Author: Michael Wanta

Although we had planned to walk to Muxia first, we decided to stick with our new youth minister friend, Molly, since it will be just Luke and I in Fatima, and company is always a joy. It was a last minute decision to go to Finisterra first with her, but it was a good one. The Catholic company was refreshing and the sunset, stunning.

I’m not sure when the tradition of walking to the coast, after Santiago, developed. It is sort of the after party to the Camino. We just walked 30 days, so what is 3 or 4 more? It is also really cool to be able to say that we walked the entire length of Spain, from the Pyrenees to the Atlsntic. Fisterra comes from the Latin (finis terrae) meaning “the end of the world” since it is a peninsula that juts far out into the ocean.

   

Here are two screenshots of Google maps, I’m facing West both times.

The hike was difficult with a lot of elevation changes, which made for a long day. Although we’re kind of used to the length, I’m looking forward to our last day of hiking tomorrow to Muxia. From there we will take a bus back to Santiago on Wednesday and another to Fatima, hopefully on the same day.

We’ve been experiencing a lot of ends lately. We finished the Camino proper in Santiago. Today we’re at the end of the world, and tomorrow is the last day of hiking. I’m looking forward to Fatima where I’ll hopefully have the time to further process some of these experiences and to share some more in depth reflections.

– Michael

We promised you several posts, but I guess you’ll have to make do with one really long one. It’s been our shortest day of walking (just around the city) but probably our longest blog post.

After being in Santiago for a day, the idea of reaching the goal of our walking has started to sink in. At first, it seemed both surreal and simply matter-of-fact. I was thinking both “I can’t believe we’re here!” And “of course we’re here, this is where we’re supposed to end up.” Such contrary thoughts may have been aided by the deviation from our original plan by pushing for Santiago in one day rather than two 20k days. We decided to walk it in one day because our fellow seminarian and friend Wade was anxious to be here since St. James was so close. It has been characteristic of Wade to push ahead. In the past, he has left us behind, although we managed to catch up with our 50k day, but this time we decided to go along with his mad love of walking far and fast. We have come to enjoy his company very much as we share many similarities  from our various seminary experiences and belong to one common brotherhood of those aspiring to the priesthood. In a sense, we had formed a little seminary community by this fraternal bond.

Yet even this bond could not keep Wade ten more minutes for a late morning breakfast at a cafe on the trail. He downed his espresso and was off. We planned to meet up further down the trail. As Luke and I ate our breakfast more liesurely, we met another seminarian who was walking with some friends. I forget his name, but he has finished two years of college seninary and is now enrolled in the Baslin program where he will finish his twork remaining years of philosophy in DC at Cathokic University of America and take an extra year of study to gain a teaching license in philosophy. We chatted for a bit about some differences between our seminaries (they get their own dorm rooms). The conversation was good but we eventually started walking again as they started into their food. We had a ways to go yet.

Luke and I began to chat about seminary for a while and were making some jokes about why the Sem we had just met would want to take an extra year of studies. A philosophy license would be cool, but it adds another year before ordination. Sure he might be smarter than us, but we’ll be priests sooner!

As we were joking and laughing loudly about such things, we passed by a fellow pilgrim. As we drew even with him, he said “you must be seminarians” “yeah, how did you know?” “It’s written all over you.” He turned out to be a priest, Fr. Greg, from Australia, who had just finished a license in Patristics, the study of the Church Fathers. And so began a long walking conversation of just about everything. We talked about patristics, the Church in Australia and America, the presidential race, the liturgy, religious communities, his ministry experience, everything. We were enjoying ourselves so much that he missed his stop and continued with us to Santiago. We also met Wade randomly at a cafe for lunch before the last 12kms. It was a great day of walking and a perfect way to come to the end of our Camino. There was something energizing and familiar about walking with Wade and even Fr. Greg, who we had just met. It is kind of like seeing an old friend. Again, there is a strong fraternal connection among seminarians and Priests.

Religious orders were among the topics of conversation. We were noticing how common identity is essential to their community. It reminded us of a conversation we had many days before with a hospitalaro, an albergue worker, at a donativo parish albergue in fancebadon. He had been a Religious Brother back in the states but had left right before making his final vows. These were the times after the Council. He was a solid man and was very knowledgeable of the faith. You could tell that he lives it and loves it. He decided not to make final vows because he saw many friends make them and be dispensed from them a year or two later. He had joined the order to live in community and for a common purpose but now the order had lost its direction. The brothers could live in different apartments, pursue any job, and decide to not wear the habit. Differences are not bad but such diversity did not fit the internal nature of a religious order, and he could sense it. There was little community now. We’ve heard this observation often, that after the council, some orders lost their sense of community, and with it lost their common purpose. Having lost that, there seemed to be little reason to join, why make some vows when you could do the same things in life without them. Religious life ought to be a radical and inspiring living of the Gospel that, while not spurning the world as evil, still transcends it in favor of the life to come.

