{"id":658,"date":"2013-10-04T18:21:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T16:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/?p=658"},"modified":"2013-10-05T11:42:15","modified_gmt":"2013-10-05T09:42:15","slug":"camino-de-levante-oranges-word-theresa-lisieux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/camino-de-levante-oranges-word-theresa-lisieux\/","title":{"rendered":"Camino de Levante – Oranges and a word from Theresa of Lisieux."},"content":{"rendered":"

Camino de Levante: \u00a0Setting out from Valencia<\/h1>\n
\"My<\/a>

My bedroom for the first night.<\/p><\/div>\n

Oranges and a word from Theresa of Lisieux.<\/h1>\n

On 8th Feb. 2011, I arrived by slow train in Valencia and headed south on the Camino de Levante to Santiago de Compostella. \u00a0This was my second long distance Camino and I had chosen it rather than the Camino del Norte which was my preferred route because I had injured my knee in training (coming down a steep mountainside off-track). \u00a0The nothern coastal path is very hilly and this one from the Mediterranean begins gently with a sweep south before swinging back up to Castilla La Mancha.<\/span><\/p>\n

Valencia produces wonderful oranges and the Camino makes its way through plantations for several days. \u00a0My first night I slept between rows of orange trees. \u00a0The next day I ate one or two, but moderation became difficult, especially when confronted by the great variety of fruit. \u00a0When I lost site of the yellow arrows marking the Camino I asked a man for directions. He was loading his van with sacks of large Oranges which I knew were especially good since I’d just eaten a few. \u00a0He said they were good quality but that the prices paid to the farmers barely made it worth while growing them<\/a>. \u00a0 When he came to shake my hand I had to appologise for their being so sticky from eating the fruit whereupon he offered me more to take with me. \u00a0So many Spaniards have an easy generosity and are open-hearted to strangers, even those who pick oranges off their trees.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>

Some harvests are dumped when the auction price is too low.<\/p><\/div>\n

I began this Camino with a great desire for silence. \u00a0The previous year I had made my first pilgrimage to Santiago by the Via de La Plata<\/a> and had begun to learn about praying. \u00a0I had found that at times of the day, or in special places, I was drawn to prayer. \u00a0I had a practice of gathering myself together at the beginning of the day, once all the chores of getting on the road and finding the path were out of the way. \u00a0Usually, I composed myself by acknowledging God as the God of Compassion and Love to me and through me. \u00a0This equates to the advice of Ignatius of Loyola<\/a>\u00a0on placing ourselves in God’s presence at the start of prayer. \u00a0I don’t have much idea about God, but I believed I knew what compassion and love meant.<\/p>\n

\"Early<\/a>

Early blossoms on the Via Augusta<\/p><\/div>\n

The Camino initially follows the Roman Via Augusta and on this Roman Way, on my second day of walking, I composed myself for prayer. \u00a0No sooner had I begun than I was aware of the presence of Theresa of Lisieux. \u00a0I knew some things about this saint but none of them drew me to her. \u00a0There was nothing I could identify with in this girl who died aged 24 after a very sheltered life. \u00a0When I say “aware of the presence” I am hoping to convey that I wasn’t consciously bringing Theresa into my mind. \u00a0Indeed I was surprised. \u00a0Sensing a presence is very different from thinking about a person.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo of Theresa of Lisieux aged 16, the day of her Vows as a Carmelite nun.<\/p><\/div>\n

This St. Theresa is known as “The Little Flower” and is an fine exemple of 19thC (French) spiritualty. \u00a0In my childhood there were remnants of this piety such as Lents without sweets and very early Mass every day. \u00a0Ever since I gained a bit of common sense I ignored this apparently sweet and soft spirituality and headed for liberation theology.<\/p>\n

As I continued walking it appeared to me that she was saying, “Pray all of the time, John.” It was not a voice yet I heard clearly this message: it seemed to be delivered with very much love. \u00a0This is the best I can recall of that moment but from then on I have taken that message very seriously. \u00a0I am still learning what it means. \u00a0Since then I have read about contemplative prayer and was given a copy of\u00a0the Way of the Pilgrim<\/a>. \u00a0And I have tried to pray all the time. \u00a0For me this experience marks one of those significant moments in life which become a “before and after”. \u00a0There was no dramatic change but after years of unemployment I now had a job.<\/p>\n

This was Day 2 of a pilgrimage which was to last a further seven months.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Camino de Levante: \u00a0Setting out from Valencia Oranges and a word from Theresa of Lisieux. On 8th Feb. 2011, I arrived by slow train in Valencia and headed south on the Camino de Levante to Santiago de Compostella. \u00a0This was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,8],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-camino-de-levante","category-pilgrimage-and-prayer","category-the-camino-de-santiago","tag-la-plata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}