Walking the Camino de Santiago
Thoughts about the spiritual aspects of the Camino.
Between our pilgrimages, we must live in the world. We try to hang onto the Way of the Pilgrim in our ordinary lives, but like all things, the lessons fade over the years unless they are reinforced from time to time. And what are those lessons? They are as individual as the pilgrim, but there are certain commonalities, certain sayings […]
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My annual camp/cabin trip was this past weekend. Basically it’s the same group of guys every year, with the occasional comings and goings. Back in the day, we camped. One particular weekend, about seven or eight years ago now, it rained so hard that it put out our campfire. Since then, it’s been U.S. Forestry service cabins. This is the […]
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Of all the photos I took on our 2013 Camino – and I took thousands of them – this is the one that for me best sums up the spirit of the pilgrimage. It was taken as we walked through the Galician forests on our way to the Royal Monastery of Samos. It reminds me very strongly of Bilbo’s Old […]
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In theory, each pilgrim who completes the Camino de Santiago is a member of the Archconfraternity of Saint James the Apostle. Originally founded in 1499, the aims of the Archcontraternity are: Promote honour of St. James the Apostle and encourage Christian pilgrimage to his Tomb. Ensure that pilgrims are welcomed and looked after on their pilgrimage along the different ways […]
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(from my journal) Ventosa Annunciation of the Lord Short, difficult day today. The roads were actually fairly easy, but all of us are still feeling yesterday. Cliff left first, and he was soon out of sight. Charlie is taking a rest day or two. Ali, Eamon, Patrick, Petra, Viola, & I set off together. Breakfast in Logroño and then a […]
» Read moreWe are rapidly approaching the one-year anniversary of our Camino. And, God willing, exactly two years from today we will leave on our next one. In the next month or so, I’ll be posting photos, day by day, of last year’s Camino, with my ruminations on each day a year later. This is not exactly for you, dear reader (though […]
» Read moreYesterday, Francine posted some very good ruminations on her blog about her time on the Camino. She was far more eloquent than I on the experience, and particularly the post-Camino experience. Honestly, after more than half a year, I’m still trying to process it. I haven’t even been able to post and catalogue all my photos yet – although I’ve […]
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Today is the feast of Saint James the Apostle, son of Zebedee and Salome of Bethsaida, brother of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist. One of the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Santiago. On this day last year, I wrote about what we know of Saint James from scripture and tradition. That was before I had walked 500 miles to […]
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God’s communications with us humans are often subtle. As the Prophet Elijah discovered, the Voice of God is often to be found in the whispering wind (1 Kings 19:11-13). Sometimes, however, God reaches out and whacks us upside the head, either physically or mentally. One such time in the history of the Church is the famous story of my name […]
» Read moreThey say you meet the Devil three times on the Camino. While I cannot (yet) attest to the veracity of this tradition, I can verify that his temptations are to be found everywhere. Despite such temptation, yesterday we completed the long, long walk from Palas do Rey to Arzúa, aka “Cheesetown”, a distance of about 30 km in the pouring […]
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