Although everyday on the Camino has been special, June 24th is something else. It is the solemnity of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, the priestly ordination of our good friend Dcn. Joe Baker, Luke’s birthday, and, according to our friends, a national holiday in Sweden called midsummer.
Since we traveled just over 30K yesterday, the walk today was not too bad. We actually reached our albergue 15 minutes before it opened. The weather could not be any better on this special day, with plenty of cloud cover to keep things cool but not enough to darken the sky.
We planned on celebrating the day by doing several different activities. We were lucky enough that the local parish church had a daily pilgrimage Mass at 8 that we could attend. We had been keeping vigil for today’s solemnity in our liturgy of the hours as well. In all, the day was marked with a good deal of rest, prayer, and celebration. Arriving at our Albergue early allowed us plenty of time to shop and prepare for the evening. Once evening came, and we again stired from our varied siestas, we began to cook dinner with our Swedish friends. It was a large meal marked by the traditional midsummer potatoes and a sort of deviled eggs. After dinner we went to Mass before finishing off the evening with dessert and card games. It was a good end to a big day and served as a farewell to our sweedish friends with whom we’ve been walking for a good portion of the camino. Tomorrow we will go our seperate ways. It was an enriching experience sharing our cultures and ideas with eachother as our paths traveled alongside one another, but we all look forward to walking our own paths again.
Lastly, we want to extend an early congratulations to soon-to-be Father Joseph Baker. We will remember him in our prayers as we go to sleep and he approaches his ordination.
-Luke and Michael