Camino Photo of the Day: Patchwork

As we approach the town of Villafranca del Bierzo, we pass through an old farmstead that includes this building. I want to say something about this, because while it is an extreme example, you see this sort of thing all over the Camino. Indeed, in a sense you see this wherever humans live.

Was the original wall medieval, or was it built later? No matter. It ages as all things do, and it falls apart as all things must, crumbling into the dust of time itself. But if it’s important to us, we’ll patch it up. Often, we’ll take the easiest course, slapping on a temporary patch until we can convince ourselves to spend the time or money or effort to make a permanent fix.

And a couple of years, or decades, or centuries later something else will fail or fray or fall and we’ll slap on another temporary fix.

In the best cases, this is how organic growth happens, whether in a town or a culture or even in the sacred liturgy. We patch. We add. We put together something to make it through the day or solve an immediate need and a few years later it becomes immemorial custom.

In the less optimal cases, you get something like this wall, held together through sheer determination. Not growing so much as barely holding together.

So when we look at some habit or custom or institution, we have to ask ourselves – is it patched together in such a way that it’s growing and vital, or is it patched together like this wall, standing through force of will?

The latter will eventually collapse the moment attention is removed for too long. The former can endure forever.

Date: 24 April 2016
Place: Between Pieros and Villafranca del Bierzo (Castilla y León, Spain)

Today’s map, part 1:

(Originally posted to Pilgrims on the Way.)