Buen Camino!

In his novel, "Therapy" David Lodge refers to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela as "a bit of a dog's breakfast, architecturally, but. . . it works." Dog's breakfast is a British term which means confused mess. I agree with this description, and in honor of the pilgrimage and the Cathedral, this essay is a bit of a dog's breakfast too.

There have been so many special moments for John, Luke, and me on all the legs of our trip. I have recorded some of them in this blog. 

Highlights were meeting John's family in Ireland and learning about his family's history and visiting friends in Scotland who also have children from Haiti. 

John's dad is second from the left.

Going to the World War II sites in the Normandy region of France where John's dad served as an infantry sergeant in the European theater. 

And then we did the Camino to Santiago de Compostela, walking about 200 kilometers in the footsteps of thousands of others through the ages. Many pilgrims from the Middle Ages traveled to Santiago in the hopes of being healed of a physical ailment or receiving special indulgences. We walked the pilgrimage for religious reasons and prayed for many people who are fighting cancer and other problems. We also walked for the adventure, camaraderie and sport of it. We prayed for ourselves to grow closer to God and to more fully align our will with His.

When you take on and complete a pilgrimage like this, there is the hope that you will be transformed in some way or another, or that you will gain some wisdom or experience that will change your life. For me, it has usually been the smaller moments. I love to look up at the sky. What a reflection of God's glory it is! And I love to look down at the ground at the sparkly rocks and shells. I think about all the physical stuff in the universe and how God made it all.

Shells from Utah Beach, Normandy, France

 Some of my favorite times on the Camino were having one-on-one conversations with people as we walked among all the beauty. I would think about all the people on the Camino--even all the people in the world--and how God made us all and loves us and knows each of us intimately.

Yet, I was hoping for some big, revelatory moment when I finished the Camino, but it was more about being tired and sore feet and disappointment with the scaffolding. Sitting on the edge of the bed in the dark one night, thinking about all this, a thought popped into my mind: "Every moment is a big moment." Even this one. Sure, all moments are not grand or pleasant or memorable--we don't have complete control of this--but they all have their gifts. Sometimes--though it definitely isn't a necessity--it takes getting out of our familiar environment and routine to realize this.

After we had finished the Camino, I had the opportunity to spend some more time in the Cathedral, and it grew on me. It's not so traditionally beautiful like the Chartres Cathedral or the Cathedral in Leon.

Cathedral in Leon, Spain

But you know what? There aren't so many Masses offered at those other cathedrals; sometimes they seem to be more like religious museums. At the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Mass is celebrated at least eight times a day. We went to Mass with our pilgrim group the day we arrived, Mass on Sunday, and then on May 11, I went to the English-language Mass that is offered six mornings a week at 10:30.

Chapel of the Holy Spirit

Mass was in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit presided over by the Virgin of Solitude. There were about 25 pilgrims present. Father Juan Carlos, from Venezuela and the main celebrant, told us that we were in one of the oldest parts of the church. He had us introduce ourselves and say something about the Camino. People were from Australia, Ireland, England, Northern Ireland, Canada, Germany, Poland, and Sweden. There was only one other person from the United States. He said, "I walked by myself, but on the Camino, you never walk alone."

The first reading, read beautifully by a woman from Canada, was from Acts 20. In part it said,

You know well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Jesus at the Basilica in Loyola, Spain

Father James from England gave the homily. He talked about how fortunate we were to have been able to walk the Camino during the Easter season. He said that after Jesus rose from the dead, he was with his apostles, teaching them things. Despite being with Him for three years, the apostles still had more to learn. Jesus taught them that as He had served them, they must serve others. 

Father James said that we now have this time after the Camino to think about what we have learned. What has the Camino taught us? Jesus was a gift to us. How can we be a gift to each other?

At the end of Mass, Father Juan Carlos asked us to read the following prayer together, from our heart.

Santiago Pilgrims' Blessing

Father God we ask your blessing.

We are pilgrims who have come to venerate

the tomb of your Apostle Santiago.

As you kept us safe on our Camino way,

may you keep us safe on our journey home.

And inspired by our experience here,

may we live out the values of the Gospel

as our pilgrimage through life continues.

We ask Saint James to intercede for us as we

ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,

your Son and our Redeemer.

Amen

This prayer reminded me of how Father Michael, our pilgrimage leader, would end each Mass:

"Go and preach the Gospel with your lives!"

Outtakes

It seems as if I could write about our trip forever, but I won't. I do have a few more entries before retiring this blog. Here are some random photos and observations about the trip.

Though the labyrinth in the Chartres Cathedral was covered with chairs, I was able to walk an outdoor one at St. Kevin's Church in Glendalough, Ireland.

The above was in the Cathedral in Killarney, Ireland. I think we need its wisdom even more in the United States.

The shrub with the yellow flowers above is gorse and it is all over Ireland. It is a prickly evergreen and often lines fields providing a natural fence for animals.

Watching a Real Madrid-FC Barcelona basketball game on television: this was as close as Luke got to going to a Real Madrid soccer game (and who knew they even had basketball teams?) Of the four things Luke said he wanted to do on our trip (zoo in Dublin, castle in Scotland, Eiffel Tower in France, and soccer game in Spain), he only got to go to the castle. He was a very good sport about it all.

The nicest hotel we stayed in on our trip--a Marriott--was on our first night in Madrid before we started the Camino. Luke and John both really enjoyed the hotel. John said that he was going to "opt out" of the 200 kilometer pilgrimage and that he would meet us in Madrid after we were done. But here he is going down the innovative escalator in the Madrid airport on the way to meet our pilgrimage group. So he, too, was a good sport.

