Days 36, 37, and 38: Pilgrim with a Pupose

The past few days have been crazy--we finished our pilgrimage, our day to day life changed for the first time in 36 days, the feast of St. James, now we're all on the move again, and I've been a bit under the weather.  So, better late than never, here's a few final thoughts for the final three days of the 38:

Day 36: The END.

On the morning of Day 36, the day we would hopefully walk into Santiago, you would think we would be pretty excited.  Right?

Well, we were excited, but maybe our spirits were a little tiny bit dampened.  Neither Patrick nor I had slept well, and neither of us felt great.  By the time we got to the edge of the town...well, a coffee and Coke break was in order.

But hey, we knew where we were going, we wanted to get there, and I think we may have had just enough in us (ok, whatever was left in us plus a ton of grace) to do just that.  19km, granola bars, graces and company from Our Lady, our coffee/coke break, all the desire, joy, and sacrifice from the days behind us, and knowing that the end lay just ahead kept us going on this last day. I have to say, I was surprised.  I didn't expect this day to be one of the most challenging, but it turned out to be pretty tough.  Not bad, just tough.  And you know what else it was?  Joyful.  Deeply joyful :)

First sight of the cathedral

We have arrived!  Deo Gratias!! Ahhhh!!!!

Reunited with Christopher :)

When we arrived, we gave thanks the Jesus and Mary, recieved our pilgrim certificates, checked our backpacks, and finally went and prayed at the tomb of St. James.  Finally!!

Finished: pilgrimage to te tomb of St. James

Beginning: living everyday life as a better pilgrim on the pilgrimage to heaven

Yes, this is just the beginning.  It wasn't just a walk, or a hike, or a challenge, or an opportunity that just happened to come up.  This was a pilgrimage: a purposeful movement towards a greater closeness and openness with God, and a gift to give to Him.  It was a time of thanksgiving, a time of asking of patience, of so many things, and every single step of it had a purpose: for love of Jesus, and to be with Him. If you, or I, or anyone misses that, we miss the point of the pilgrimage.  And, we miss the point of life.  Early on in the pilgrimage, I wrote about openness being an inseparable characteristic of a pilgrim who is alive.  Well, here I would like to add purpose to that list.  A pilgrim may be open and alive, but if he lacks purpose, he won't be alive for long.  Openness and purpose.  A good pilgrim needs them both.

But wait, there's more!  And it even gets better!!  At the end of the day, I wanted to go to Mass.  Circumstances being what they were, I ended up going to evening prayer and Mass by myself at 7:30pm. 

Everything was sung, and there was an organ, and it was all just so glorious that I could make this run on sentence run on even longer just to try to communicate the beauty and glory and GAH so wonderful.  I was squeezed into a pew with two pilgrims, an old lady, and an old guy.  The old guy must have been a regular parishioner, because he kept helping me follow along with everything.  By the end of Mass, he must have noticed how excited and happy I was to be there, because he decided to take me by the arm and march me right up to the front (where the king of Spain would sit for Mass two days later!) to witness the great tradition of the cathedral of Santiago.  Click the link.  You have got to see this: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MaPL-TwvkNQ

I didn't make the video, but this is what they do.  So. Cool. 

One day down, two to go!  I ended up writing kind of a lot for Day 36, so I'll try to keep 37 and 38 shorter.

Day 37: Let the festivities begin!!

Santiago IN SPACE!

Ok, so they were just fireworks, but pretty impressive fireworks.  They shoot off fireworks from the cathedral every year on the vigil of the feast day.  They also have a giant carnival, rides, and concerts going on.

Happy feast day, St. James!  Hopefully everyone was inspired by your witness to the Truth, to Jesus Christ, along with all these feativities.  All the festivities were spectacular and enjoyable, but idea of purpose comes in again here.  What are we celebrating, people?  That came with Mass the next day...

Day 38: The Feast of St. James

Here we are, 38.  Bring it on!  I've only been walking, waiting, and preparing for this day for the last 37 days!  I certainly haven't lived every moment perfectly, and I've unfortunately wasted some time and made some rotten steps along the way, but with Jesus' grace and mercy, Day 38 has come, and so have I, and so have so many others!  What a joy to finish and celebrate this day with our pilgrim family we made along the way :D

Mass.  On St. James' feast day.  The perfect way to end our pilgrimage.  Thank You, Jesus!!

Mini St. James coming in from a procession:

Hello, Bishop.

As Patrick said, there were two kings at Mass, one temporal...

Annnnd one eternal...

After Mass, we grabbed a few souvenirs, spent some time with the Eternal King (what an honor!), then headed to catch a night train to Madrid.  From Madrid, Patrick would fly back to the USA.  From what I hear, he is back now, safe and sound.  Chris and I have a little farther to go.  After the best day ever in Madrid with Father Pablo and Isabel, friends we met on the Camino (Fr. Pablo is on the far right)...

Chris and I flew to Paris!

