Author: sjspwellesley

After a good night’s sleep following a day of travel, you could feel the buzz of active energy among the pelegrinos (Spanish for pilgrims) this morning as we took in breakfast and got ready for the day’s long haul.

Before going to bed we learned that today’s trek would be a “little” longer than originally anticipated. We were informed that what was supposed to be a just over 15 miles would instead be 18 miles. It was only once we were out on the trail that we discovered that, in fact, we’d be doing 22-23 miles (tricky conversion rates!!)

Knowing that the journey begins at home, we need look no further than the example of the first disciples to see the courage taking that first step on the Way takes. 

Jesus met those first followers where they were, in the everyday-ness of their lives. They were mending nets. They were casting out into the sea. They didn’t know what they would catch and, one would imagine, that they didn’t suspect that the Christ would walk into their lives that day. (Do any of us?)

Reading the stories of that first calling though (Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11; Matthew 4:18-22), we can imagine that something stirring in their hearts compelled them to follow Jesus…

As I write, we’re just coming to the end of our first 24 hours of travel. Two flights, three countries, and a bus ride later and we’ve made it safely to Leon, our starting point for the Camino.

Excitement fills the air as we gear up for an extended day of hiking tomorrow. We’ll cover about 18 miles when all is said and done. What a way to begin!

By the time we arrived in Leon (about a four hour drive from Madrid) we had time to treat ourselves to tapas (I discovered Morcilla de León (ox blood pudding) spread on fresh Spanish bread) and to visit the Cathedral in Leon – a beautiful example of Gothic architecture!

Today, our group arrives in Spain and gets acquainted with what lies ahead.

While it might seem that a pilgrimage begins on the departure day you’ve marked on the calendar, in reality, we begin our journey as soon as we decide to set out. For the pilgrim this means that the pilgrimage doesn’t begin the day you set out on the Camino, but it begins at home.

The same is true of a retreat. We begin as soon as we accept the Holy Spirit’s invitation (or inclination) to go deeper. The desire to pray (or the desire to want the desire to pray) is the first step. Who knows what taking that step might hold? We might have inklings, but truly only God knows…