Going beyond ...

On arrival in Segovia everyone was struck by the amazing aqueduct that dominates the landscape. As we wander backwards and forwards from the hotel to the town, the view is simple amazing. Yet the landscape offers an amazing image for the journey that all pilgrims are now on, that of going beyond tourism.

Today in his afternoon talk Bishop David shared how St John of the Cross wrote about the first barrier, that of stopping doing what we don't want to do in order to do the things we want to do. The image Bishop David used was that of going beyond the mountains to discover what is on the other side. We are all faced with the challenge of moving beyond what we normally do to see what is beyond.

On pilgrimage, this is about going beyond being a tourist to become a pilgrim. Today as we toured the main castle, or Alcazar, we were treated like tourists. We were given dates and facts about the building and the royalty that lived there. The challenge is to move out of this into the spiritual journey that God is taking us on. So after an afternoon of being a tourist, we can remain tired or we can focus on the insights of our Bishop that take us deeper.

The town of Segovia is surrounded by hills that block the view to the towns beyond. The people of ancient Segovia would have to leave the safety of their Alcazar to see what was beyond what they knew. Whilst on pilgrimage tourist activity can also block the view to the spiritual beyond the day in a new town. As pilgrims we must go beyond the safety of our normal relationship with God to travel to a relationship that we can't see. If we have the courage to go beyond then we will receive the benefits that pilgrims receive that tourist can't even imagine.

Saints and Mystic - Day 3

Day three of the pilgrimage started for some with optional morning prayer at 7.30 lead by Fr. Jim we had a great group turn out especially considering many of us were still feeling the effects of the journey from Sydney. We found a beautiful hillside with a view of Segovia for our morning prayer, we sang, we meditated and we absorbed the sounds of this amazing Spanish city which was built one hundred years before Christ.

After breakfast (which in Spain includes ham and cheese), we went for mass at Vera Cruz Church and the tomb of the great mystic St John of the Cross. The mass was a real highlight and to be in the presence of the remains of such a famous saint was an emotional and powerful experience. Bishop David talked to us about the teaching of St John of the Cross and his quote "If you do not learn to deny yourself you cannot make progress in Christian perfection," which we later reflected on in our small groups.

After appliying another layer of sunscreen we toured Segovia with our tour guide (did we mention this town has an acueduct, a fortified castle, and a templar knights church!) we were impressed to say the least.

We felt like kings and queens with the visit to Alcazar castle and our tour guide pointed out that the mountains looked like a woman sleeping, which could have been the inspiration for the story of sleeping beauty with the castle the perfect setting for such a fairytale.

After free time for shopping and lunch we came back to the hotel aqueduct for dinner and night prayer where we reflected on St John of the cross' concept of the dark night.

We have an early start tomorrow with optional morning prayer at 6.45am so enough blogging we are off to bed.