Camino in Daily Life

Part of walking the Camino is that most pilgrims carry everything they will need with them—on their backs! Unlike packing for a vacation, where whatever can fit in your suitcase and within airline weight limits is allowed, packing for a pilgrimage requires a consciousness about what it is we truly need and what is “extra” for the journey. While one or two “extra” things add a bit of comfort, each additional item is literally added weight.

When you are walking an average of 15 miles a day, extra ounces or even a pound or two can mean having the energy to push a little further or feeling an ache a little bit too early in the day.

Guides often advise that “the Camino teaches by subtraction.” Every unnecessary item becomes a spiritual and physical burden.  We must weigh our actual needs against our perceived needs…

Ascending the mountain with the sun this morning, our group traveled together to the highest point on the Camino: Cruz de Ferro. This iron cross sits atop a 5-meter high pole and is surrounded by stones that have been carried

In religious orders, sisters, brothers, and priests follow a particular rule of life. For Benedictines, it is the Rule of St. Benedict; for Augustinians, the Rule of St. Augustine; and on and on and on. Sometimes also called Constitutions, the Rule provides a structure to support the daily living of a vowed religious life.

To an outside observer, a rule of life might seem constricting or domineering. The same might also be said of a vow of obedience. Yet, if understood as a means to discerning the will of God through the practice of intentional living, the old adage about the rule rings truer than ever: “Keep the rule, and the rule will keep you.”

For the pilgrim, this adage might be adapted to apply to the rhythm of the Way, as if to say: “Keep the rhythm and the rhythm will keep you” or, more simply put, “Put one foot in front of the other, rinse and repeat.”

Setting out from Astorga this morning, our group stopped in front of the city’s beautiful Gothic Cathedral for a picture before heading to the city limits (see: duckling line like in Leon) to visit the Hermitage of Ecce Homo (Latin for “Behold the man” which Pontius Pilate declare of Christ as he tried to save him from condemnation).
This small chapel is said to have been the site of a Camino miracle after a small boy once fell into a well used by pilgrims to drink on the Way. His mother could not get him out and so prayed for his rescue. Amazingly, the water level rose until he was returned to her!

Our pilgrims stopped to pray and to get a briefing on the day before hitting the trail for what would be a warm walk of about 12 miles..

Today’s journey brings us to the small village of Foncebadón, a place that for many years was almost an abandoned outpost on the Way of St. James. Yet, here in this village, we find the highest point on the French Way. Known as the Cruz de Hierro, this iron cross stands atop a 5-meter (16.4ft.) high wooden post. It points the way to Santiago, our eventual destination, and reminds us that we are the church and carry Christ’s message with us.  

On our pilgrim journey, we travel always in the shadow of the cross. Today we are reminded that the mountaintop experiences of our lives spur us on. From these places of consolation, we carry on in the shadow of the cross, bringing the love of Christ we have experienced out into the world…

Today’s prompt reminds us that our bodies are a blessing. Opening our eyes and our hearts to the world around us, we try to see the beautiful creation we are and the wonderful world we are embodied in!

The walk today took us to Astorga, a elevated Roman age city. With a number of hills along the way, we could feel the work of yesterday’s walk as we pushed further today. God is with us, though, each step of the way. Just look at all the ways God grace shines through pictures from our pathway!

On this second day of really walking, we notice the gift of our bodies. Each step that we take, we feel the shifting of our weight and the engagement of our muscles. We are embodied people and as Christians, we are blessed by a God who knows what it means to have a human body too.

By becoming human in Jesus, Christ takes on flesh and feels all that we feel. He knows what it feels like to ache. He knows the way tension and stress sit in our shoulders or the way we clench our jaws almost unconsciously. His face was surely traced with lines from laughter; his eyes knew the sting of tears. Fully human and fully divine, Jesus knows what it feels like to walk the earth…

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!