Day 3: Camino

Thursday, Sept 26, 2024

Today we started the Camino de Santiago!  This has been on my list of things I want to do since I went to confession to Fr. Don Davison many years ago and received from him the penance of praying some assortment of prayers for the pilgrims on the Camino. I asked him what the Camino was, and he told me to look it up. I did and it has called me ever since!

The word "camino," of course, simply means "way."  For about 1500 years Catholics have travelled on pilgrimage to the tomb of the apostle Saint James the Greater.  He was the first apostle to be martyred--and all of them followed suit, except St John of course!  Gut James died in the year 44AD they believe. His remains are in Compestella in Spain -- and more on that later. 

But imagine the faith of this man!  He died for the fiath long before it was common, and he set the example for the rest of the apostles to follow--both the official aposltes and many more down through the centuries. 

I am praying in this camino for that kind of faith. 

There are seven main routes of St. James; Camino Frances (the French Way), Camino Portugués (the Portuguese Way), Camino del Norte (the Northern Way), Camino Primitivo (the Original Way), Via de la Plata (the Silver Way), Camino Inglés (the English Way) and Camino Finisterre-Muxía.

We are doing the Camino Frances, starting at Sarria.  That means we'll be walking the last 100 miles in the next six days.

I snapped this photo from the church sacristy where we had Mass tonight. 

Day 1 was tiring!  I must say I wasn't expecting things to be quite so hilly. I didn't really prepare for the Camino physically -- but fortunately I'm only 38.

There's a couple traditions with the rocks.

One is that you pick carry a rock each day to remind you to pray for someone or some group of people.  The other is that you start with a rock each day that represents something you want to let go of. 

I did both.

I am carrying my rock today for my family -- my parents who gave me the faith, my brother who certainly deepened my faith and gave me the courage to go to the seminary, my aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews and so forth. All of them I took with me today. 

I'm not sure how many rosaries I prayed for them today.  They say that a big piece of the camino is meeting folks along the way. This is true!  The first few miles I really didn't run into too many people outside of our group. 

I met some folks from Kentucky who have been going on the Camino since August 25. They hadn't seen a priest yet.

I met a man with cancer who is walking the camino. 

I met a woman and her mother from Puerto Rico who are walking this together. They have been to Medjugorje and have a strong love for Our Lady. 

I met a woman who said she had no religion at all, but then bought me a bunch of oreos and told me to pray for her. 

I met some people from South Korea who didn't know Pope Francis is going to be there in 2027. I told them I'd probably be there - they said to look them up. 

I met at Mass a seminarian in his first week of seminary and a priest who has been ordained 63 years. I asked the latter's blessing and promised prayers for them both. 

I met so many folks I can't quite remember them all four days later. I should ahve written this right away! 

We sang BE NOT AFRAID together at the rest stop and got a resounding applause 


I stopped in a church to pray Midday prayer and a holy hour. Being so early on the camino, I wasn't sure how much time I had -- so I only stayed a half hour or so. 

The name of the church, still in Sarria, is Santiago de Barbadelo. Its origins date back to the 10th-11th centuries, as a monastery was located on the site. Next to it, there was also a church that, as we know, was donated to the monastery of Samos in 1009, along with the monastery. Today, the place is known as Mosteiro.  There are lots of tombs nearby. I could hardly believe the emotions in me, thinking of how I was surrounded by all these faithful folks from generatiosn ago. And imagine!  Even then, 1000 years ago, people were walking this very Camino!!!

There in the church I prayed midday prayer, and would'nt you know it? It started with Psalm 119: "I am a pilgirm on the earth"

YES indeed we are pilgrims. 

The priest at Mass tonight at St Nicholas in Portomarín reflected on the first reading (Vanity of vanity, all is vanity) and the Gospel verse ("I am the way...").  Jesus is the WAY....the ultimate camino....and our goal is heaven. Anything that is in the way -- we must chop it out, detach it from our souls.  It's all vanity and passing away.  If it gets in the way of THE WAY (Jesus), it got to go

We arrived at the end quite exhausted and ready for a rest!   But what a full, amazing day!  Towards the end of the day, a rainbow came into the sky - a sign of God's blessing and presence among us! 
















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