Tympanum at San Isidoro:  Abraham and Isaac and the ram caught in the bush

(Leon, Spain: 3721 walking-around steps)

Romans 8:5-13
v. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Subject to death, indeed. Death by thousands of steps each day, soon adding to millions, and the trauma they inflict on the body. Toes, arches, bunions, heels, all the rest of the feet, calves, shins, knees, thighs, hips, glutes, back, shoulders–it all hurts, just hopefully not all at the same time. Does the body ever get used to this? It is easier than it was the first week but we still ache at the end of the day. It’s probably harder on those of us at the far end of the age spectrum; we’ve had more decades to operate all our parts and start to wear them out. Yet the Spirit of Christ Jesus, perfect in righteousness and rich in love toward all he has created, continues to give us life by his grace. He renews us day by day and will do so until the moment he enlivens our dying flesh with immortality. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your life-giving Spirit at work even now, and forever, in those who trust in you.

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When we finally got up we had pastry and orange juice in our room before going for pastry and hot drinks at the chocolateria. In front of the cathedral we wandered around a vegetable market bursting with huge red peppers and fat onions.

At our little San Isidoro plaza a stage was being set up and decorative banners have been strung across the street we walk down.

The Museo del Panteon, attached to San Isidoro, originally part of King Ferdinand’s palace and then a monastery, was full of amazing treasures, but the only thing I was allowed to take pictures of was a facsimile of a Mozarabic Bible in tiny Visigothic script completed in 960 after six years of copying. I loved the carefully drawn and colorfully painted pictures interspersed in the text, though I imagine the copyist got tired of creating them because there were none in the New Testament.

We had another early unrushed dinner on the sunny square and called Diana and the children on Facetime. Then Maurice went to a post office for our second shipment to Chris: my camera battery charger (we use the cord to plug in the camera), my extra (pink elastic) shoelaces, most of the new clothesline (Maurice cut off several meters for us to use), the silicon earplugs (heavy and unnecessary), my certificate saying I made it to the center of the Camino and some other paper memorabilia I collected, and, after estimating a reasonable arrival date in Santiago and counting out what I would need to get there, the rest of my morning vitamins (heavier than you’d think).

We had a quiet evening writing and painting in our room. Outside people had returned to build more sets in the streets and square; they carried on until well past our bedtime.