What is a pilgrimage?

What is a pilgrimage and  Why do people do it?

Why are Vic and I going?

Crough Patrick, Ireland

A pilgrimage is a journey to a distant sacred goal. All of the great religions of the world acknowledge that a pilgrimage is sacred. So what is this sacred goal?  It can be described as a journey both outwards to holy places and inwards to spiritual improvement. It can also be a way that people seek penance for past mistakes or sins, or to search for future good.  Another way to look at it is that pilgrims are striving to obtain salvation of their soul through a physical journey undertaken for love of God. 

Vic and I are now exploring are our reason for this upcoming event. Is it a pilgrimage or just a long walk in a foreign land?

Hope we don't look like this when we return!

 Here are some ideas we are contemplating..

Will we be..

•  seeking inspiration
•   looking for a new perspective, or a change of mind 
• to study a spiritual path 
•  learning a method of meditation 
•   questioning life's purpose 
•   seeking harmony with the nature
•   just exercising by walking up a mountain or through the pasture
• to be curious and observe life
•  getting away from the our routine life 
• seeking a spiritual adventurer
• just be on the road
•  be together exploring the world 
•  attempting to calm our minds and find peace

My feet look worse than that now!

Or, do we want to take along 

walk so we can be gluttonous and eat our way through Spain.                The Belly rules the mind, Spanish Proverb

Another Lesson in Spanish History

As most of you know I am an Irish American and my husband is a Spanish American. Well those 2 countries have a lot in common. 

In about 1000 BC, European Celts settled in north west Spain. The Iberians (a name that referenced people from the west and south of what is now Spain and Portugal) intermingled with the Celts. Remains of Celtic villages can still be seen in remote Galicia ( the northwestern portion of Spain).  

The climate of Galicia is temperate and rainy, but it is drier

 in the summer. You must remember the country is 

bordered by the Atlantic ocean to the north and west , and

 then the Mediterranean in the south-east. This makes the

 path of the Camino a mixture of mountains, desert and 

lush pastures. That sounds like Ireland to me!

Here is a tidbit from my sister Ann about Spain…

"a fun aside about Galicia, the north west province of Spain where Santiago.... is.....it is very green like Ireland and has celtic music as part of its heritage.....i have read that it is believed that a piece of Ireland broke off and floated down and attached itself to nw Spain-- thus the celtic influence.   So i guess you can think about Irish heritage as Vic goes for his spanish roots."

And while I was in western Ireland, I was once told that the people in Ireland that have black curly hair are called the Black Irish. It is thought that, this characteristic is the result of the Irish women mixing with the shipwrecked Spanish Armanda sailors. Research does not seem to support any part of this, but the mythology lives on….

Who knew? Ireland and Spain are linked in many ways. I love it. 

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels 
without knowing it. heb.13.1

  

So we follow in the footsteps of our ancestors

The cathedral of Santigo de Compastolo

A pilgrim is a wanderer with purpose.

 I have always be very inquisitive. I like to  really look at things, take them apart, and try to put them back together. My faith has taken much the same path. When I was very young, I wondered why the nuns (in our Catechism class  @ St Margaret' s Catholic church in Narbreth, Pa) told us some of the things they did. I would ask my Mom but she didn't really answer me. You have to understand that my Mother was the most honest Christian person I have ever known. She believed so hard and so well that it spilled out of her. Where as my father, I felt that his religiosity was based on fear. Both of my parents were educated from elementary school through graduate school in the Catholic church.
I on the other hand I am a product of public schools and received my religious education after school at catechism classes ( religious instruction). Early in my education, as I said I had questions, that no one would answer or acknowledge. This just made me wonder more. The first major step for me, in the catechism classes was the 2nd holy sacrament called Confirmation. This is a form of baptism for children, at their "age of reason".  We were taught our lessons and studied so hard. We were told that the Bishop would be there and ask each of us a question. I was excited and very scared. You also need to know that I am a VERY literal person.I really thought he would ask each and every child a question. When he picked only one child to answer his question, I was crushed!
My Mom couldn't tell me why he only picked one child but she quickly distracted me with the party that was to follow at our house.
This pretty much sums up how I have looked at the church. Not until I was in my 30's and 40's was I able distinguish my "faith" from the Catholic church. It was then that I  began to have a personal relationship with my God that had true meaning for me.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrew 11.1

Faith is the very beginning of everything that really matters spiritually.