On the 29th, we will fly back home to the USA, with a 13 hour layover in Dublin.  Almost there ;). I will post at least one more time after I am back in the homeland.  Get ready, America!  My pilgrimage is coming to you!

+JMJ+

Day 35: ALMOST THERE

One more day of walking. Tomorrow, if all goes well, and I don't drop anymore beer bottles on my feet, we will take our final steps into Santiago and arrive at the tomb of St. James, the end of this pilgrimage.  Oh yay!

Appropriately, today is also the feast of St. Mary Magdalen.  Why is this appropriate?

Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him."

So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.

They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first;

he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.

When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,

and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.

Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.

For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Then the disciples returned home.

But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.

(John 20:1-11)

Why does Mary Magdalen remain outside the empty tomb weeping?  She herself answers this question for us:

"Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him."

(John 20:13)

Mary Magdalen weeps because she longs so ardently to see Jesus.  She weeps in holy anticipation of seeing Jesus and for love of Him.

Preaching on this Gospel, Pope Saint Gregory the Great speaks about holy desires:

"When our desires are not satisfied, they grow stronger, and becoming stronger they take hold of their object. Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation, and if they do not grow they are not really desires."

This time of pilgrimage has certainly been a test of my desires.  Do I really desire to make this pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James?  Do I really desire holiness?  Enough to keep walking, day after day after day?  And at times when these desires seem weak, what happened?  What can I do to help them grow, if they are indeed good and holy desires?  I have learned that Pope St. Gregory is right--as the anticipation of reaching the end of our pilgrimage (TOMORROW) grows, my real desires grow stronger through growing anticipation, and my false desires fade away.  Sometimes, this is a surprising reality check.  Why?  Because when desires that I really like and that I thought were "really desires" fade away, I have to choose to let them go in order to let my God-given holy desires "grow stronger, and...take hold of their object."  

Woah these pilgrimage graces.  I am going to need some grace to respond to graces recieved!  For how to respond to grace, we can also look to St. Mary Magdalen.  Pope St. Gregory the Great says that "we should reflect on Mary (Magdalen's) attitude and the great love she felt for Christ."  The only way we can truly deny our false desires is if we are so overcome with love for Jesus that, like St. Mary Magdalen, we remain outside the tomb weeping in anticipation of possessing Him.  While we remain in love with Jesus, our false desires fade.  If we are truly in love, we will be able to give up these false desires because we will be able to see that we really don't want them, that they really are false desires.  

Basically, we have have to live in love with Jesus.  This is necessary both to be able to see our desires as they truly are and to act on what we see.  Boom.  Thanks, St. Mary Magdalen!!! Bring on the final day of pilgrimage, and the continuation of our daily pilgrimage to heaven!  

+JMJ+

Day 34: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About the Camino

I am so grateful for today.  It was a long day--we have learned before that 27 km is hard on us, and we were brutally reminded of that again today.  7:30am to 7:30pm, we made our way from Palas de Rei to Arzua.  We were tired, not feeling 100%, and we had to take a lot of breaks.  Sound tough? It was.  Sound awful?  Sometimes it is , like when you *really* need the bathroom and there's only a field (if you're lucky, a forest).  Sometimes, it's super hot.  Sometimes, there are no toilet seats, toilet paper, or toilets.  Sometimes we are "so close" for a good two hours before we can actually see where we are going.  Sometimes, you get blisters--on your toes, on your heels, on the bottom of the balls of your feet.  Sometimes, your cheetah legs break.  Sometimes, you have injuries that aren't even Camino related or noble.  And after all this , you still XXkm to walk the next day.  All of these things are really little, but top off any of them with exhaustion and you've got basically the biggest problem in the world on your hands.  Come on out to northern Spain and try it sometime.

Because it's awesome.  Today was full of challenges and pains and tiredness, but I wouldn't change a moment of it (except for Patrick's sake--he might say otherwise ;) if you really want to know how tough the Camino is, talk to Baby Pilgrim.  He gets the best pilgrim award).  Wherever we are, we always seem to be exactly where we need to be, and with who we need to be with.  And always, we have everything to give and more than we could imagine (certainly more than we can realize right now) that we receive.  Which brings to mind...

Today, we talked about Blessed Chiara Luce.  Long story short, she was a young, beautiful, Italian girl who died of cancer when she was very young (google her! Do it!).  As she was dying, she became paralyzed, lost all of her beautiful hair, and suffered much.  But, with every loss, be it a handful of hair, movement in her legs, or a night of sleep because of pain from her treatment, Chiara was happy because she give everything to Jesus.  "For You, Jesus," she would say with every strand of hair she lost.  She provides a good example for us pilgrims--both those on the Camino and those in the mundane monotony of everyday life.  With each step, with each little pain, with each dish we wash, paper we write, task we accomplish, job we mistakenly blunder, in everything, we can say with Chiara, "For You Jesus."  This is where joy comes in.

