What does it means to be an individual walking the camino alone, part of a group and part of a community? Those were guiding points for today’s walk.
We left Astorga this morning as a group. David (my Fordham colleague) waited with Ella, one of our students, who because of the difficulty she has been experiencing, has decided to take a cab. Each of us has to forge and find his/her own Camino and make it a memorable or meaningful experience. Sometimes the expectations we set for ourselves when we begin are not met. How can I embrace that particular experience/Camino that I am having and embrace it as MY Camino? I asked some of our students to consider this as we walked. We all are having a unique Camino walk, yet we are part of a group and need to rely on and look out for one another. These Fordham students have accepted and met the limitations and gifts of one another thus far along the Camino. They are so very caring and concerned for each other. I see them sharing their bandages and clothing with one another and that’s what it means to be part of a group. We all contribute to this particular and collective journey, we all keep an eye out for one another and we share in one another’s sorrow and joy.
Because of some rumors of people (women) being attacked on this particular stretch of the road, before we left this morning, we encouraged the students to not walk alone and look out for one another. I was delighted to see as we walked that we did so as a group and everyone was counting noses periodically throughout the morning making sure all were present and accounted for.
When we had our first coffee break this morning, after Marquette blew by us, Boston College showed up and I had a nice chat with the leaders. Tony, is a Jesuit priest, a missionary in Russia, who is walking with the group along with Jeff, a Philosophy professor and the faculty leader from BC, told me that BC was going to celebrate Mass tonight when we reached Rabanal. I asked if those from Fordham who were interested could participate as well as the Marquette group. Both thought it was a great idea. When we caught up and PASSED Marquette on the road I told them about our plan and they expressed eagerness to join. These three Jesuit groups have begun to form communitas as we share our Camino experiences. The students are beginning to bond and all three schools are bunking in the same albergue, in the same room tonight with talk of tomorrow evening buying, preparing and serving dinner for all of us. A fantastic way for us to learn about community living with all of its ups and downs, challeges and compromises.
After the obligatory showers, laundry and post walking beverages in our lovely albergue, some of us gathered in a grassy area with an outdoor table and the remains of a farmhouse surrounding us to celebrate Pentecost Sunday. It was a very special Mass, and each of the three schools were involved.
After Mass we walked a few meters over to the Benedictine Abbey which was established in 2001 by some German Benedictines who came to revived the little church. They celebrate vespers at 7 p.m. and the chapel was filled with peregrinos from all other the world. Again, another remarkable and moving way to spend some time in quiet reflection on the reasons why we make pilgrimage, as well as mulling the three questions posed at the beginning of this post. The Abbot offered a short homily which struck a deep chord within me and some may understand why. He tried to weave the Pentecost event with the Camino experience and I think he hit it spot on. His words addressed the idea that when we celebrate the Pentecost and walk the Camino (as when we walk through life) we are not only focusing on a event that took place in the past. It was one of the most moving Vespers I have attended and it was wonderful to take part in it on the feast of the Pentecost. The experience of the Holy Spirit is an ongoing event in life. It is NOW and it will continue into the future. In connecting that with pilgrimage, the Abbot noted that when we walk the Camino (or any pilgrimage route for that matter, whether physically or virtually), we make indeed walk it as an individual, yet we are walking by relying on the wisdom and the journeys of those who came before us, those who are guiding our paths. He spoke of a couple he met a few years ago who were walking the Camino from their native Poland. The husband was blind and walked the Camino by holding hands with his wife who led the way across Europe. This man, as well as his wife, walked without knowing exactly where to step but loving and trusting the one who guided, whether it was the husband relying on the wife and the wife relying on her faith and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In this deep understanding we are faced with considering how we walk in life. Indeed we are individuals on a journey whether literal or metaphorical, but at the same time we need to rely on others, “the group” or our community to guide us along this path.
After vespers, and once we were all certain that Jane was alright (she fainted during the service…I thought it was a literal Pentecost service when I saw it) we had a nice dinner together in a local restaurant and returned back to the albergue to ready ourselves for a long walk tomorrow to La Cruz de Ferro and beyond to the town of Molinaseca.
Thus far, this Camino for me has been physically less challenging, I suppose it’s true what is said about the body remembering how to do things. At least as of right now, this body, while ten months older, is not feeling the same agony that it did last summer. At the same time it is an entirely new Camino, one that I am seeing through the eyes, ears, intellect, souls and hearts of my students. I feel blessed to be walking across Spain with them. While I am joyfully reliving my trip from last year as I walk, I am learning from all fifteen of them (including Mark :)) what it means to be alive, curious, passionate, and funny. I am beginning to recognize that the call of the Divine does not necessarily occur with ram’s horns or the herald of trumpets but rather from the life of people who are in very different places and stages of a life of faith. The call of the Divine has happened in the past as in the Pentecost, but that experience of the Holy Spirit continues into the twenty-first century and well into the future, and the individual, the group, the community are necessary elements for that to occur.
Bueno…on to Molinaseca tomorrow! I’m about a day behind in my posting, but hopefully will catch up by tomorrow.
Imagining The Sacred 