27 Aug 2013
Moments of wonder during the Pilgrims’ Mass
This August saw the beginning of a new idea. It’s about welcome. It’s about both the beginning and the end of a journey. This year the MSC Vocations team, along with priests and religious from the La Retraite Sisters, the Faithful Companions of Jesus and the Redemptorists, set up a ministry of hospitality in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella.
Welcoming team of Sr. Lynne, Sr. Maryanne, Sr. Helen and Fr. Alan
The Camino of Santiago has been a site of pilgrimage for well over a thousand years. People have walked from all around Europe and more recently have journeyed from the four corners of the world to ‘abrazar’ or embrace the famous statue of St. James and pray at his tomb. But the Camino is about the journey as much as it is about the destination. The Camino Frances begins just inside the French boarder and meanders across the north of Spain through town, villages, fields and woodlands. It’s during this time that people on the Way take time to relfect on their lives and explore the sense of their vocation in the broadest sense. The landscape is as varied as the people you meet. You’ll find pilgrims coming from everywhere, of all faiths and none. However they are all searching, very much aware that they are on a spiritual journey.
Taking time out for coffee
In order to provide space to allow people to reflect on their pilgrimage we set up a programme of welcome. We based them around the celebration of Mass and Reconciliation, but we went for coffee and churros in the morning and had Taize meditation in the evening. It was about being as open as possible. So far this year we managed to cover four weeks over August, but the plan next year is to have a presence for the whole of summer. Judging by the reaction of pilrims this year it should be something special.
If you think you’d like to get involved drop the Vocations team a line. You’d be most welcome!
www.mscvocations.ie