Shelter from the Storm on the Camino

Travelling Light and The Journey are the themes of two of the biggest Christian festivals this summer. It seems that the idea of being a pilgrim is becoming increasingly popular in our world today. It’s not really a surprise, as many of the aspects of a pilgrimage echo that of life.

As part of our young adult ministry and vocations programme we ran two pilgrimages along the Camino in June. It was a perfect opportunity to leave everything behind, except for a sleeping bag, a small backpack and comfortable boots. There a freedom to The Way, that is difficult to find elsewhere. It’s about waking up before dawn each morning and heading off with the rising Sun at your back. As you walk to the first horizon, you know that when you get there you’ll simply walk on to the next one.

It’s not all hard walking though!

The people we had with us this year came from diverse backgrounds, including an electric engineer, a cafe owner and a marine biologist. We had our ups and downs, our blistered feets and our beers at the end of the day. As you can see from above it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. One even tried to squid in a spirit of adventure – not for the faint hearted! But above all everyone had a wonderful time.

Taking time out for coffee

We’ll be back in Santiago again in August to support the English Speaking Chaplaincy Programme in the Cathedral. If you’re around do drop in to say hello. We have the Sacrament of Reconciliation every day from 9:00am to 10:30am, 11:30am to 12:30pm and 5:00pm to 6:30pm. There’s Mass in English at 10:30am followed by tea and coffee. It’s a great place to have a chat and share some of your experiences of The Way.

Life is a journey not a destination

“happiness is a journey, not a destination. for a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. at last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. happiness is the way. so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.”
Souza