This Ignatian Life: The Art of Packing a Camel

I have ridden a camel at an oasis in the desert, but I freely admit I've never had to pack one.  I realize that there is no evidence in the biblical accounts that the magi came by camel, but as Ignatian composition of place doesn't demand a slavish attention to historical detail...I'm free to imagine a camel breathing down my neck.

I learned on the Exercises that there is an art to packing a camel. I learned to ask the questions that the magi must have faced with a long journey ahead, where the weight of what you carry could — quite literally — drain the life from your camels. Where you might have to sit on what you had packed, so that with each passing mile the lumps and edges of your luggage gives you, as well as your camels, galls. Where balance is not a metaphor, but a hard reality.

Read the rest at This Ignatian Life.