Today in seminary, the need for a strong fraternity is strongly stressed. It is promoted by the faculty but also by our brother sems. Community life, although challenging at times, is attractive. It is a great blessing to live in a community. When looking for fun it is always available whether it is joking around in the kitchen, watching some tv, sports, or some nerf gun fights. When needing support, it is there either by prayers or a consoling conversation, and often both. There is rarely a dull moment in seminary, unfortunately even when you’re trying to sleep. We have our common interests but most of all we are united by our pursuit of holiness through the priesthood. We live similar lives even among various seminaries and have similar jokes and banter, but most of all, we all love Jesus Christ and want to serve his people.

Although we share much in common, we’re all unique. Luke and I may have been able to pick Wade out as a Sem by sight and fr. Greg noticed we were sems by our conversation, but we all have our own personalities. These are what make communal life interesting. It adds a lot of life to the community, but it also enevitably leads to some conflicts or annoyences. But these differences help us to become better people too. We are forced to confront our own weaknesss and those of our brothers and to treat both with charity, with patient love.

Really, we are all in need of community, and we live in one already. We have families, and coworkers, fellow citizens of our country, world, and the Church. This is made so evident on the camino when you are among fellow pilgrims from everywhere and you are all walking together. So I encourage you all to reach out to your family, to enjoy the good parts and work through the difficult ones. We are made for community, and it is through authentically sharing ourselves with others that we will be fulfilled (Gaudium et Spes 24). It is in giving that we receive.

I am so thankful for seminarian fraternity which is like one big family. I’m glad that I had the oppertunity to meet some cousins (Wade, Robert etc) and an uncle (Fr. Greg) on this trip, all because we noticed a similarity and reached out to the other person.

 

Lastly, a bit of our day…

Today we slept in till about 7 or 8! We woukd have liked to sleep in later but our bodies are so used to waking up early. We attended the noon pilgrim Mass and spent the rest of the day in prayer, roaming the city, and some much needed relaxation. We also stopped by the pilgrim office had recieved our compestelas, the certificates saying that we walked the Camino. We’ll spend tomorrow enjoying the city a little longer. We’ll even get to go to an English Mass at the Cathedral!

I’ve mentioned coming to the end of our pilgrimage quite a bit, but don’t worry, we are not done yet. We’ve reached the end of the Camino here in Santiago, where St. James the Apostle is barried. We’ll share a little more if his story later.

But day after tomorrow we will continue our walking, this time to the coast. After that a bus to Fatima, Portugal for a few days before a plane to World Youth Day in Poland. There are many more days ahead in our European Pilgrimage, many more people to meet, and many more lessons to learn.

-Michael

Tonight we are staying in Azura, about 39kms from Santiago. The walk today was quite a bit of down hill. I thought I woukd enjoy it more than the uphill we’ve been facing lately, but it was actually harder on the knees. To compensate, I ran down some of the smooth slopes which was quite enjoyable.

In an earlier post, I compared the Camino to the spiritual life using the three ways: purgative, illuminative, and unitive. I warned not to try and figure out exactly what stage you are in as such an examination often leads to over thinking and unnecessary focus on one’s self. I think that the Camino might be similar.

I was excited to draw the comparison, but I think it falls short. I expected a time of transition and purification as I adjusted to Camino life, and this stage happened. The next two did not fall into place as much as I had hoped. I had envisioned the second stage as a deeper discovery of the reason for being here, walking. The third stage was supposed to be a digging deeper into that reason and, I guess, being really spiritual and thoughtful about it. These preconceptions have not quite panned out, though they may meet some peoples’ experiences. Overall, I have found the journey to be determined more by the peopke we walk with. We’ve had times meeting new people from various countries and we’ve learned a bit of their culture and ideas. We’ve also met Americans and made some seminarian friends. Lastly, we’ve spent some time walking by ourselves and functioning as a smaller group.

The three ways may not be a perfect analogy and my first guesses were off track, but I’ll attempt to readjust the schema since there have been general patterns to my journey.

The second stage was a little bit of figuring out why I’m here, and really what I was supposed to learn from the journey, at least that is what I had hoped for. I found my answer in realizing that I was over thinking things. I’ve expressed this insight before in the terms of the Camino being a continuation of life. The Way is a special place where you get to meet tons of people, see grand and ordinary places, and experience a good deal of suffering whether by hunger or foot problems or whatever. But all of this is situated in the larger context of life. No break through, life changing moments are necessarily going to happen, though it is a good idea to have an eye open for them, especially in the little things. So, where as the first stage was adjusting to the new physical way of life, I think that the second stage is adjusting to the new mental or spiritual way.

