This was my fourth day of enforced rest. To be honest, I'm getting bored and very eager to get back on the road. I had an amazing conversation this morning with a woman waiting for a taxi. Her knee was keeping her from walking and so she was taking a taxi to her next stop. What made the conversation different was that we shared no common language. She spoke Croatian, I spoke English and together we used a smattering of words from various languages. We showed each other pictures and wrote numbers in the air and used other signs. At one point we got some help from google translate. But I was astonished at how much we managed to say to each other and be understood.
Afterward I spent some time looking back over pictures from the past days. Here are some things from Castrojeriz that I particularly enjoyed.
The tag informed me that this was a statue of faith. I don't think that faith is exactly blind. We do believe beyond what we can see, but I think this is not a matter of blinding ourselves to the knowledge of eyes and intellect but of opening ourselves up to a sense that goes beyond these. Still I do like the joyful aspect of this "Faith" stepping out boldly though she cannot see.
These next three images are something that I find grisly and intriguing. They are reliquaries, but unlike rose that we often see, elaborate boxes that hold the head or hand or other bodily remnant of some Saint, these carefully house a wide assortment of bone fragments, teeth or hair that were believed to come from different saints, all carefully labeled. This sort of reverence holds no appeal for me, and I'm suspicious that some of it was simple superstition (rub this bone as a prevention for toothache and that one to ward off cancer), still some of the origins of this reverence for the remains of the saints must stem from a longing to have some of the inward nature of them imparted to the believer. I'm not inclined to look to dead body parts to provide this, but there have been people in my life from whom I have longed to absorb some measure of their faith, some measure of their spirit. And I can imagine a tangible memento being a comfort in those situations. I think of how fans treasure a sweat band or an autographed picture. And much more than all of that, I think of what Jesus gives us in the gift of Communion. Regardless of whether one understands this as pure symbol, spiritual or transubstantiated reality, this gives us a physical way to grab hold of the essence of the man who is also God. Which I think is a much more direct way to do what reliquaries and signed baseballs are meant to do in a way that is a distant reflection.
And even more, I enjoy the little fellow who is pulling back the stone draperies at the side of the retablo. The niches at the side are filled with worshiping statues that I assume represent the donors. They are there but they are relatively subtle.
Finally, let me share a few exhibits that I found both grisly and intriguing. These are reliquaries, and not the usual elaborate boxes that we see crafted to hold the head or hand or other portion of a saint's remains. Instead these hold little fragments of what purport to be the bones or teeth or hair of different saints carefully labeled and separated.
Afterward I spent some time looking back over pictures from the past days. Here are some things from Castrojeriz that I particularly enjoyed.
The tag informed me that this was a statue of faith. I don't think that faith is exactly blind. We do believe beyond what we can see, but I think this is not a matter of blinding ourselves to the knowledge of eyes and intellect but of opening ourselves up to a sense that goes beyond these. Still I do like the joyful aspect of this "Faith" stepping out boldly though she cannot see.
These next three images are something that I find grisly and intriguing. They are reliquaries, but unlike rose that we often see, elaborate boxes that hold the head or hand or other bodily remnant of some Saint, these carefully house a wide assortment of bone fragments, teeth or hair that were believed to come from different saints, all carefully labeled. This sort of reverence holds no appeal for me, and I'm suspicious that some of it was simple superstition (rub this bone as a prevention for toothache and that one to ward off cancer), still some of the origins of this reverence for the remains of the saints must stem from a longing to have some of the inward nature of them imparted to the believer. I'm not inclined to look to dead body parts to provide this, but there have been people in my life from whom I have longed to absorb some measure of their faith, some measure of their spirit. And I can imagine a tangible memento being a comfort in those situations. I think of how fans treasure a sweat band or an autographed picture. And much more than all of that, I think of what Jesus gives us in the gift of Communion. Regardless of whether one understands this as pure symbol, spiritual or transubstantiated reality, this gives us a physical way to grab hold of the essence of the man who is also God. Which I think is a much more direct way to do what reliquaries and signed baseballs are meant to do in a way that is a distant reflection.
I like the daylight sun coming in through the round window that is a design element of this retablo.
And even more, I enjoy the little fellow who is pulling back the stone draperies at the side of the retablo. The niches at the side are filled with worshiping statues that I assume represent the donors. They are there but they are relatively subtle.
Finally, let me share a few exhibits that I found both grisly and intriguing. These are reliquaries, and not the usual elaborate boxes that we see crafted to hold the head or hand or other portion of a saint's remains. Instead these hold little fragments of what purport to be the bones or teeth or hair of different saints carefully labeled and separated.
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