Jerald's Camino

Had the pleasure of meeting four young catholic seminarians on Friday evening, and enjoyed theological and philosophical conversation. These young men are 19-23 years of age and only two years into their 8 year program, the first four being philosophy and the last four being theology. 
Among other topics we discussed the doctrine of penance vs penitence, transubstantiation, and purgatory… 

We also discussed early church fathers and doctors of the church such as Origen, Jerome, Augustine, and Aquinas… We discussed Augustine’s notion of evil as the privation of good… the one good and source of all that reflects goodness being God himself. We also discussed the literary styles of Aquinas vs Augustine, one of the gents preferring Aquinas for his plain language, and myself preferring Augustine for his vivid illustrations.

One highlight with these gentlemen was during the bonfire when folks we’re sharing the guitar… scattered among the many folk and popular songs, there were a few religious songs and also a praise song that I used to sing in college…

***

Lord I lift Your name on high

Lord I love to sing Your praises

I’m so glad You’re in my life

I’m so glad You came to save us

[Chorus:]

You came from heaven to earth

To show the way

From the earth to the cross

My debt to pay

From the cross to the grave

From the grave to the sky

Lord I lift Your name on high

***

On Saturday we received a private tour of the local temples by the town priest, and the gentleman sang in Gregorian chant… a beautiful experience. 

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I look forward to hopefully running into them again on the camino, and to meeting others like them, who at such a young age, are seeking to know and to please God, as best as they can.  

I am hoping our conversations will be fruitful and will further shed the gospel’s light on their studies and their understanding of God’s will, via His Word, in the coming years.

Telling time on the camino…
Walking the camino gives one a glimpse into a time without smart phones, GPS devices, and watches where the sun and the village church bells collaborate to indicate time, location, and the management of ones daily routine. 
Indirectly, ones shadow, as it indicates the suns position relative to ones person, also indicates the time. 
Starting the day at or just before sunrise, one can almost measure the hour by their shadow’s length, one’s actual body height being about two hours from mid day, so it seems so far anyway… 
Looks like it’s about 10am… time for a coffee and a pincho de tortilla española. 

Just when I thought day one was over, the activity started downstairs in the municipal albergue where folks were cooking up whatever we could find in the kitchen and in local grocery market…  Spagetti, Boiled Potatoes mixed with cheese and tuna, some chorizo, and some Tempranillo wine from La Rioja region of Spain.

It was good to share some perspective on life with the younger ones a at the table, and also to hear a bit from each of them as to why and how they came to do the camino…  

I was here reminded that for some, the camino is an attempt to recapture a sense of family that many have lost today.  God made us to be in families and in community, as we are His image bearers, created to reflect His Glory with unity in diversity…  at the table this evening… we had a diversity of nationalities, ages, world views, and life circumstances… but all of us, like every human being, “seeking” to fill a common void that all humanity shares, what Christian’s have referred to as the Christ shaped hole in our hearts.

Before dinner I was able to sneak in some reading as well as a call to home… my son, who is brilliant but not particularly athletic, hit a home run at baseball practice yesterday!  I imagine that this was a marked moment for him, perhaps opening him up to more sports and physical activity in the future.  I was really excited to get this news yesterday…

Finally, the whole group of us pilgrims, together with some of the folks from the community, had a bon fire where we all shared a bit of our backgrounds before the guitar was broken out and the rest of the evening spent singing and/or visiting.  

One gentleman made a Spanish distilled concoction called, Quemada, the smell of which moved me back to the Tempranillo for the evening…  entertaining watching the preparation, however… 

After that, lights out.  A good first day, but unexpectedly long first day, and the strange thing about the camino is the “instant familiarity” that is obtained by all living “day by day” and “communally.”  It’s like time passes more slowly.   

Part of the enjoyment is the little markers of presence all around that we too often overlook back home…  the smell of a juniper bush on a cool breezy morning, the crunch of the pebbles under foot, the two storks nested on top of the church steeple, looking down on the passing pilgrims.  

First day walking… 🙂

I awoke early and a bit anxious to start my walk today, and after quietly gearing up in the dark so as not to bother my fellow pilgrims, I was able to sneak downstairs and have a small devotional before heading out at 5:45am… 

I welled up with a sense of immense gratitude and wonder as I took those first pre dawn steps through the quiet streets of Burgos, carefully watching for the yellow arrows or shells painted or plastered on streets or building walls, “lighting my path” westward out of town.  

The early morning hours where breezy and overcast, perfect morning for my entrance into the Meseta, the flattest and least verdent section of the camino.  

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As I walked along I asked God for understanding, asking Him to help me to hear His voice throughout the day, and as I walked through a park  the trees we’re those kind that have upward facing blooms and pods directly under that hang towards the ground.  This scripture came to mind… 

“Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.”‭‭  Psalm‬ ‭85:11‬ ‭

As we bloom upwards in expectant faith, Christ fills us, and our blossoms bear fruit, that fruit proceeding from the blossom.

***

I continued to press on towards my mid-morning breakfast stop at Rabe de las Calzadas where I had a torta and coffee with Chomin, a Basque gentleman, recently retired, who is completing his 3rd month on the camino.  