I expected the third leg of the journey to be a time of deeper prayer and reflection as we approached our goal. I was met, however, with new challenges. The mountains provided rough and long days with less food than normal, especially due to my dietary restrictions. Tired and hungry, I found my patience tried and had to practice a new suffering of letting go of things I couldn’t control and making do with what I could. Once we got within 100 of Santiago, the trail became flooded with new pilgrims and the shops and restaurants became more touristy. We’ve started to walk a little earlier to avoid the crowds, which has provided time for prayer and reflection. This last stage has not been as intense as I expected, and it has had its ups and downs. It has been both a time of thankfulness for our many experiences on the way and has made us more eager to arrive in Compostella. So much so, that we might try to walk the remaining 40k tomorrow. If we decide that route, I hope we don’t get lost, and we shouldn’t since it is a straight forward trail.

Overall, the three ways don’t make a perfect comparison with the camino but there are some similarities. Just as with the spiritual life, the stages of the camuno are not sealed off in seperate segments, but it is a fluid whole marked by certain emphasies. My expectations didn’t turn out exactly as I thought, but I suppose it is the same in the spiritual life. When we try to map everything out and have it all under control, control often slips from our hands. We should strive toward the good and examine our activity, but we cannot fathom the mind of God and the wonders which he has in store for us, even if they are proceeded by some suffering.

-Michael

 

Due to our long 50k day, and the subsequent longer days where we pushed a little to get to a decent town, we have managed to catch back up to friends who went ahead of us weeks ago. Yesterday, we stayed in Sarria, and ran into Wade, a seminarian from Texas, after the vigil Mass. We invited him to our home cooked dinner, I made pasta. It was nice to see him again and share a bit of what has happened since we last saw eachother.

Today, after the first few kilometers, we decided to pull off at a country cafe for some coffee and morning prayer. It was there that we ran into Casha, am Alaskin whom we had met a few days before and with whom we had shared our vocation stories. We also saw a good number of the larger group which we had fluidly been traveling with, including a Sweed, Bulgarian, New Zealander, and an Israeli. We spent the rest of the day chatting and talked a lot about the faith and our vocations. We ended up staying in the beautiful riverside town of Portomarin. Although it was good to share our thoughts, and they asked us many questions, I regret not asking them more about their own lives and view points.

Lastly, we have officially past the 100 marker to Santiago. We should be there in about five days. Since this is the last stretch and you need to walk a minimum of 100ks to get your compostella, the Camino cerificate, the way has become crowded with new faces. It is a little difficult to cope with the crowds after spending so much time on sparcely populated trails. I find the newcomers testing my patience but it is a good oppertunity to grow in charity, and really reminds me of how cool it is that we started at the begining.

-Michael

After our 50k day, we were pretty tired but still managed to get in an average 24kms of walking. We made it to the little town of Vega de Valcarce, nestled between the mountains on the way from the region of Castilla y Leon to Galicia. Overall, the day was enjoyable but it was still nice to get to our albergue and rest our sore legs and blistered feet (I got one between my toes three days ago that has since popped). I happened to make too much food for two people so we shared it with a fellow pilgrim and met two more Catholic. It all led to a good conversation in which we were happy to share a common faith. Many who walk the Camino do not have a religious motive so it is fun to meet fellow Catholics.

After dinner we headed to the local Church, where we expected to find Mass. Unfortunately this town is only one of the seven rural parishes that the local priest covers, so there ended up being no Mass today. Here is a shot of the small town yet beautiful church.

Due to staying in small villages or being exhausted from 50kms, we have not been able to get to Mass. It is a big change from seminary life at St. Andrew’s Hall, where, like every seminary, we attend Mass every day. Even at home, on breaks, we will attend Mass often, even if we sleep in a day or two out of the week. Today, when there turned out to be no Mass, it was painful. I really wanted to be present and receive the Eucharist. Even though I can’t understand everything at these Spanish Masses, and will use my phone to see the readings in English, it is still the same sacrament. I don’t know what the priest is saying most of the time, but I do know what is happening, and it is consoling just to be there and know that God is there too. In these past days without Mass, and every morning on the trail, I make a spiritual communion. I tell God that I love him and wish to receive him in the Eucharist, and I ask him to come into my soul spiritually. I united my will to his and ask him to be with me. Such a practice is good, but it still isn’t the same as Mass. So I look forward to tomorrow and continue to hope for Mass.

Tomorrow we don’t know exactly where we’ll stay, but we will be climbing about 700 meters of elevation over about 10kms. It will be a tough trip and a good way to culminate our half way mark of our entire European Pilgrimage.

Here are some photos from the past few days.

The sunrise

Cruz de Ferro. Sorry for the alignment…

A view of the clouds as we decended from the highest point of the Camino.

An eerie hike down through the clouds.

Luke a couple days again before we entered the city if Astorga. There was a Cross that marked the spot from when a bishop was expelled from his own city and fell to his knees.

Lastly, a picture of part of our route today because it is just too cool that we are walking in the middle of Spain, through the mountains, next to some highway. It is a blessing to be here among a ton of ordinary things that have gained an extraordinary significance thanks to the Camino.

-Michael