FEAR, what are we afraid of??

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear."

Rosa Parks 

Rosa Parks had reason to be fearful, but she was not.She stood up to authority and won a great victory for herself and others. The past week has been filled with fear. Fear in Boston, fear and grief in Texas, and then there was a poison letter sent to the White House. 
All of this “breaking news” had Americans glued to CNN.  What is it about these events that makes us want to know more?
I was one of those people watching CNN. I couldn’t stop! 
But this time we saw something different. The people of Boston showed strength. BOSTON STRONG. 

I am not immune to fear. 
"Fear is the ability to recognize danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it.”

I am thankful that I am not a fearful person. I think it is because I am stubborn. When I lived downtown, my condo was robbed 3 times. The last time, they kicked the door down. By that time I was just MAD that it kept happening. I literally took the door and leaned a chair against it. I was not going to be scared away. In 1986, terrorists were bombing Paris. My sister and I were due to fly to Paris, everyone in our group canceled. Not us! We went and we had a great time.
When I am afraid, I use this slogan. 
Fear is lack of faith….
This slogan reminds me that I am not always in control and I need to let my fear go. I can only control myself, not others. I need to give my fear to God. Let him worry about it!
 I don’t like the use of fear by the church. I don’t fell like it is done as much today as when I was younger. I will always remember the nuns telling us that every day in hell was a light year long. I was only 7 or 8, but I understood the concept of a light year. THAT really scared me.
Now, I am old enough to have the courage and not to be afraid. But I hope that I still have curiosity about life.
Someone said to me today, “ fear is the world we live in now”. That is a sad truth. 

I too am learning how to sail my ship.. 

What does this have to do with The Camino? Nothing except my continued self searching of feelings and spirituality.
People fear God, people fear not loving God, and I am learning not to fear my feelings about my God and my relationship with him.

The Fear of God~

If you should rise from Nowhere up to Somewhere,
From being No one up to being Someone,
Be sure to keep repeating to yourself
You owe it to an arbitrary god
Whose mercy to you rather than to others
Won’t bear to critical examination.
Stay unassuming. If for lack of license
To wear the uniform of who you are,
You should be tempted to make up for it
In a subordinating look or toe,
Beware of coming too much to the surface
And using for apparel that was meant
To be the curtain of the inmost soul.

robert frost

Road to Salvation or Ruin?

I heard this quote on NPR this week.

 "I couldn't have done it when I was younger. I had the energy, but not the knowledge, and not the knowledge of myself, because Dante is worried about himself. Dante is in a spiritual crisis, and I think you have to have been in one of your own to understand what he's talking about. 

He's seeking absolution, redemption and certainty.

 He's seeking a knowledge that his life has been worthwhile. Which I still am."

I am not a writer, or a poet and I am particularly bad with the written English language.

So, I feed off of others to write this blog. 

This quote is in reference to Dante's Inferno and the difficulty in translating it to English, by the author Clive James. It was very interesting to me. I have not read the book. But I have seen the the Duomo in Florence. The art is an unbelievable representation of the book by Dante that describes  hell, heaven and redemption.

Within the Florentine Duomo, and you look up and see Dante Before the City of Florence by Domenico di Michelino (1465). These frescos/paintings fill the dome of the church. They are a circular story told in very vivid  scenes, from the Divine Comedy. 

If you were a simple working man in the 1400's in Florence and you saw these graphic images and the church reinforcing these thoughts, what would YOU think?? 

My point is this…. I am

"... seeking absolution,redemption and certainty.

 He's seeking a knowledge that his life has been worthwhile. Which I still am."

And as I grow older I have grown more confident in myself. I also have become wiser but not less curiosity about my faith. I wonder, if the church used these images to manipulate the masses, what are they doing now that I am not aware of?

Vic and I have this indescribable need to walk the path of St James.  I don't think that God will suddenly take time for me and answer all of my questions. But I do look forward to having time to reflect on these questions and meet others that have the same quest.

Enlightenment, that would be a bonus.

"Here before me now is my picture, my map, of a place and therefore of myself . . . much of its reality is based on my own shadows, my inventions.” M.f. K Fisher

We can not forget the past...

Today is  Yom HaShoah

 It was established to remember the Holocaust and the six million Jews who perished.   Today  is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

"Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another."
Elie Wiesel

What is the does this day, and this man have to do with my blog about preparing to walk the Way of Saint James in Spain??

Quite a bit, when you enter my brain and the path of faith that I am on. 
Elie Wiesel is a man that I greatly admire. He was a prisoner in multiple German war camps. Barely a young man, he came out of Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps and taught people about what happened there, so we would never forget. He was also the driving force behind the US Holocaust  Memorial Museum in Washington DC. Again, so we would not forget that horrible page in our history.  I was reminded of him today, and the writings and devotion to his faith and the history of millions of Jews . He too believes in God, but has struggled to make sense of his past, with his relationship with God.

Another man I admire is in the news too. Nelson Mandela. 

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
― 
Nelson Mandela

These men work to spread peace and yet they were both victims of history. Their strength and faith made them better people and moved them to be statesmen of peace.
I grow my faith through these examples.

I am also feeling better about my own religion, Catholicism. It seems that our new leader, Pope Frances is making movements that are positive and progressive. We still 
have to wait to see if he will follow his word with true actions. 
He has included the poor, and the marginalized in his works, thus far. These gestures are a real sign of change in the Vatican. Now we need to see what actions that follow his words, and if he will address the BIG issue of women in the church.
That will be an action that will really change my mind.