A Crowd of One

11 October 2015

Barbadelo, just west of Sarria

A Crowd of One

This section of the Camino has to be one of my favorites. I left O'Cebriero just a couple days ago. It is perched 1300m (4250 ft.) in gorgeous mountainous territory. Tall rounded mountain tops with a quilt of green pasturelands form a checkboard landscape. One cannot walk without frequent pauses to take it in. With the steep slopes and multiple peaks it is hard to choose which to focus upon.

O'Cebreiro is well known for a miracle that occurred there in the 12th century. The story is that a peasant fought his way through a snowstorm to reach the mountain top church to go to morning mass. The celebrant scolded him for risking his life through such weather saying he could have been killed. Begrudgingly, the priest conducted the mass for the sole parishioner. At the point of the consecration when the priest elevated the host, a miraculous event occurred. The host transformed into human flesh and folded over on his fingers onto the paten. When he elevated the chalice, the wine was transfomed into human blood. The paten and chalice are in a place of prominence at Santa Maria Real in O'Cebreiro. Being in the presence of the Holy Grail was awe inspiring. Adding to this, something very special occurred for me. The celebrant at the pilgrims' mass made an all call for someone to do one of the scripture readings in English. I was so blessed to participate.

Leaving the church, I met a priest in his long, black cossak that priests wear occassionally. After stopping to chat with him I found out that he serves in Georgia here in the states. Fr. Hennessy. Stories of a priest who is doing the Camino in his full cossack has echoed back to us. He had shared with me that he dresses in full cossack so that other pilgrims will know he's a priest in case they might want some one on one time with him in spiritual counsel. What an inspiring motivation.

Further on I got into Samos where I was to meet my friends from our church for the first day of their Camino. We were in different albergues so the morning would be our first rendezvous. That evening, while at dinner, a man sitting across from me in the restaurant engaged me in a conversation. When he shared that he was a parish priest on sabbatical from his parish in Perth, Australia, I jumped seats to share meal with another new pilgrim priest, Fr. Paul. He is such a centered and kind man. God had provided one more priest servant to my Camino pilgrimage.

After our meal, we walked to the huge Benedictan monastery for vespers, evening prayers, where the Benedictan monks would sing the Gregorian chant. Add to that, the church has the oldest pipe organ in Spain with over 3,000 pipes and trumpets. It gave goosebumps to hear.

You can almost guess the Godcidence that occurred. The concelebrants for the pilgrims' mass after vespers were Fr. Hennessy and Fr. Paul. Our conversation after mass was so rich in being one in heart as servants of the church. We were three servants bonded as one brotherhood on the Camino.

Upon returning to my albergue, there were two other pilgrims. One was from Russia and a polished English speaker. We ended up in a lively conversation of the scriptural refernce of St. James, which was new to both men. I was preaching good news as they hung on my words and the stories they had never heard before. What was more noteworthy was the conversation I had with the friendly Russian.

In the course of our exchange, he shared his insights as to how the Western world misunderstands the thinking from Moscow, his hometown. He made a strong point that what Russian people really want is to be one, to be a united people. Then he made a strong case that runs coarse to American idealogies. He said, "A people cannot be one until everyone is equal." He offered his defense for Socialism and dismissed my arguements for allowing people to be free and empowered. We disagreed politely, but he kept making the point that the Russian people are most motivated to be "one."

Are you catching a reoccuring word in my Camino days. I believe it was a theme God was giving me to contemplate. That is, to be one.

I caught up with my friends as new pilgrim brothers, Jim Naso and Jerry Happel from church. It was a joyful reunion. Here again, we were now one as new Camino pilgrims.

The word, "one," recycled in my prayer time for these two days and many miles. Being one in Him brings a crowd of others into community. In John 17 Jesus is sharing his prayer to the Father before he was to be offered up. In verse 21 Jesus says, "Father, so that they may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you , that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And so that they may be one, as we are one."

Jesus pleads for us to be one. Imagine what a crowd of one we become when we live our life for Him. I spent hours contemplating the power of being included in that "crowd of one." What a force of oneness! What the Russian shared about his country becoming one and united is the same vision Jesus wants for us.

I considered what pulls at the fabric of being "one." Ugly truths surfaced within interactions with others. Attitudes like judgements with harsh labelling, "He is a (fill in the blank)" and harsh criticisms like "She always causes such and such" or she acts like she is (fill in another blank.) When such criticisms float into the mind, their foul smell sifts into the relationships with them. People can sense when someone has an attitude or are closed off to them in some way. Don't fool yourself to think such attitudes don't surface. Thank God I am not judge or jury of people through my perspectives! I have caught myself shamefacedly discovering that my judgements were lacking the full story of another's full life story. Judgements painfully tear at oneness.

So many other "greater than thou attitudes" also strain at oneness. Greed, gossip, malice, ill will toward others, revenge, pride, one upmanship, envy, lust for power, control freakish attitudes, selfishness, bloated self-importance, and unforgiveness to name a few. I have lived and endured these attitudes with shame and the feeling personal injury. Being "one" when any of these are present is remote at best.

What attitudes might tighten the bonds of "oneness"? Consider Jesus' words, 'being one with the Father.' The relationship of Jesus and his Father is an iron clad bond. Why? Because it was a perfect love.

In Acts 2 a description of the perfect communal life is told. " "All who believed were together and had all things in common. They devoted themselves to meeting together, breaking bread together in the homes. They ate their meals with exhultation and sincerity of heart praising God and enjoying favor with all the people."

Perhaps the prescription for "oneness" can be found in a simple act of sharing meal with others more often. Barriers break down at meal time. Community building evaporates isolation and the growth of what I call nasty self centeredness.

I came to believe that what may be the antidote for my own peroccupation with self may be found in extending myself to grow in loving community.

It struck me as a good place to start. One meal, one evening, one simple gesture of generousity and other-centeredness. What good can come! We become "A Crowd on One" in Him.

Be blessed,

Deacon Willie, DW