Levanté 4 is the forth and final retreat in a series of Michael Fish’s fascinating new streamed online video retreats, designed to help us recognize the opportunities for personal growth that are often hidden within everyday experiences – a springboard inviting fresh perspectives on life’s challenges and rewards.
Born of Michael’s experiences during his arduous and eventful fourth Camino across Spain, Levanté 4 is a series of pre-recorded, streamed videos that focus on how simple everyday events hold valuable lessons for living life in the “now.” We will learn how viewing each day as a separate, distinct experience can reveal simple, easily overlooked opportunities for us to live more fully in the present and in the presence of the Divine.
In Levanté 4, Fr. Michael takes us along during the next five days of his remarkable trek across Spain on the Camino Levanté. This route of the Camino de Santiago is by far the road less traveled. Amazing and unpredictable, the Levanté journey provided a wealth of wonderful opportunities to see what God can teach us about each and every life experience. Michael uses his remarkable gift of storytelling and metaphor to show us how these experiences can hold the key to opening our hearts to a wider view of our relationship with ourselves, our families and the world around us.
Day 16 + Study Guide PDF
Arrivals and Departures
A monotonous and difficult walk causes Michael to return to the solitude of his “breath,” and to contemplate the often overlooked cycle of arrivals and departures in the Camino of life.
Day 17 + Study Guide PDF
The Sanctity of Nature
Michael was reminded of Celtic spirituality while sitting beneath ancient olive trees that had survived years in an arid land. The Celts believed nature and creation blessed and encouraged humans. Today’s walk evoked this – the olive trees, stunted pines, harvested fields, rocks, path, and mountains – reminded Michael of our spiritual connection with nature.
Day + Study Guide PDF
Persevering on the Journey
Today’s walk was a challenging 30 km through five villages, made slightly easier by Michael’s encounters in each. Michael recalls the story of a Benedictine monk who one winter was going through a particularly hard time, only to find inspiration from a simple message on a red balloon that had been placed in his path, “GO ON.”
Day 19 + Study Guide PDF
Learning to Rest
Having reached Toledo in central Spain, Michael decides to take a rest day. He reminds us that rest days are important, not just when walking. They are good for the body and the Being. Rest provides a sense of healing and self-forgiveness, necessitating our silencing the nagging voices that drive us to keep going, get finished, and hold to a schedule.
Day 20 + Study Guide PDF
Making Your Own Camino
During siesta on his rest day, Michael remembered that Toledo was where John of the Cross was held prisoner, escaped, and hid while healing. During his enforced rest of deprivation and humiliation, St. John composed his most famous spiritual work, the Spiritual Canticle. Michael was reminded how rest, even forced rest, can serve as a passage to something new.