Last week’s column on sacred silence drew some truly inspiring responses. I’d like to feature one of them, in particular, this week. It’s from Cochrane coffee companion and avid hiker William Hayes, a frequent contributor of nature-along-the-trail photos, itself a consequence of his commitment to silence and stillness along the way.
Back in 2012 he was motivated to walk the Camino de Santiago, in Spain – and to do it in strict silence. He even made three badges bearing the words, “I walk in silence” (see inset in accompanying photo) in English, Spanish and French, an accomplishment he celebrated along the Atlantic on Spain’s northwest coast.
It was William himself who introduced me to his Camino experiences through the 2023 book he gave me by Danielle Aird, Who’s on the Camino? (2023). His journey is the chapter, “I like to talk.” But I’ll let him tell you about that himself.
William?
I WAS STRUCK by the quote in last week’s column from writer Eric Doyle, OFM. Saint Francis, he said, recognized in all creation that “there is a love from beyond the world in the heart of everything.”
No better time to recognize this than when one is still and silent. Silence and Stillness are so critical for our sanity, especially in today’s ever-changing world. As the Hebrew Wisdom book of Job (13:5) pleads, “ O that you would be silent, and it would become your wisdom.” And about such silence, Proverbs 10:19 declares, “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.”
The reflections afforded to a hiker who walks without talking are life-changing. My own experiences from numerous hiking adventures in yonder Rocky Mountains are enriched when one is silent.
During a 38-day period, in the Spring of 2012, I had the privilege of walking several Caminos in Europe. For the majority of these days, as I tied on my boots in the morning, I chose to tie my lips.
Walking in silence brought many opportunities to witness the ever-changing beauty of spring in Spain in a very rewarding way: the fresh snowfall as one hiked over the Pyrenees mountains from France to Spain; spring flowers poking their little heads through the newly fallen snow; listening to the early spring songbirds while walking through the forest; trees budding their new spring leaves.
This pilgrimage was clearly a very personal Journey. No two people would see it the same way.
It was like living life from birth to death and everything in between AND beyond. It was kind, it was cruel; heaven, hell; pleasure, pain; all weather: rain, hail, snow, wind, sun; all terrain: mountain, valley, flat, hilly, muddy fields, rough paths, smooth paths, villages, towns, farmland, vineyards.
Through all this, I thought often of those words from Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God.”
—William Hayes, Camino pilg
THANK YOU, WILLIAM.
Touched deeply by this theme personally, I’d like to close with words to E. May Grimes’ 1920 hymn that have become my ongoing prayer during this Lenten season: “Speak, Lord, in the stillness, / While I wait on Thee; / Hush’d my heart to listen, / In expectancy.”
© 2024 Warren Harbeck
