Honzanas is about 250km into the Camino. It is May 2 and I'm sitting in a tiny albergo ,the name given to the pilgrim dorms that charge 5 euros a night. They are rustic to be sure and one needs to get used to sharing a room with 20 or more people; men and women of all ages....
Severus Snape, one of Harry Potter's teachers is neither real hero nor real villain. He's not particular likeable, he's cruel, a bully, riddled with bitterness and insecurity – yet, according to author JK Rowling, he loved, and, ultimately laid down his life because of it. Snape is an example of what we call an anti-hero – a protagonist made popular in movies first in film noir – some one who is neither all good nor all bad – Clint Eastwood's characters in his westerns, or Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean, or even The Dark Knight....
One of my most favourite lines in Scripture is John 20:16: "Jesus said to her, "Mary!" With one word, the resurrected Christ transformed the life of Mary Magdalene....
I had to stop and take a second whiff. What was that? Recently, on one of my regular walks to the Spanish Banks, I was sideswiped by an amazing, sweet, spicy aroma. Nothing like Chanel No. 5 or the latest Parisian scent to turn the head or the heart. But this scent emanated from a gorgeous, yellow-floraled shrub called the witch hazel or Hamanelis mollis....
Meanwhile Alzheimer terror rattles your cage; the mindless way that Mum has left you feels like she's betrayed your childhood trust: makers should know what they've made....
Figure it out. The average life span lasts about 29,000 days. Might sound like a lot, but that's all you get. So why would you spend a single one at a Star Trek Convention? The original Star Trek's Captain Kirk, William Shatner, had a lucid moment a few years back when he wondered the same thing....
As a Jesuit priest, celebrating Baptism is the one I enjoy the most of all the sacraments. Each of course has its grace and blessing, but there is something special about welcoming an infant into the community marked by the sign of Christ. The celebration is not without its challenges....
After three full days of walking, I'm beginning to say that I've found my stride. I know my body a little better; when to slow down, when to take a breather, and when to say 'enough for today Erik'. Day one was a big endurance test: 27 km of mostly a steep climb through foggy and rough terrain and a painful long descent to the first stop at Roncesvalles. This tiny hamlet boasts a lovely early Gothic church, the pilgrims 'albergo' and a few other ancient buildings....
Ten years ago, a brain tumour left me severely deaf. Over the years the deafness deteriorated to the point that I was a candidate for a cochlear implant. For an adult whose hearing was perfect until the age of 45, there was no hesitation in my mind about returning to the world of the hearing. I went through with the surgery...
The problem of why God allows suffering never seems to go away. Why are innocent children allowed to suffer? Why deformities in the newly born? And the list goes on. God did not intend that we should have sufferings when He created the world as a place for humans to live. At the same time, God did not make us robots to live on earth with an automatic response to eating when hungry and propagating the species. The Church teaches that we were made like God with the ability to love stemming from a free will. We can choose what we want to do. It is because of our free will that the Church teaches that we are made like unto God....
