Ressourcement

Well, apologies that the posts will all be late in the day today, but I spent most of the day crossing the mountains into Bourgogne (Burgundy) in the rain, trying to keep moving, and usually not having much of a signal. Not great blogging conditions! 

I took the photo of me with a half naked lady at the source of the Seine; it was only an hour from where I stayed last night, so it seemed worth the trip. There's a park around it, in the middle of nowhere, bought by the city of Paris under Napoleon and turned into a kind of national shrine. Not very big, but certainly worth calling in. 

Around the time of Vatican II there was a significant influence at work right across the Catholic church: ressourcement. Going back to the sources. Biblical scholars went back to the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures. Religious orders returned to the Rules of their founders. Layers of later accretions were peeled away in a search for the original inspiration behind the faith. 

I think that's a part of pilgrimage too (at least, it has been for me). Walking simply on the earth (or scootering simply over it!), letting go of everything for a while so you can remember what's really life-giving at the heart of it all. Rediscovering the sources that truly nourish your own life. God, family, friends, prayer, enjoying the gift of the world without having to own it ... all this and more, for me.

///pram.viewing.underfunded