Newport Beach, Monday 25th July 2011
I don't think it's any accident that my European Pilgrimage came to a conclusion at Assisi. The place and my time there were absolutely delightful.
I arrived by train. The station is on the plain in the newer area called Santa Maria Degli Angeli. It is a short bus ride up to the city of Assisi which sits perched high up on the slopes of Monte Subasio. It's location is not unique, there are other places of similar high location in Italy, as indeed there were in Spain.
But, for me, there was something special about this place. I don't know just how old the buildings are. I wonder which, if any, parts of the city remain from the 12th and 13th centuries. But the appearance of the whole, whether authentic or reconstructed, is medieval. The cobbled streets and stone buildings transport the modern visitor into a bygone age and stir the imagination with visions of former times and happenings.
My desire to visit Assisi stemmed from my admiration for Francis, the pauper saint. As I have read of him, he lived out what he believed was the way in which he was meant to follow Christ. As a Christian, I have my own concept of what living for Christ entails. I hope and pray that I can fulfil my idea of what I believe He's called me to, as well as Francis did.
I wanted to explore this place that is so associated with him. I wanted to visit those places that were significant in his walk with Jesus. And they are still there. Certainly, one needs to look beyond the many souvenir shops and their wares. This wasn't difficult for me.
My delightful hotel was well placed at the bottom entry into the city, in the Piazza San Pietro. This meant that I had to walk upward to anything and everything. This was no hardship in such pleasant environs. An added bonus, as I walked upward, was that I was constantly looking upward - an excellent attitude!
It was so easy to imagine the young, cavalier Francis leading his group of revellers through the streets in the sole pursuit of fun and good times. Then, in the quietness of San Damiano, I could see how he would have been touched by Jesus and commissioned by God to rebuild His church. Then back to the streets where now I envision a very different Francis, one fully sold out to Christ, living another life - a life of loving God with all of his being, of putting others before himself, of denying himself daily in order to follow his Lord and Saviour, his Beloved.
In rather hot conditions I undertook the four-and-a-half kilometre hill climb to the hermitage on Monte Subasio where Francis retreated to be at one with his God. The strenuous climb in the heat was well worth while. The environs of the hermitage gave out an air of serenity, peace and holy presence. What buildings there are are nestled snuggly into the mountainside. Paths climb and occasionally criss-cross in the woodlands, with well-placed arbours for prayer and reflection. In the shortest time I was in sweetest communion with my Maker.
San Damiano and the Eremo Delle Carceri ( the Hermitage) are found in their original locations. Other buildings of significance in Francis' journey (viz. the Porziuncola where the Franciscan order was established; the Cappella del Transito - the place where Francis died; and St. Francis' "Hovel" which commemorates the first Franciscan community) have been re-assembled within large and imposing basilicas (the first two in the Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli and the "Hovel" in the Sanctuary of Rivotorto). I found these sites to be well-worth visiting if only to contrast the simplicity and crudity of the buildings that Francis knew with the ambition of succeeding generations.
I liked Assisi, very much. It wasn't easy to leave. But leave I had to - for a train to Rome and thence by air to Athens, and home via Dubai.
And so, the European Pilgrimage concludes. I sense my reflecting on the past dozen weeks will continue for some time. And my pilgrimage through this life will also continue. It would therefore be premature to conclude this "blog". Let's just wait, and see how He might lead.
God Bless.
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