Friday 6 November 2020
790k completed and two weeks to go and I will be back in Melbourne. I am planning to go back to St Paul’s Cathedral for one final catch up with the Dean and chat about what I have gained across the course of this pilgrimage. The pilgrimage will end officially on Sunday 22 November – the Feast of Christ the King.
I am happy to report that the total of funds raised so far has just passed $3600 – a fantastic effort and I am humbled by people’s generosity.
The mornings when I walk have been lovely over the last week. There have been some glorious sunrises –
I have also noticed that people have been doing a lot of work in their gardens and on front verges –
More reflections from the ‘Rule of Benedict’:
The idea that the spiritual life is only for the strong, for those who don’t need it anyway, is completely dispelled in the Rule of Benedict. Here spiritual athletes need not apply. Monasticism is for human beings only. The abbot and prioress are told quite clearly that they are to see themselves as physicians and shepherds tending the weak and carrying the lost, not as drill sergeants, not as impresarios. What we have in monasteries and parishes and all fine social movements and devoted rectories and most families are just people, simple people who never meet their own ideals and often, for want of confidence and the energy that continuing commitment takes, abandon them completely. Then, our role, the Rule of Benedict insists, is simply to try to soothe what hurts them, heal what weakens them, lift what burdens them and wait. The spiritual life is a process, not an event. It takes time and love and help and care. it takes our patient presence. Just like everything else.
One of the things I have also been reflecting upon has been the resurgence of the pandemic in Europe, especially in the UK. The Church of England is calling for a month of prayer as their country goes back into lockdown and they have provided some resources for this prayer time:
May God continue to bless us all.
Father Shane's Observations and Travels 