He mentioned to me that “the camino engancha” or “it pulls you in.”   I can see that, and especially for folks who find themselves in a life transition, which happens to all of us, whether we expect it or not… many folks on the camino seem to be waking against an incumbent societal dependence on wealth and “security,” or at least so it seems.  

After Rabe, the sun came out in full force, thankfully still with a cool breeze, and I traversed a meseta bathed in wheat and barley, almost ripe for harvest.   I liked the texture and uniformity of the barley vs the wheat, but I can see where the two crops go hand in hand, due both to soil type and also for market diversification.       

After descending the first meseta via the steep path called mátamulos, I felt the energy waning and had to press forward with deep breaths and intentionality, listening to my body, which had decided that Hornillos was my destination for the day.  

As I arrived two hours before the municipal albergue opened, I was invited to have a beer with some good folks from Spain, Denmark, Hungary, and Brasil. Through the conversation I recalled that I’ve had the travel and culture bug ever since I left for Mexico City at age 18. 

After spending time with them, we checked into the albergue, I hand washedy clothes, did a bit of work, and then took a much needed 3 hour siesta.    🙂

Day’s not over, but so far so good.   

Photos to follow on current posts…

I’ve been looking forward to Thursday for the last four years, as I had to leave my good friend and walking companion Jesus del Carmen in May of 2013 when I returned home from Burgos.

After picking me up from the airport, we spend the better part of the day walking around Madrid, catching up on the last four years, reminiscing about our last camino together, and discussing the camino that lies in front of me. 

When walking the camino, one usually walks alone and then the relating and sharing starts as folks converge on their next stopping point for the day, but with Jesus and I, as with some other folks I imagine,  it was an easy and natural thing to walk together every day…  perhaps because we just personally clicked, and perhaps also because we both drove forward with a similar determination and pace on the camino.  

***

Good to see you again my friend!  It’s an honor to carry your stone at Cruz de Ferr this time.  Thank you for carrying mine the last. 

Un Abrazo,

Jerald 

Shared a 6 hour bus ride with Mehdi, a young Frenchman of Morrocan decent who just finished his studies in business administration…  

After speaking with him a while it’s clear that he will eventually be an entrepreneur, given his risk tolerance, integral view of things, and diverse formation from management, finance, and legal… 

Fun sharing with him and helping him to confirm his professional calling…  

He was most satisfied in some recent agricultural development work that he did with poor communities in the Philippines, helping folks to build a diversified ag economic system including fertilizer and top soil development, poultry protein production, and production of mango and other fruit crops.   What he liked most was helping folks to help themselves and he also liked managing the project from end to end.    

The above, coupled with fact that he has both a law and an MBA degree tells me he’ll be finding his way to the entrepreneurial camp in the next few years.  

After getting to LA bus station I decided to Uber it over to LAX… 

Got to meet my driver, Roberto.  He shared his testimony of faith in Christ, born in El Salvador, but growing up in LA and involved with gangs and then drugs to eventually hanging with many of the homeless in order to score drugs or to drink with them.  

He also has had seven kids, starting at age 14, with four women, and the broken relationships and guilt was haunting him.   

At one point he woke up underneath  a bridge on the 101 after a night of binging on drugs… he was feeling worthless and was socking himself and pressing a screw driver against his stomach in contemplation of suicide, feeling that Satan was accusing him of failure and encouraging him to give in, but then he felt God calling him to repentance, stating that his committing suicide would be yet another attempt at rebelling against God and asserting his own will against God’s. 

Later he attended a church meeting and heard the gospel of Christ, where he realized that Christ Himself was the only one who could fill the void that he was trying to fill with drugs and alcohol.   He broke down crying there like he never had before and there committed his life to Christ.  

Our last words before embracing were “See you on the other side brother.” and “God bless you brother.”

LORD, thank you for introducing me to my brother Roberto.  

A good day. 

Starting the trip in Pilgrim style today, by bus, southbound to LA…

This pilgrim may break pilgrim protocol for an Admirals club day pass and shower before my 6am flight to Madrid tomorrow… 

Today was a peaceful day, but tough as well, in that I will miss Lyndsey and the kids, and they me as well… 

I suppose what allows me to do a trip like this is that I cherish the time with them when home… 

Lynds and I having gone through tremendous financial stress in our past, and the pressure that that puts on ones mind and body, for me, has caused me to depend on the Lord daily, and never to take any moment for granted that He has given me with them.  

While I will make the best of every moment, experience, and new relationship on this trip, I look forward to getting back to nightly bible time with the kids and to the time that Lyndsey and I share together every evening after they go down… 

Here are a few pics from today… 

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”‭‭John‬ ‭14:6‬ ‭NIV

As I prepare for this walk I take a moment to recognize that this Way of St. James, while a beautiful experience and possible means of expression of my faith and walk with God, is not the end or object of my affection nor the solution to whatever ails me.

I take time to recognize Jesus’ very explicit words that He Is (YHWH) the Way. 

LORD, may you be glorified on this walk.  May I be a small reflector of the Light that You’ve sent into the World, and as I walk along the “Field of Stars,” (Compostela) please open the eyes and ears of my heart to see and to hear You and Your call to faithfully walk in the “Cruciform Way” of dying to self, and being conformed to the likeness of Your Son, the Annointed One.

In His Name,

Amen