Thursday, March 27, 2008

Quandro ero ragazzo.

As I prepare to leave for West Africa, I recall a story shared recently by The Very Rev. Alan Jones in a sermon. My "cave" is the unknown and uncertainty of traveling to a country and a continent that is completely new to me, leaving behind all that is familiar and reassuring. The desire is far greater--to discover that which awaits me.

Leonardo da Vinci tells us:s "Once as a boy, [Quando ero ragazzo] I wandered in the hills above my home and came to the mouth of a huge cave before which I stopped for a moment, stupefied by such an unknown thing. I arched my back, rested my left hand on my knee, and with my right shaded my lowered eyes; several times I leaned to one side, then the other, to see if I could distinguish anything, but the great darkness within made this impossibles. After a time there arose in me two things - fear and desire - fear of the dark and menacing cave; desire to see whether it contained some marvelous thing."

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