And so this blog just got a little personal. In the coming months I am going to be taking time to prepare a spiritual purpose for this pilgrimage. My starting point is that I am essentially a spiritual being on a human journey, not a human being on a spiritual one.

 I may not find answers on the Camino but I hope that I will start asking different questions. It will be a time to reflect on what has gone on in my first 55 years and what changes I can make to make the next __ years better. The Camino is not just a modern fad, but a journey walked by thousands of people over thousands of years!! I am so excited to be joining all those souls and previous pilgrims. Completed another 6 mile hike today :)

Why are you going?

Many have asked me why we have decided to walk The Way. There are many answers to that question. My husband and I had watched the movie The Way many times. We had put the trip on our bucket list and said that if we didn't make it as a couple, we wanted our ashes spread along the Camino. 
This year we talked, again, about going to Europe. Since we were married in Italy, we wanted to go back and celebrate over 1 decade of marriage. We hatched the idea to do part of the walk, along with a visit to other parts of Spain. You could say we had an epiphany.
Vic's ( Vittorio Eduardo Boltes) fathers' family is from Valencia Spain. We plan on exploring his family heritage as well during this trip.
If you know me, then you know that when I put my mind to something I usually get it done.
I am also a little OCD, and feel the need to research and explore things before I do them. Thus the Blog. It is my way (no pun intended) to set a goal, explore the history of Spain, and spend time contemplating my faith.
Pilgrims walk the Camino for many reasons. Some to seek penance, others enlightenment, and still others for a sense of adventure. Vic and I are still exploring our true reason for doing it.

The Camino, by its nature, serves as the ultimate metaphor for life. Footsteps along a well-trodden path may be our guide, but do not shield us from the questions that most of our busy everyday lives prevent us at times from fully recognizing. The road offers very little to hide behind. The process of life is life along whichever road, path, Camino, or Way we find ourselves on. Our humanity toward ourselves and others, our history and our future is what defines us. Take the journey of life. Buen Camino!  Martin Sheen

  http://theway-themovie.com

A Way We Go: New Year, new adventure

A Way We Go: New Year, new adventure: I want to say this FIRST!. I am not a writer and my grammar is abominable! My husband, Vic, and I are going to walk the Way of Saint James..

Simple Intro, and my beginning

Here is a brief introduction to the Camino ( El Camino de Santiago).  Camino is a Spanish word meaning "path".  The Camino is also known as the The Way of St James, or just "The Way". The Way of St. James is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.

  During the Middle Ages, the route was highly traveled. But then came the Black Death, the Protestant Reformation and other nasty political unrest in 16th-century Europe. By the 1980s, only a few pilgrims per year arrived in Santiago.Currently the route attracts a growing number of modern-day pilgrims from around the globe. The pilgrimage is also considered by many a very spiritual path. By way of retreating from the daily bustle of life and spending each day walking, praying, meditating and forging new friendships with fellow pilgrims.

Here is a brief introduction to Saint James.James is the son of Zebedee ( he died in 44 AD) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the brother of John the Apostle. Saint James is the Patron Saint of Spain and according to legend, his remains are held in Santiago de Compostela

 The pilgrim route is a very good thing, but it is narrow. For the road which leads us to life is narrow; on the other hand, the road which leads to death is broad and spacious. The pilgrim route is for those who are good: it is the lack of vices, the thwarting of the body, the increase of virtues, pardon for sins, sorrow for the penitent, the road of the righteous, love of the saints, faith in the resurrection and the reward of the blessed, a separation from hell, the protection of the heavens. It takes us away from luscious foods, it makes gluttonous fatness vanish, it restrains voluptuousness, constrains the appetites of the flesh which attack the fortress of the soul, cleanses the spirit, leads us to contemplation, humbles the haughty, raises up the lowly, loves poverty. It hates the reproach of those fueled by greed. It loves, on the other hand, the person who gives to the poor. It rewards those who live simply and do good works; And, on the other hand, it does not pluck those who are stingy and wicked from the claws of sin.
Codex Calixtinus

1st hike today. Kings Mountain National Park. 5 miles. Total to date =5