It’s right there on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo’s Almighty reaches down from the heavens and, with an electrifying finger tip touch, transmits spiritual life to the outreaching hand of man. Meeting Brother Luis this morning at the Cistercian Monastery high in rugged Galician hills at Oseira was a little like that. The holy monk had an unusual, enthusiastically invigorating hand shake. In near perfect English, he shared with AJ and me a unique vision of the Camino life. Camino Pilgrims, he said, were the modern world’s angels. God’s mission for them was to create harmony breaking down barriers created by differing languages, nationalities, and religious faiths. He said that relationships and friendships forged on the Camino were supernatural and divinely inspired. Earlier, we had listened to Brother Luis and his fellows chant canonical hours in the monastery choir loft, their voices possessing an hypnotically peaceful majesty.
The boot rack at the refugio at Castro Dozón (KM 931.5) is full. Final Galician Camino Sanabres kilometers are life artistry. It’s good thing—because your Pilgrim nights are filled with noisy, squirming around, snoring novices. We reach the Holy Door/Puerta Santa at the Santiago Cathedral in three days.
