The phrase solvitur ambulando comes from the early world of philosophy. There it meant that some arguments you could not settle in theory, only test in practice — by getting up and moving. Since then, it has come to name a deeper human truth: that walking changes how we think, pray, and endure. In other words, the body leads, and the mind follows.
Today, then, we might walk not to arrive at answers, but to give questions room. In this way, the path, the journey itself, becomes a kind of wisdom.
Bible Verse
Luke 24:15 (NRSV)
“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them.”
Reflection: Solvitur Ambulando
Faith often unfolds sideways. Not in moments of certainty, but in motion — when we are doing something ordinary and honest, like walking and talking. Shortly after the crucifixion of their teacher Jesus, the disciples on the Emmaus road are not seeking revelation; instead, they are processing disappointment. And it is there, as they walk, in their movement and their muddle, that Christ chooses to join them.
Walking frees us from the illusion that we must resolve everything immediately. Instead, it gives time back to God. Step by step, breath by breath, meaning emerges without force. We may not recognise it at the time, but later — often much later — we realise that something was quietly healed, shifted, or held.
The landscape around Rydal Hall understands this. The ground has carried many such journeys. Today we add our own, trusting that walking is not an escape from life, but one way God walks us more deeply into it. Solvitur ambulando: it is solved by walking.
Prayers for the Walk
Setting Out
God of the open road,
as we begin this walk,
loosen what we are gripping too tightly.
Let our bodies teach us patience,
and our steps become prayer.
Amen.
On the Way
Christ who walks beside us,
stay with us in conversation and silence,
in clarity and confusion.
May what needs to surface do so gently,
in your time, not ours.
Amen.
Returning
Spirit of God,
gather what this walk has given.
If we have not found answers,
give us trust.
If we have found joy,
teach us how to carry it home.
Amen.
