to name you
or the life you pour into me.

God, right now I feel so small
and yet so vast.
I can't say where I end
and you begin.