Issue Nr 57, May 2009

Newsletter

Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela -
April 19th to May 15th 2009

by Peter Moran

Can you picture the scene. The Moran’s are at home; Michelle is on the computer attending to her emails and a voice calls up from the bottom of the stairs:

“Hi love, I am just going out for a walk!”
Michelle replies; “ OK, how long will you be?”
Peter: “About 25 days!”
Michelle: “ See you later and enjoy the walk.”

Silence, whilst Peter laces his walking boots. Then a head appears over the stair and a puzzled Michelle enquires; “25 Days!! Where are you going to?”
“I am walking to Santiago de Compostela in North west Spain on a Pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James the Apostle.” Peter declares, as if it was obvious where he was walking to and why it would take 25 days. “See you when you get back, then and ‘Bon Comino’!” says Michelle in reply.

As you may know I completed my 500+ km walk from Burgos to Santiago de Compostela. Arriving back in Brentwood on the 15th May a few pounds lighter in weight. I really enjoyed the walk  and was greatly blessed by the experience. It was a spiritual pilgrimage with many unexpected blessings and some unforeseen difficulties. Let me fill in a few details just to give you a flavour of the pilgrimage.
I began my walk on April 20th in a lovely city called Burgos and finished it on the 12th May. In all I walked for 21 days and took 2 rest days on the way and had 2 reflection days at Santiago de Compostela at the end of my walk.

Each days walking had a similar timetable. I stayed in the Albergues that could be found all along the Camino or Way. These are hostels providing simple accommodation for Pilgrims. We would arise between 6.30 – 8.00 am and by 8.30 I would be on my way to the next destination having said Morning Prayer in the hostel.  Sometimes I would walk alone and at other times with a fellow Pilgrim or two. Around 10.00 am I would pray a rosary then take a time to intercede for people and the intentions I brought with me.  Lunch may be a Boccadillo (sandwich) or Tortilla (Spanish omelette) with water or juice which could be purchased from any Café/bar. Perhaps a short break would take place after lunch then on again with the walk until I arrived at the next intended destination. Usually I would walk for 18 – 23 Km and this would take between 4 -6 hours. On arriving at the next town I would find the Albergues and book in. To stay in one of these you needed a ‘Credential’ which is a pilgrim’s passport. Every Albergues had its own ink stamp which was stamped onto my Credential. This authenticated that I had stayed in or passed through that place. It is a way of tracking that a pilgrim has indeed walked, cycled or ridden on horseback through the places of the Pilgrim Way. (Please ask if you would like to see my Credential!)

The first thing a Pilgrim does upon arriving at the hostel is claim a bed then take a shower. Like all those walking I too lost a few pounds.  I would then do some hand washing and hang it up to dry in the Spanish sun. Supper was either a trip to a local shop or supermarket to buy some food or eating out in a bar or restaurant. Most towns and even villages along the way had places that provided a ‘Pilgrims Menu’. This would be a simple three course meal, with wine and would cost between €8 - €10. If I ate out it would always be with a few fellow pilgrims whom I had got to know. The one drawback was that Spanish people eat late which meant going for this meal between 7.00 – 10.00 pm. Then back to the hostel and try to be in bed for 10.00pm. Next day up at 7.00am and so on.

To my great delight I often found a Mass at 7.30 pm in the towns and even villages where I stayed. I had expected that I might not be able to celebrate daily mass. God is good, as you know. For Sunday mass I would attend the vigil on the Saturday evening and then make a shorter walk on the Sunday in order to enjoy the Sabbath.

When you are walking it is amazing how many pieces of scripture speak about walking, paths, the way, etc. For me there were two passages from the Psalms that spoke to my situation and that I prayed almost daily and Jesus’ words in John 14 when he said, ‘I am the way the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father except through me.’

Psalm 86: ‘Lord, teach me your way and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.’

Psalm 116: ‘Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, O Lord have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.’

Through these scriptures I sought the Lord, presented myself to him and learned trust. The Pilgrimage became for me an adventure in faith and taught me through many little experiences to trust God, my Father. I learned (and am still learning) to ask for God’s help in everything and trust him to see me through. Which he did on so many occasions and in so many ways. He would often send me an ‘angle’ to help or guide me when the Comino path was less than obvious. I learned to expect that God would speak to me through every person I met. Early in my walk I shared a morning walk with Yap from the Netherlands. He was a young man who was very open but had no background in the Christian faith. We had a great sharing about Spirituality and faith in God. He taught me two things; a) to listen to your body, hear what it is saying and make a response. b) The Pilgrimage isn’t a race so take it easy and enjoy it. Wise words that were to be very helpful  in my attitude to the physical part of the pilgrimage.

I could not tell you how many people were doing the walk with me because you could walk all day and only meet a few fellow pilgrims but at the end of the day in the Hostels there could be upwards of 30/50 people. In chatting to people their reason for making the pilgrimage differed enormously. Only about one third of the people I met would I say were making a Christian Spiritual pilgrimage. But believer or not people were always open, helpful and good fun.

If I were to summarise what the pilgrimage meant to me I would say that God blessed me by calling me to TRUST him and learning another lession in HUMILITY.  I still have to see how I can live these gifts in ‘normal’ life but God will help me with this too.

I will hope to give a more detailed and visual presentation of the Pilgrimage to the Community at some time in the future. If you are interested in finding out more or making the walk yourself I would be happy to speak with you.

Finally, thank you all for your prayerful support for me. There were days when I might have given up but I drew strength from your prayers and offered up the difficulty to the Lord. Please be assured that I prayed often for the Community, for us as a body and for the individual members. I pray that God will continue to pour out his grace upon us as we endeavour to ‘seek his face’ and ‘walk in his path’.