NOTE! Summer of 2022 I walked The Camino Portugues with 21 other pilgrims. It was amazing! I plan to go back next year and walk a different trail. The below article is as it was published in our Sacred Heart Parish bulletin/newsletter. I have added pictures not included in the bulletin.
Before walking “the way”, let’s take some steps back. A long time ago, in a world before COVID-19, stood Fr. Randy in front of the congregation sharing an invitation that included the words “El Camino”. To some of us this really feels like a lifetime ago! The trip was cancelled in 2020, and then again in 2021. It felt like we had come to the end of the camino without even starting.
Fast forward to 2022 and I can describe my year so far simply as “full” – we bought a house, fixed a house, sold a house, moved a house, moved schools, moved our family, and moved other family members. When the invitation came for a third time to walk the way of St. James, my belief in being able to do it wavered. “It is just not the right time” I uttered as Fr. Randy nudged me until I signed up on the last possible day.
I spent the next several months totally stressed out.
Feeling unprepared for the adventure, my sense of drowning in day-to-day life was compounded by persistent knee and hip pain. This time I almost ended the camino without even starting. I didn’t feel able – physically, mentally, or emotionally – to truly respond to the invitation and be present for the experience. I am grateful my family didn’t give me an out. And on July 17th I boarded a plane for Porto, Portugal to rendezvous with the a blessed and diverse group of 21 pilgrims.
Since I’ve been back I regularly get asked, “What did you like best about the camino?” And my response is always, “Everything! I loved the walk, I loved our group, I loved the food, I loved the people, I loved the countries, I loved the drinks, I loved it all!”
While I could fill this bulletin with pages of stories and jokes and memories and sights and history and tears and prayers and experiences – I will simply say that walking “the way of St. James” was a beautiful and profound experience. I am grateful that in my self-doubt our Lord blessed me with those that encouraged me to lean into the journey. Reminding me that in life I rarely feel physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to answer “yes” to where our Lord invites me to be, and that He simply needs me to show up.
Standing in the darkness before dawn on day one, Fr. Randy reminded us all that the single most important thing we needed to do was follow the way. How you ask? By following the yellow arrows. Regardless of the route and starting point, the way to Santiago de Compostela, our final destination, is marked by yellow arrows. If you don’t see a yellow arrow you are most definitely not on your way to Santiago!
That first morning all I could think about was finding the next arrow and ensuring I would make it to our destination. By our final day, finding the arrows became almost instinctual, allowing my heart, mind, and body to fully rejoice in the journey. Between the first step and the last step of this journey was about 200,000 steps – some in darkness and others in light, some on paved roads and others on rocky trails, over water, and up hills. Some steps were in the damp quiet of ancient forests, while others were over highways, through villages, and next to busy roads. Some steps were taken in silent prayer, while others lost in thought or full of new friendships and a deep sense of community. A community of pilgrims of all ages, sizes, cultures, and nationalities that shared one common phrase – “Buen Camino!” It was a greeting, a presence, a parting, and a blessing all wrapped into two words wishing for each other a “good way”.
Walking “the way” is much like walking through life.
Throughout the walk I jotted down prayers, and they included “ …don’t let me walk so fast that I miss the beauty of your creation…let every step bring me closer to you….help me Lord to always see the arrows…..oh Lord, how often I get lost in my life because I am distracted….bless me with people in my life that will show me the way when I am lost….”
Yes, walking “El Camino” is so much like walking through life. The light and the dark, the ups and the downs, the quiet and the busy, the solitude and the community.
Home again and back in the busyness of my full life, I wake up reminded to follow the yellow arrows. But, I also rest in the knowledge that when I purposefully and faithfully follow His yellow arrows in my life, then each step and each day becomes about the journey. That rich, deep, profound, purifying, challenging, and heartfelt journey that prepares me to joyfully enter my final destination with Him.
And to you, my fellow pilgrims in life, I wish you a “Buen Camino”!
