Chaucer, Pilgrims, and Blogs!

"When April [September] with his sweet showers has pierced the dryness
of March [August] to the root, and bathed every vein in such moisture as has the power
to bring forth flower [harvest]; when also, Zephyrus with his sweet breath
has breathed spirit into the tender new shoots [or fruit for the harvest] in every wood and meadow,
and the young sun has run half his course . . . . and small birds sing melodies. . .
then people long to go on pilgrimages . . . ."

Chaucer's opening lines from THE CANTERBURY TALES prepare us for our travel this week. We have been led to make this journey. The shifting of seasons creates a physical threshold for the journey. For Chaucer's pilgrims it was the shift from winter to spring; for us from summer to autumn. This threshold of seasonal time will also mark a difference in our own spiritual lives as we experience this most unusual form of travel together. We are about to shift. Be prepared. This is the nature of pilgrim travel. Shift happens.

I am packed and ready this morning (after several editions of suitcase arranging). Unlike Chaucer's pilgrims, however, I am packing the computer as well as paper and pen, clothes and shoes. I am meeting Kathy at Dulles Airport this afternoon and we are taking the 7:30 to Dublin. We will spend the next two days in Dublin in preparation for the pilgrims to arrive on Thursday morning, where we, refreshed and ready to lead, will greet you at the terminal gate.