Luke asked me what the thing on the right was for. I told him but he didn't like the answer. So then I said that if a person brought a dog to the hotel they could fill it up to give the dog a drink. He liked that answer better. :)

I haven't talked much about the food in Europe. Above and below are photos of two meals we had in Spain. Above are eggs and ham over fries. This was more to John's taste than the meal of trout and potatoes, which I liked. Because the Euro is stronger than the dollar, food was more expensive, particularly in Ireland and France. 

Who knew there were snow-covered mountains so close to Madrid? Above are the Sierra de Guadarrama.

We had a few guided tours on our trip. I was always impressed by what good attention Luke paid. Here he listens to the guide talking about the home of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.

This is one of the famously non-reactive Camino dogs. They've seen it all.

Luke had the opportunity to serve Mass. . .

. . . and to read at the churches in Spain.

This photo reminds me of a book that my grandparents gave me when I was a little girl, Chanticleer and the Fox. It is a tale based on the Canterbury Tales, which are about a pilgrimage.

Above is a bandaid on a church floor. To complete a pilgrimage, we need help for body and soul.

Luke and John enjoying the cafe life in Santiago de Compostela. It's nice to sit at a table outside, have a drink or snack, and watch the world go by for awhile.

This is the U.S. Customs area in the Dublin airport. On the way home, we actually went through Customs while we were still in Ireland. It was an interesting process. Also interesting and a little comical was when I got pulled out of the boarding line for a random security check.

On the flight from Dublin to Chicago, I watched two movies, both of which I really enjoyed. The first was Trumbo, about the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo. It seems as if the same cycles get repeated again and again through history. But why I'm really mentioning the film is because something in it reminded me of our last night in Spain. We went to a little restaurant to have some pizza. A bullfight was on television. I had never seen a bullfight, and I was shocked. It should really be called bull killing. The bull lasts all of a half hour and dies a terrible death. There doesn't seem to be anything sporting about it. It was the only thing I didn't like about Spain. So in the movie that I'm watching the very next day, Trumbo is talking about an idea he has for a script. He and his wife had gone to a bullfight in Mexico. When the bull was killed, everyone in the stadium was cheering except he, his wife, and a little boy, who were all crying. Trumbo writes a screenplay, under an assumed name because he's blacklisted, called The Brave One, about a boy who tries to save his bull from being killed in a bullfight. The film wins an Academy award.

The other movie I watched was Brooklyn, which is set in the early 50s and is about a young Irish woman, Eilis, who immigrates to the United States. There is a scene in the movie of Eilis leaving for America. She is on a large ship waving good bye to her mother and her sister, neither of whom she is sure she will ever see again. Everyone on the boat is in the same situation. The people in the boat and on the dock are staring at each other with such sad longing. It's hard to imagine what such a situation must have felt like--someone dying, almost--and I thought about all of our Irish relatives who experienced such a good bye when they came to the United States.

Luke took this photo of the Chicago skyline.

Day 6: Portomarin to Palais de Rei

We climbed up these stairs when we entered Portomarin the day before and back down them when we left town the next day. Repeating part of our journey made me think of the medieval pilgrims who after they successfully traveled all the way to Santiago had to turn around and walk home. No one wonder some of them settled along the pilgrim route.

Our days settle into a familiar routine of walking. Step after step. Fourteen miles today. We are deep into the Galician region today. What we think of as a country is really a group of regions that existed before they were united into a country. People in Spain are more likely to identify themselves from the region they are from--Galicians--than as Spaniards.

As we walk, we see the ubiquitous cows.

And sheep too. Have I mentioned the sheep?

There are towns.

And closed up windows.

Trees that are hundreds of years old.

Above is a Spanish corncrib known as a horreo. Horreos are elevated to keep critters out of them.

We see interesting looking crosses and monuments on the Camino. 

We stop for rest and refreshments from time to time.

Here are a couple of our favorite pick me ups: chocolate and beer.

But sometimes the refreshment from the physical breaks doesn't last long and the road seems long and narrow.

We try to ignore our fatigue and the pain in our feet.

We think about all the thousands of pilgrims who have walked the Camino. We think about all the work and love and faith it took to build the churches on the Camino. We pray.

The Pilgrim Prayer by Thomas Merton

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end. . .

Nor do I really know myself,

and the fact that I think I am following your will

does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does

in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this,

You will lead me by the right road, though

I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though

I may seem lost in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,

and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Day 5: Sarria to Portomarin

On Day 5, we set off from the top of Sarria.

Don't we look all fresh and dewy (relatively speaking)?  We'll see after 14 miles!

Today is May 1, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and the beginning of a month devoted to Mary.

The Camino is taking us through the Galicia region of Spain. Around 1,000 B.C., this area was settled by the Celts (those guys got around) and in many ways it has a similar feel to Ireland. 

The stone fences above and below remind me of Ireland. They are made of granite rocks.

The Galicia region, like Ireland, is often rainy. We have heard hardship stories from pilgrims on two weeks of blowing rain they endured not long before we began our journey. 

We have been blessed with beautiful weather. We have carried our ponchos in our daypacks, just in case.

We walk.

And then we take breaks.

Appreciating the flowers.

And the light.

Thanking God for our blessings.

Especially the blessing of arriving. Above is Portomarin, our next stop! Below is St. John's, both a church and a fortress, where very tired pilgrims attended Mass.

           

We are about halfway through our pilgrimage to Santiago. We offer the Pilgrim's Prayer in thanksgiving and petition.

The Pilgrim's Prayer

St. James the Apostle

Chosen among the first

You were the first to drink

The Cup of the Master

And you are the great protector of pilgrims;

Make us strong in faith

And happy in hope

On our pilgrim journey

Following the path of Christian life

And sustain us so that

We may finally reach the glory of God the Father

Amen