Why the Camino (again)? Why Pilgrimage?

Peregrinos frequently ask one another why they decided to make a Camino pilgrimage. A question asked of me before I left this time was, “Why are you doing this again?” I’ve been trying to work on an answer. Pilgrimage is an outward, physical journey that creates space enabling an inward, spiritual journey. That’s my answer and not a dictionary or google. I’m not imagining that I’ll say something original, yet I want the words to come from inside of me, first. The first two days I spent much of my walking time thinking about these questions. Is there something specific (and/or magical) about arriving in Santiago - like seeing earth from the moon’s perspective? For some maybe, but I didn’t have that feeling my first time walking by the cathedral. Sure, ancient pilgrims walked this way to gain a ‘super indulgence,’ yet my credential - a “Compostela de Santiago” - doesn’t earn me any benefits in this life, or the next. Some pilgrims walk because they think they can earn God’s love or forgiveness. Yet I don’t believe we can do anything to make God love us more (or less) because God’s love and care and working all day long for our good has nothing to do with our successes and failures, and it has everything to do with God’s steadfast, faithful, unfailing, dying and resurrecting love of all creation (which includes each and every person!). I began thinking about all the circumstances and messages (both ‘taught and caught’) I have taken in over the years telling me that I have to earn, to deserve, to perform, to (fill in the blank) in order to attain approval from individuals, groups, or institutions. I began thinking about how physical therapy or massage is a time set aside that creates a space to allow a person’s body to heal. I think an extended pilgrimage creates opportunities for a spiritual unwinding or healing. Much of it can do with finding, redefining, living into a deeper, truer identity. Some of this healing or unwinding comes with dealing with thoughts or events that we haven’t taken the time (or had the time) to think through or work through because of the necessary tasks in daily life. Of course, I could spend all the time listening to music or books and treating this as an extended holiday. A rest, a break. And in part, that’s what this is. A time set aside to rest, if walking 200 miles can be considered resting. I think that for this to be a spiritually renewing time, then I need to create space to pray (talking and listening) and explore thoughts and make space to write. I also am aware as I write this that it can sound like it is one more effort or one more attempt to do this the right way. Yet that is food for thought for another entry. Until next time, Ultreia (e Suseia) Dan