People know we like to travel and sometimes ask if we have any trips planned.  “Why, yes,” is my current answer.  “We’re going to walk the Camino de Santiago.  Do you know what that is?”  They almost never do, so I give a quick explanation before interest fades.  “It’s a thousand-year-old pilgrimage route across northern Spain.”  “Oh,” says the inquirer with mild curiosity.  “How far is that?”  “Five hundred miles,” I say, ready to break into song.  “WHAT?”  The surprise is delightful every time.  “Who are you going with?”  “With Maurice.”  “But with what group?”  “Oh, it’s just us,” I say.  (Us and the other thousand or two people along the trail on any given day.)  Eyes widen further as questions form:  How long will it take?  (Maybe six weeks.)  How many miles a day will you go?  (Maurice says twelve to fifteen.)  Do you usually walk that far?  (No.)  Have you ever backpacked?  (No!)  Will you have to carry a tent and build a campfire?  By now I am laughing.  “We must be nuts,” I say, and no one disagrees.

And why are we doing this?  That is the question.  I’ve been intrigued by the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James, since I first heard of it decades ago.  When I first started thinking seriously about walking it, I wanted to hear from people who had already done so.  Why did they walk that pilgrim path, that far?  So I read books and googled around and delved into the wonderful Camino forum (www.caminodesantiago.me) and, to my surprise, I found that a lot of people who walked the Camino couldn’t describe exactly why they set off.  There were perhaps some surface explanations but they weren’t the real reason.  Ultimately people went because they felt called to go, and the call became so strong they couldn’t ignore it.  They were pilgrims in pursuit of an elusive grail.

The call gripped me too.  There is mystery in it, and beauty and adventure, but it begins in faith on a path bearing the footsteps of a millennia of pilgrims making their way toward the relics of St. James, hoping for a gracious touch from God.  Before Maurice and I together decided to go, and long before I told anyone what we had in mind (because this is such an outrageous idea and I wasn’t really convinced I could do it [still not]), I yielded to the call and let the ungovernable seed take root.

But I’m still not sure I can explain why we’re going.  It’s not that I especially need to visit the tomb of Jesus’ disciple James, one of the Boanerges brothers (Mark 3:17).  It’s an odd tale of how he got to Galicia, with one version having a pilotless boat taking Saint James (Sant Iago) from his death in Jerusalem (Acts 12:1-2) to burial in northwestern Spain, where he lay forgotten until 813 when a shepherd was drawn to a field of falling stars (compos de stella) revealing James’ tomb (thus the name of the city that grew around it, Santiago de Compostela).  No, I’m not convinced his body is really there at all, though I do not doubt the cathedral is blessed by the faith and prayers of many faithful pilgrims.  I don’t need to visit relics or go on a pilgrimage to connect with God.  He is right here, always with me (Matthew 28:20b).  Yet the Way draws me.  For two millennia Christians have left home seeking to enlarge their borders (1Chronicles 4:10), to walk with Jesus in repentance or thanksgiving or petition or hope, to have an adventure, to challenge themselves, to meet with God in a special way.  Those desires woo me too.  The height of the Camino’s popularity was during the Middle Ages, a history and culture that have always intrigued me, and bits of that history remain along the Way.  We are fond of Europe and always ready for adventure in another country and another language.  It is refreshing to see the beauty of God’s creation in a changing landscape.  And of course it would be great exercise and a challenge for aging bodies.

I don’t think any of these reasons by itself is enough to get me to commit to a pilgrimage, but all together they have become irresistible.  I want to try for myself this discipline of medieval faith–a mobile retreat, perhaps, to walk with Jesus and feed my soul and bless others along the path.  Maurice has given himself to the holy invitation too.  We trust our Lord is calling us through the circumstances of our life.  He has led us this far.  He has blessed us with the time and finances to carry it out.  Can I really do this hard thing?