Couldn't post this until now, will try to get both Tuesday and Wednesday (final day of our pilgrimage!) up tomorrow.  Please, pray for us!! And give everything to Jesus!

"Make an effort to respond at each moment to what God is asking of you: have the will to love him with deeds. — They may be little deeds, but don’t leave out a single one."

-St. Josemaria Escriva

Day 33: Santiago is Fast Approaching

Time is flying now.  Today flew by so fast that I am now in bed and feel that I've barely been able to do or process anything.  The end is near!  After 22km today (they seemed like extra long kilometers), Patrick and I are left with less than 70km, tired bodies, and only 3 days of walking until we arrive at Santiago (Chris is a day ahead of us now since he kept walking the day after my toe incident).  Woah.  How do I process all this?!?!

Sleep.  That is how.  I will write more in the morning.  Good night!

+JMJ+

Day 32: On the Road Again

Day 32: 22km, and I walked the whole way.  With no pain.  Miracle? Yes.  Thank you to everyone who is praying for me!!  

It was a rainy day today.  We waited out the heavy stuff and left at 8am.  It rained on an off for the rest of the day.  There was only one sudden downpour, but providentially we were right next to shelter (in the middle of nowhere) when that happened.  Thank You, Jesus!

You can see the rain line!

Beautiful magical tunnels through the woods today:

Oh, and AN OSTRICH!!

Annnnnd today we passed the 100km mark!! Only 4 days and less 92km left until we reach Santiago!! Woah.

Tonight, we arrived in a town of 900 called Porto Marín.

The town used to be in a valley, but at some point, they moved it up.  A few 13th century buildings from the original town, including the church, were moved up stone by stone.  The stones were numbered to simplify reassembly.  Amazing!

At Mass, we found Roy, Silvia, and Gille.  I was SO happy to see them.  Afterwards, I told them my toe story over coffee and chocolate.  We chatted about how the Camino crowd has changed over the past two weeks--there are a LOT more people, more big groups, and seemingly less of them who are here to live a pilgrimage and more who are just on vacation , or a week of hiking, or to get the certificate.  I am grateful for the time we had before; I think it helped is prepare to live this last week in the same pilgrim way, despite the different atmosphere.  Yay for pilgrim formation, and thank God for our little pilgrim family reunion :) 

+JMJ+

Day 31: All around rest day

Today, Day 31, I walked probably about 1km--to the pharmacy, to the grocery store, to the  trekking store, and to Mass.  I spent most of the day sleeping.  And to keep it as a true rest day, I am going to keep this post short.  Tomorrow, if nothing gets worse overnight, I will walk again!!

Selfie of the day from my bed...didn't move much

  

Ready to move on!

And look who I found today...Gille! :D

Goodnight!

+JMJ+

Day 30: Well, that happened.

First, please enjoy this beautiful picture of our lovely morning walk through the mountains:

It's the last beautiful picture you'll see in this post.

After 21km, a trip to the grocery store, Mass, and cooking dinner, I found myself in the emergency room.  And this time, I wasn't just moral support, I was the patient.

That's right folks, with only 5 days to go, managed to slice open two of my toes.  After making dinner, I opened the door of the fridge to get our Aquarius (European Gatorade more or less--get all the electrolytes!), and a big beer bottle tumbled out, smashing down on the floor.  Before I knew it, there was a mess of foam, broken glass, and a few seconds later, blood all over the kitchen floor.  Brilliant.

The hospitalero and the other pilgrims in the kitchen rushed to help me--it was like pitch-in first aid.  They were all so kind and didn't seem to mind that I'd covered their kitchen in blood and broke someone's beer.  They padded and gauzed and taped me up enough to get me to the emergency room without leaving a trail of blood behind.  The hospitalero called her husband to drive me to the hospital.  He was the kindest man!  He waited there with me the whole time.  Chris and Patrick came along for the excitement as well.  Of course, I asked Chris to take pictures...

I ended up with three stitches on my left big toe, and a taped together second toe.

I was a bit traumatized (needles are not my thing), but it was all ok.  I was well taken care of.  The doctor said I can walk tomorrow if I am able--we'll see how I feel in the morning.  It doesn't hurt so much right now.  

Suffering is part of any pilgrimage.  So is joy.  Both are important, and neither should be wasted.  The only wasted part of a pilgrimage is a part you can't or don't give to Jesus.  When I first got hurt, I freaked out a little because I didn't think I would be allowed to walk tomorrow.  But that's not the point.  When I settled down and stopped the blood flow, the little cuts only became a joy because I could see that I had something new I could offer to Jesus--and, a new way to walk with Him.  I don't know if I'll even be able to walk tomorrow, but I do know that I will be able to grow in holiness either way, with the grace and mercy of God.  Day 31 will only be wasted if I miss out on that opportunity.  I am going to bed now, because I am less likely to waste it if I am well rested.  

I can't believe this happened.  But it is all good :) Praise Jesus!  Pray for me and my pilgrims!  They were sleepy today.

+JMJ+