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

As we continue retracing the first days of our pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem, the road gently leads us from Assisi toward Gubbio along the ancient Franciscan Path of Peace.

There we encounter one of St. Francis' most beloved stories: the meeting with the wolf.

How often does fear create "wolves" or monsters in our minds?

How quickly do we judge by appearances, defend our expectations, and attack, confident in our interpretations of a situation?

A difficult encounter with a solitary hermit becomes an opportunity to recognize that what seems to stand before us is a reflection of the fears and interpretations we still hold within us.

This is the foundational teaching of A Course in Miracles, and many other spiritual traditions.

True healing (the “miracle”) does not ask us to change another.

It invites us to release the meaning we have given them; to be willing to see the situation differently; to allow our beliefs, judgments and condemnations to be undone so that we may experience true peace.

We are not here to embrace illusions as if they were true, but to embrace the Christ (the Light, the Love, the Eternal) that has always remained untouched beneath every image that fear has made.

This is the forgiveness of the Course. It is not a struggle to become more loving, but the quiet willingness to let Love reveal what has always been there.

May this episode be an invitation to pause before every judgment and appearance, and ask:

What if there is only my brother (the Christ) here?

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 #peace #rometojerusalem #acim #acourseinmiracles #podcast #spirituality #spiritualpodcast #iamwilling #embrace

As we continue retracing the first days of our pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem on this WALKING FOR PEACE PODDCAST, another quiet lesson begins to emerge.

Walking through the hills of Umbria, welcomed by Franciscan communities and eventually arriving in Assisi, I found myself confronting fears I didn't yet recognize: the fear of speaking openly about God and my spiritual beliefs, the desire to control how our message would be received, the need to protect an identity I had carefully built, and the subtle belief that peace somehow depended on my saying and doing all the right things.

Alberto would similarly confront the fear of speaking openly and with confidence about his spirituality with those holding traditional views, and trusting in the True Voice that was speaking through him.

We look back on everything through the gentle lens of A Course in Miracles, and recognize that:

We are not asked to create the message.

We are asked to receive it.

And having received it, to offer it.

Perhaps our greatest offering is not our words, our ideas, or even our pilgrimage.

Perhaps it is our willingness to become available.

May this episode be an invitation to pause, to listen beyond appearances, and to ask with quiet sincerity:

What am I truly being asked to offer today?

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 #peace #rometojerusalem #acim #acourseinmiracles #podcast #spirituality #spiritualpodcast #iamwilling #receiving #offering

* * *

Background photo: Edrece Stansberry on Unsplash

In this episode of the WALKING FOR PEACE PODCAST, Alberto and I continue reflecting on the early days of our pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem, revisiting an unexpected climb to a remote Franciscan hermitage that would leave a lasting imprint on our journey, and reveal a lesson we would only fully understand twenty-five years later.

Lost on a mountain trail after dark, exhausted and uncertain, we finally arrive at the humble home of Father Bernardino, a Franciscan hermit whose warmth, simplicity, and quiet presence welcome us into a space illuminated only by candlelight. Over a shared meal, he speaks about the Tau, an ancient symbol of God's protection, and tells us that those who carry it are messengers of God.

At the time, I resisted those words. I didn't feel worthy of being called a messenger and believed I still had far too much to learn. Alberto gently offered a different perspective: we were not bringing our message, but simply making ourselves available to carry the message that Spirit wished to extend through us.

Looking back through the loving lens of A Course in Miracles, we now recognize that the lesson was even deeper. Before we can extend peace, forgiveness, or love, we must first be willing to receive them ourselves. Every encounter, every relationship, every challenge becomes the Holy Spirit's classroom, an opportunity to heal our errors in thinking and expand our understanding… not to make us special, but to help us receive the message that is always meant for us first.

This conversation is an invitation to reflect on what it truly means to be available to the Inner Teacher. Perhaps our purpose is not to create a message for the world, but to receive the one that Love is continually offering, and then allow it to be naturally extended through the life we live.

We hope this episode encourages you to pause, listen, and discover what your own experiences may be inviting you to receive today.

With love,

Mony and Alberto

* * *

P.S. You can also listen to podcast on 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 #iamwilling #receiving

* * *

Background photo: Edrece Stansberry on Unsplash

In this episode of the WALKING FOR PEACE PODCAST, Alberto and I continue retracing the first days of our pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem, recognizing that the greatest journey was never across borders, but through the hidden landscapes of our own minds.

On the eve of beginning our walk together from Rieti, Alberto learns that his father has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, placing him at the crossroads between family obligation and the unmistakable inner Guidance that has called him to this pilgrimage. He decides to walk the short distance to the next large town (Terni) while contemplating what to do.

Now with a walking partner, I feel the pressure to walk more quickly and follow his lead in calling on monasteries and spiritual centres for shelter, even when I don’t need to. My fears of rejection, judgment, social image and the need for acceptance rise to the surface, reinforced by an encounter with two wandering musicians and their dog Vagabond.

In Terni, Alberto receives the devastating news that his father has passed away. He shares with me a deeply healing moment they had together, shortly before our pilgrimage, and how he knows he can continue walking in peace, in the quiet confidence that his father walks with him.

Through the lens of A Course in Miracles, we reflect on the many opportunities for healing our first days offered us, and how the Holy Spirit (or Inner Teacher) always meets us where we are, using every encounter, every relationship, every challenge, and every seeming conflict to reveal the thoughts, identities, fears, and judgments we are projecting onto the world. What seems to be happening "out there" becomes an invitation to look within.

This episode is about the UNDOING of the self we believed ourselves to be, and the invitation to remember that underneath every identity we have made, there remains the innocent Self that God created.

Thank you for walking with us today. May this offering serve your journey.

Mony and Alberto

* * *

P.S. You can also listen to podcast on 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 #acim #pilgrimage #peace #acim #acourseinmiracles #pilgrimage #rometojerusalem #podcast #iamwilling #spirituality #spiritualpodcast #undoing

* * *

Background photo: Edrece Stansberry on Unsplash

In this episode of the WALKING FOR PEACE PODCAST, Alberto and I reflect on the many ways we were cared for, guided, and supported during the early days of our pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem.

As we revisit these stories twenty-five years later, a deeper theme begins to emerge. Beyond the practical challenges of finding shelter, transportation, food, and safety, we were being invited into a profound lesson in trust.

Alberto shares the remarkable series of events that seemed to confirm, again and again, that his needs would be provided for: a gifted tent, unexpected kindness from strangers, and the discovery of a Franciscan tradition of welcoming pilgrims.

At the same time, I was facing my own fears of walking alone, sleeping outdoors, and learning to trust a Presence that seemed to be quietly smoothing the way before me.

Together, we explore what it means to surrender the belief that we must manage every detail ourselves, and to discover instead that we are being carried by something far greater than our personal plans, fears, and uncertainties.

Through the lens of A Course in Miracles, we reflect on trust, guidance, receiving help, and the gentle undoing of the self-sufficient identity that believes it must walk alone and control all things itself.

This is a conversation about providence, courage, and the countless ways Love meets us on the path when we are willing to take the next step.

For anyone facing uncertainty, transition, or a call into the unknown, may this episode serve as a reminder that we do not walk alone... and never have.

With love and gratitude for all who walk with us.

Mony and Alberto

* * *

P.S. You can also listen to podcast on 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 #acim #pilgrimage #peace #acim #acourseinmiracles #pilgrimage #rometojerusalem #podcast #iamwilling #carried #identity #transition

* * *

Background photo: Edrece Stansberry on Unsplash