We now descend from the mountains, away from quiet paths and quaint villages to the bustle of the coastal city of Rimini.

I felt like a fish out of water, completely out of place, exposed, judged and misunderstood. I wanted to disappear and, despite Alberto’s best efforts to cheer me up, became increasingly grumpy and distant. Only when we got near the Adriatic shore, and I decided to follow Alberto’s lead to walk on the sand, did I begin to loosen my grip.

And Love rushed in to make sure I would recognize Its Presence.

A man hurriedly stopping his car, opening his wallet, tears streaming down his face.

A nonna in a church gently holding our faces as we wept, assuring us that the Holy Mother and Father walk with us, and to have no fear.

A priest offering us sanctuary, a bag of oranges, a panettone, some candies… and even a pair of socks still in their package!

It was overwhelming! And certainly hard to ignore.

Today, through the loving lens of A Course in Miracles, we would probably add that:

Love is always there, but fear and resistance often obscure our ability to see It.

When we are willing to release them, even ever so little, we begin to recognize Its Presence everywhere.

Love is what we are.

And we can never be separated from It.

We do not create Love. Love created us.

We certainly do not need to earn It or demonstrate we are worthy of It.

We do not even need to seek it.

We are merely invited to let the barriers that we have placed between ourselves and Love be lifted, so that we may behold and appreciate the Light that is always there.

With love and gratitude, we offer this episode and a question to contemplate:

“What am I willing to release today?”

Mony and Alberto

* * *

P.S. You can also listen to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music, searching for my name or the Walking for Peace Podcast.

A new episode every Sunday.

Subscribe, Like and Share!

* * *

To purchase our WALKING series books, in English or Spanish, in all popular formats, please visit the Amazon site in your country:

WALKING FOR PEACE, AN INNER JOURNEY https://a.co/d/09kS3w6u

WALKING ALONE, A PILGRIM’S GUIDE TO THE INNER JOURNEY https://a.co/d/00PBr55O

WALKING A COURSE IN MIRACLES, A PILGRIM’S SPIRITUAL COMPANION

https://a.co/d/04ilfye6

* * *

#walkingforpeace #innerjourney #walkforpeace #monydojeiji #albertoagarso #pilgrimage #caminodesantiago #camino #peace #rometojerusalem #acim #acourseinmiracles #podcast #spirituality #spiritualpodcast #Christ #Christmas #release

Christmas has arrived. And for the first time in our lives, Alberto and I find ourselves far from our families. We are both melancholy, feeling the longing for home and the comfort of the known.

Then, one family after another open their homes to us, sharing not only a meal but the more precious gifts of friendship, companionship, joy. One was even on Christmas Eve.

Cars start honking their horns in support.

Gifts of panettone and wine are given along the road.

Welcoming smiles and hugs abound.

Simple acts of kindness that we remember to this day.

And although it’s easy to stay with the interpretation we gave those events back then – that they were demonstrating the Great Love that walked with us – today, under the loving gaze of A Course in Miracles, we are invited to go one step further on the journey.

Every beautiful moment, every gesture of generosity, every table lovingly and abundantly set were invitations to remember a Home we have never truly left;

A call from the Loving to the Beloved to come Home;

Love calling to Itself;

To return from fear through the open door that Love holds open for us, always.

We have never been separate from Home.

Shining beneath every appearance, patiently waiting to be recognized, Love – the Christ – remains.

Our deepest longing has always been for this.

Offered, as always, with love,

Mony and Alberto

* * *

P.S. You can also listen to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music, searching for my name or the Walking for Peace Podcast.

A new episode every Sunday.

Subscribe, Like and Share!

* * *

To purchase our WALKING series books, in English or Spanish, in all popular formats, please visit the Amazon site in your country:

WALKING FOR PEACE, AN INNER JOURNEY https://a.co/d/09kS3w6u

WALKING ALONE, A PILGRIM’S GUIDE TO THE INNER JOURNEY https://a.co/d/00PBr55O

WALKING A COURSE IN MIRACLES, A PILGRIM’S SPIRITUAL COMPANION

https://a.co/d/04ilfye6

* * *

#walkingforpeace #innerjourney #walkforpeace #monydojeiji #albertoagarso #pilgrimage #caminodesantiago #camino #peace #rometojerusalem #acim #acourseinmiracles #podcast #spirituality #spiritualpodcast #Christ #Christmas #home

With so many intense experiences taking place every day, it’s easy to imagine that months have passed.

But no, Alberto and I have been walking together for less than two weeks!

Wondering if the inner intensity would let up, we find ourselves before a beautiful child who, with all the wide-eyed innocence of her young age, asks the question:

“Are you Christians?”

How do we answer without disappointing her?

What label could possibly encompass what we knew to be the Love that includes all, and excludes none?

Twenty-five years later, looking at the situation again through the lens of A Course in Miracles, we understand that what she was asking for had nothing to do with religion, but with RECOGNITION:

With recognizing the Christ – the Light, the Love, the Eternal – Who shines beyond every label, every belief, every story and every appearance…and Who is always standing before us.

In this episode too, we hear the moving story of Father Daniel, a story that is not in our book but that would alter the direction of our walk and open many questions about the meaning of love and sacrifice.

The threads are clearly being woven for us to see that this pilgrimage was not merely about the distances walked, but the inner movement from seeing separate people with interests and intentions and purposes separate from my own... to recognizing the one shared Self.

We offer this episode with great love, and the invitation to look beyond every label, every role, every appearance, and ask:

Can I recognize the Christ here?

For in recognizing Him in my brother, I remember Him in myself.

Mony and Alberto

* * *

P.S. You can also listen to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music, searching for my name or the Walking for Peace Podcast.

A new episode every Sunday.

Subscribe, Like and Share!

* * *

To purchase our WALKING series books, in English or Spanish, in all popular formats, please visit the Amazon site in your country:

WALKING FOR PEACE, AN INNER JOURNEY https://a.co/d/09kS3w6u

WALKING ALONE, A PILGRIM’S GUIDE TO THE INNER JOURNEY https://a.co/d/00PBr55O

WALKING A COURSE IN MIRACLES, A PILGRIM’S SPIRITUAL COMPANION

https://a.co/d/04ilfye6

* * *

#walkingforpeace #innerjourney #walkforpeace #monydojeiji #albertoagarso #pilgrimage #peace #rometojerusalem #acim #acourseinmiracles #podcast #spirituality #spiritualpodcast #recognition #Christ