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Prayer and Travel through New Eyes

Satellite view of the Amazon Rainforest,
the destiny of Jordan's jornada today.
Source: Wikipedia Commons, created by NASA,
with modifications by the World Wildlife Fund.
Today, a young man, Jordan, the son of a friend, travels on his evangelical mission to Manaus, Brazil, and twice, since learning of his endeavor, we have sung after speaking his name in the temazcales of Durango, in the Valle Guadiana of Mexico. I accompanied my brothers and sisters, including el Oso Hector, Oso Margarita, Goyito, Antonio, Martin, and others in the steamy heat of two ceremonies, during the waxing moon of mid-June.

In the temazcales of Durango we speak of “todas nuestras relaciones,” or, “all our relationships,” or, sensu lato, “all of my relatives.” The “guia,” or, “guide,” during each of four doorways may ask the “caminantes,” or, literally, “those who walk,” to speak, pray, or reflect. Caminantes generally focus prayers often focus on those with whom each caminante has relationships of any sort: family members, friends, co-workers, classmates, extended family, and even remotely connected beings of whom they only know names and hearsay. Following prayer, the guide generally suggests song,...another form of prayer in the temazcal..., reflection, rest, or conclusion of the doorway, or gateway.

Through prayer in the temazcal, caminantes practice self-control, loving kindness, forgiveness, trust, and stress mitigation. That which we practice in the temazcal helps us once we leave the “matriz,” or womb, of the temazcal circle and continue the circle of life. These same disciplines, Jordan practices through his church.

Marcel Proust (1895),
from original by Otto Wegener (1849-1924),
as posted in Wikipedia Commons.





As my jornada comes to an end, Jordan travels from the Midwestern United States to the Heart of the Amazon: the City of the Forest, the City on the Banks of the Black River (Cidade da Barra do Rio Negro),... Manaus, Brazil. For both travelers, as Marcel Proust wrote, ...“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

Traveling and praying, we see the world with “new eyes” on our “voyages of discovery.” We develop new eyes toward these disciplines on the paths we travel.

Looking back on my own jornada and temazcales of the waxing moon of mid-June, I have pondered, daily, the relationship between a young man, Jordan...distant and little known to me...and and my own travel and life. With our “new eyes,” we may know each other a bit more.

... con todas mis relaciones.
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