A Barefoot Place

The book is not one which is going to ever  be acclaimed as one of the great literary works.  Nonetheless, I have read it several times and once again in the last few days found myself drawn to it.  "Chasing Francis" is the name of the book and it was written  by Ian Morgan Cron.  It is a story of a modern day mega church pastor who loses himself and his soul and ends up in Italy on a pilgrimage to the sites made sacred by St. Francis.  Maybe I read it to come under the ministry of that ancient saint, and then again, maybe I read it because of the searching of my own soul.    

Early on in the book the author defines the word pilgrimage as the spiritual mentor of the disillusioned and lost seeker says, "The word 'pilgrimage' comes from the Latin word "peregrinus,'  which means a person wandering the earth in exile, someone in search of a spiritual homeland. If I'm not mistaken, that sounds a lot like you."  Neither the disillusioned character of the novel, nor I, had any argument.  It took me some time to realize that coming to the farm from the church was a kind of pilgrimage.  I thought at first it was just about retirement, but after some time midst the silence of the sacred unfolding creation, I realized it was about more than changing locations and entering into a slower season of my life.    

The farm is not sacred in the sense that the chapel at San Damiano was for Francis, but it has still become sacred space.  While I have come to a place of believing that every space is sacred because every space bears the imprint of the holy hands of the Creator, it must also be affirmed that some space seems to have a spiritual power and presence which comes from the accumulated prayers of God's people and the work of God in that place.  We have all found ourselves in places where we felt compelled to take off our shoes.  I never anticipated the farm to be a place where I would consider walking barefoot.