Camino Photo of the Day: Put Down Your Stone

At Cruz de Ferro, the highest elevation on the Spanish Camino, there is an old tradition. Although I’ve heard several stories about how it got started in the Medieval era, I don’t know that any of them are true. You will have noticed in the previous photo, that surrounding the cross is a large pile of stones. Pilgrims have been bringing a stone from their home and laying it at Cruz de Ferro for centuries. I am no different.

For some, the stone is a habit or sin to be discarded. For some, a memory or worry or fear to let go of.

Why here? Once you’ve carried a pack for several weeks or a month on the Camino, you come to realize that you can only carry so much, and you go farther and faster the less you carry.

Some days you forget to put down that stone you’re carrying, the one that’s weighing you down. When asked why angels could fly, G.K. Chesterton replied, “because they take themselves so lightly.” Perhaps for us to fly, we need to put down those stones we carry, the ones we keep collecting.

Date: 22 April 2016
Place: Cruz de Ferro (Castilla y León, Spain)

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