Day 6: Camino

 September 29, 2024

Today we went from Melide to Arzua, only 9 miles today....but lots of hills!

By the way, I did eat some octopus in Melide...it was good, maybe a little slimy...


Today at Mass in the Gospel, Jesus says, “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.” It was sort of beautiful, because one of the first things I witnessed today as I begin, the walk was a woman giving an elderly man something to drink. He was clearly quite tired, this fellow, and I imagine the lady giving him the drink was his daughter. It is always always nice to see the word of God in action.

I had the joy of being interviewed for a Spanish TV station today. Evidently it is a show where they customarily interview various random people on the Camino. It was a little strange, since it was all happening in Spanish, and since there were so many microphones and cameras, I did not ask the name of the TV station. I’m not sure I have any desire to watch it!  They did ask why I wanted to come on the Camino, and I told them that I am very inspired by the faith of St. James. I told him the door opened, and I walked through it. He had a lot of different questions, and he was not so sure he relieved in the concept of sin. It was an interesting discussion to have in Spanish with all the cameras on me.

Met some folks from the states today - one of whom has bought a place over there!  She wrote this book about how that all came to be--

Also met a woman who has written other books.  I'll have to check my notes on the names of them

I discovered some other saints today and saints-to-be. Venerable Francesca Lancellotii.  


Here's this from Vatican News:

Francesca Lancellotti, who was born in Basilicata in 1917, lived a life characterized by charisms and mystical gifts but lived in total humility and a deep sense of poverty. From a very young age, she worked in the fields. She studied until second grade, and dedicated herself to an intense life of prayer, venerating in particular the Madonna della Purità of the Sanctuary of Belvedere in Oppido. She desired to be a nun, but her father wanted her to marry; and in 1938 she celebrated her marriage to Faustino Zotta, a saddler and farmer, with whom she had two children. She opened a tobacconist’s, liquor, and food shop while continuing to cultivate her spiritual life. Following an alleged private revelation in July 1956, and after selling the business and property, Francesca moved with her family to Rome in 1960. They lived first in the Primavalle district, later near the Pantheon, and finally on the Via del Seminario, where she regularly attended the Church of St Augustine. Her house became a centre of refuge for the needy and for those who asked for spiritual and material help. She died in 2008 at the San Giovanni Addolorata hospital in Rome.

I also came across this in one of the churches, and it turns out the tradition is you put it in the place where you asked God for a miracle and it was granted. I wondered: who left this here?  What miracle was asked for here? How was it granted?  Only God knows. 


Today I had one of the most peaceful moments. I took a left where most people took a right, and I had the whole path to myself for about a half hour. It was glorious. The cornfields right next to me, the creeks, the trees, the breeze, it was like another world. I paused there to pray midday prayer, and wouldn’t you know it, right there in the middle of those pastures, I opened my breviary found the first antiphon: “The Lord has brought me to Green pastures.”

I soon ran into a wonderful group of ladies from various places in the United States. Some were from Texas, so we started singing “all my exes live in Texas.” Another was from West Virginia, so it seemed appropriate to sing a song of Country roads. Those ladies talked to others about me and called me the singing priest.  Then we went into this one church, and I really like this text here:



There was a great group of folks from Japan that I ran into. They could not have been any nicer. One said she was so happy to see a priest. “I now feel Jesus Christ is on Camino with me,” she said.  I am glad I am wearing the cassock on this pilgrimage. I think people need to see it. Some want to see it, some maybe don’t. But everyone needs to see it. I sort of feel Fr. Matt and I are representing the whole Church here in some way. Many have said they haven’t seen a priest yet, and that they’d been on this for a while now.

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