It is finished. I started walking over 790 kilometers away from this place 31 days ago. Most days during the Camino it seemed like it would never end. And yet here I sit at a restaurant in Santiago de Compostela looking at a little checkmark next to “Walk the Camino” in the Bucket List section of my to do list.

A friend with whom I walked many miles in recent weeks asked me how I feel. I feel... everything. I feel victorious at the accomplishment, regret for the things I could have done better, grateful at the ability to do it and for the people I’ve met, sad that it is over, relieved that it is over, let down that there wasn’t a great spiritual experience at the end (the cathedral is being worked on and is mostly plastic and scaffolding), awe at how the Lord works in so many little details, peaceful because of God’s healing grace, overwhelmed because of the love and support poured out so generously by so many people who read this and comment/text/call, and much much more. Thankfully I have a few days to sit and process it all with the Lord. 

To recap the last few days - I arrived in Sarria on Sunday afternoon. Sarria is one of the big spot where many pilgrims start the Camino because it is just beyond the 100kilometer mark required to receive the Compostela paperwork. I knew it would get busier on the Camino and tried to prepare for it but struggled with the new reality. On Monday I was greeted on the trail by fresh-footed people with no backpacks basically skipping along. Some listened to music on their Bluetooth speakers connected to their phones, groups of school kids chanted and sang randomly, and clumps of people began to block the paths and fill up the roadside stops for food and drink and bathrooms. All of these things aggravated me. As I walked along fighting the superiority complex of a pilgrim having walked 25 days and having the limp to prove it, I reflected on Matthew 20:1-16 when Jesus tells the parable of the laborers being sent to labor in the vineyard at the start of the day, midday, mid afternoon, almost at the end of the day. There we were, pilgrims starting 800 away, pilgrims starting 112km, and others somewhere in between, yet at the end we all get the same piece of paper to say we walked the Camino. At first I felt angry that these new pilgrims get to say “I walked the Camino” when I had blisters for four times as long as they were on the trail. Then I began to reflect on how my superiority had its holes too - taxi rides are frowned upon by many a Camino purist and yet I’ve taken several along the way. Maybe they are tempted to think the same of me when I say i taxi’d past one of the major sites along the walk. Then I remembered what so many people discussed online and what the books all point to - each person’s Camino is their own. My Camino is mine. My experiences are mine. The Camino of other people is not mine to judge or critique. I knew that I could have done the 100km minimum trek myself, but I chose not to. I made my Camino and am grateful for the experiences along the way. Others have theirs and I Hope are equally grateful. That said, I think I got the better part because the time spent with the Lord and with others for the last month of this walk have been absolutely amazing. I don’t think I would have gotten nearly as much from the shortened timeline. 

One of the sayings on the Camino is that the Camino actually really begins when you get to Santiago. So, my new Camino begins tomorrow with a trip to Finisterre (a city on the coast whose names means ‘end of the earth’) and Muxia and a few other sites along the way. Finisterre is the pace where pilgrims traditionally would walk after Santiago and burn their clothes as a sign of starting a new way of life. While burning clothes isn’t permitted any longer, it is still a great symbolic gesture to make the trek, even if by bus. I’ll spend a few days here in Santiago and on Tuesday will fly to Naples, Italy, where I will be spending a week at the shrine of my favorite saint, Saint Philomena. Offering Mass at her shrine is another Bucket List item, so I might get two items checked off in one week! From there I will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock in Ireland and spend some time with the Benedictine monks of Silverstream Priory. A good bit of traveling (not by foot!) still awaits me before my return to the U.S.A. I look forward to this time great anticipation because I have worked my body hard these recent weeks and now it is time for my soul. Know that you and your intentions will remain in my prayers before the tabernacle in the days ahead. May He hear and heed your cry. 

St. James, pray for us!

St. Philomena, pray for us!

Our Lady of Knock, pray for us!