Joy comes in the morning

Day 20 on the Via di Francesco

I read these words of the Psalm as I read Morning Prayer

Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

And so it was, by the time I had got ready and had some breakfast I felt much better about everything. I didn’t have a long journey today so I walked back up to the old city to pick up the way markers for my route. I reflected on the previous evening and decided that maybe I was asking the wrong questions, perhaps I wasn’t supposed to be looking for Francis.

I had felt closer to him when I was walking through forests and I think I expected to find him when I arrived somewhere where it was recorded that he lived. I mused that maybe he would more likely to have been found in the modern town rather than the bars and museums.

I headed out of down and across the valley. This was the morning so a much more pleasant walk than yesterday

I was passing houses, gardens, veg plots and fields. Returning to my thoughts from yesterday I was thinking that rather than forests and wild places, these cultivated spaces are where man and creation meet. How we manage that without one damaging the other is an ongoing struggle. I recalled the second day of my walk when I was passing through some vineyards while they were spraying them.

What it reinforced in my mind was my desire to go home, not do any more long walks for a long time and cultivate my garden.

One of the things about wallking on a straight flat path for a while is it gives you plenty of time for your mind to wander. I thought about Saint Francis and Saint Cuthbert inhabiting a space between ‘normal’ ife and creation. Also straddling the boundary between the Kingdom of God that is now and what it will be in its fullness. (Beware! Lots of unfinished thinking here)

I was reflecting that I too inhabit such a space sometimes, volunteering at Basis Drop-in yet living in a different world.

Eventually the climb began, as each day there always is at least one and ususally more. Today as so often there are things which catch my attention. First thing today was what I thought of as a sensible river crossing as I remembered the ones I did on my way down from the mountains to Sanspolcro.

Then there was the kindness of people along the route to pilgrims passing by.

The higher I got I was walking through forest again when the views opened up.

I had finally started to go down towards my stop for the night when I got talking with a pilgrim from the Netherlands. The rest of the walk that day passed quickly with pleasant conversation.

We had both arranged to stay at the Hermitage of St Peter in the Vineyard. It is run by the Italian Confraternity of St James and take their responsibilities to their pilgrim guests very seriously. We were checked in and shown to our dormitory and had the rest of the afternoon to rest.

Others were enjoying the afternoon sun too.

In the evening the bell summoned us to chapel where the seven of us who were staying that night were welcomed. We then had one foot washed in a symbolic gesture with prayer and a kiss. It was such a profound moment.

After that we had a wonderful communal meal, cooked by the volunteers and supplemented by some apple pancakes cooked by a pilgrim from Germany.

A fitting end to a wonderful day. It was a beautiful place of abundant peace and joy.