So here we are, counting down the days until our long walk with Jesus and the companions he sends us for the Way.  We have kept the economy going at REI.  I bought a little scale that weighs to the tenth of a gram.  My multi-page preparation checklist grows faster than I can check it off.  We have Maryland state flag and Camino forum patches on our backpacks.  (Maurice sewed his on himself.  He did it his own improper way, and without blood, and his patches look better than mine.)  We spent the balance of our frequent flyer miles on one-way tickets to Toulouse and will make our way by train to St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, just on the French side of the Pyrenees, where many medieval routes to Santiago converged.  From there, on Thursday September 8, we will begin the Camino Frances, the main pilgrimage route across northern Spain, with a short climb on the first day to Orisson, a refuge in the Pyrenees.  Of course we are excited but even as I type waves of panic sweep over me.  Not only does much remain to be done before we leave, but also I still wonder if I can actually walk this.  I walk and I weigh and I plan…but all those kilometers?  And albergues and a backpack and potential bedbugs?  Yet life is short.  How can I not follow the call to make the Camino a part of my journey?

Maurice reminds me that no matter how hard it is, at the end we will visit our new grandson (due while we are on the Way) in the south of Spain.

I’ve compiled a list of scriptures for Maurice and me to read daily along the Camino.  They are at the bottom of this post, so if you want you can look them up and read along and be with us in spirit.  Or, to make it easier so you don’t have to look anything up, on the next post they are all printed out.  My plan is to post pictures and some descriptions of our walk along the Camino, but this depends on wifi at the albergues, my energy at the day’s end and having no more than minimal technical difficulties.  Feel free to pray.  Indeed, please pray for us as we make our pilgrimage.  If you have anything you would like us to pray about with you as we journey or when we get to Santigao, just let us know.

St. James Major, 15th century, by Carlo Crivelli (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore)

Bible Readings (Passages are all from the NIV unless otherwise noted, though you can of course read whichever version you want.)

Monday September 5: Genesis 12:1-9

Tuesday Sep 6: Exodus 12:31-39; 13:20-22

Wednesday Sep 7: Exodus 14:10-14, 31

Thursday Sep 8: Exodus 15:1-21

Friday Sep 9: Deuteronomy 8:2-10

Saturday Sep 10: Joshua 1:1-9

 

Sunday Sep 11: 2 Samuel 22:2-7, 17-20, 26-37, 47

Monday Sep 12: 1 Chronicles 29:10-20 (NKJV)

Tuesday Sep 13: Psalm 23 (KJV)

Wednesday Sep 14: Psalm 84

Thursday Sep 15: Psalm 119:33-40 (The Message)

Friday Sep 16: Psalm 121

Saturday Sep 17: Psalm 122

 

Sunday Sep 18: Ecclesiastes 4:1-12

Monday Sep 19: Jeremiah 7:1-11

Tuesday Sep 20: Jeremiah 17:5-9, 13-14

Wednesday Sep 21: Micah 6:6-8

Thursday Sep 22: Matthew 2

Friday Sep 23: Matthew 5:1-16

Saturday Sep 24: Matthew 6:25-34

 

Sunday Sep 25: Matthew 7:13-14

Monday Sep 26: Matthew 13:1-23

Tuesday Sep 27: Matthew 25:31-46

Wednesday Sep 28: Mark 1:1-13

Thursday Sep 29: Mark 1:35-39

Friday Sep 30: Luke 10:1-12

Saturday Oct 1: Luke 15:11-31

 

Sunday Oct 2: Luke 24:13-33

Monday Oct 3: Acts 9:1-19a

Tuesday Oct 4: Romans 8:5-13

Wednesday Oct 5: Romans 8:18, 31-39

Thursday Oct 6: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Friday Oct 7: 2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Saturday Oct 8: Ephesians 2:11-22

 

Sunday Oct 9: Philippians 2:1-11

Monday Oct 10: Philippians 2:12-18

Tuesday Oct 11: Philippians 3:12-4:1

Wednesday Oct 12: Philippians 4:4-9

Thursday Oct 13: Philippians 4:10-13, 19-20

Friday Oct 14: Hebrews 11:13-16

Saturday Oct 15: Hebrews 12:1-13

 

Sunday Oct 16: Hebrews 12:14-28

Monday Oct 17: Hebrews 13:1-10

Tuesday Oct 18: Hebrews 13:11-16

Wednesday Oct 19: 1 Peter 1:1-12

Thursday Oct 20: 1 Peter 2:4-12

Friday Oct 21: Revelation 7:9-17

Saturday Oct 22: Revelation 21:1-8, 22-27

 

Sunday Oct 23: Revelation 22:1-5, 17, 20-21