on hidden places

today we walked along the sea front and down a short hill where we found a tiny stone built chapel. Inside we found an altar stone and six chairs for parishioners.  Poems and prayers were up on the wall and the room felt peaceful and calm.

Despite my lack of any religion or religious feelings, as in many such places, I am touched by the history within.  It seems it was first the home of a holy man who had travelled by sea from France and landing on the shore he set up home on the beach and built a sanctuary for prayer and meditation. How amazing that some 900 years later this is still standing as a place of prayer.

The best bit of all during the visit was when we came out of the chapel and saw the majesty of the sea, the breakers hitting the shore just yards away from where we were standing.  The sky was blue and the sun was shining and I was left with a compelling feeling that these same waves have been hitting the same shore every day, it is perhaps the same sea that brought the holy man from France.

It made me consider all the troubles and the worries of the world in a different context.  How much influence do any of us have, whatever we do, the sea will hit the shore and the sun will shine in the sky.  Over the hundreds of years between us and the holy man, wars have been fought and lost, dynasties have been founded and floundered.  The sea has continued to break on the shore, the tides ebb and flow and the world goes around.

Suitably chastened and put firmly in my place in the world, we continued to a happy cafe for warm tea and chat.  The old poster from my youth Desiderada comes to mind, especially the line ‘And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should’.