Day two of my Novena to St. James: He was given the exalted mission to be a strong and faithful mouthpiece announcing Christ the Redeemer. The prayers also beg that we remain faithful to Christ and His message, and not to be deceived by foolish and false beliefs.
I thought a lot in today’s walk about how when I have made foolish choices, I end up, ultimately, in a feeling of unrest. I can experience happiness, yes, but happiness passes. Joy? Well that seems profound. But peace? I think that’s what we all long for. Isn’t that how Jesus would address his disciples and others? “Peace be with you.” That “Shalom” is Jesus’ profound wish for us!
in our first week we met a pilgrim, a philosopher of sorts, who asked us the question. “How do you define success?” I may have already addressed this, but returned to my thoughts again today. Ultimately, it is not happiness, or prosperity, or professional or academic fulfillment…but for me, I think it is peace.
I thought today: What if something happened to me and I couldn’t finish this Camino? I know I would be very sad. But sadness, I know would give way to joy that I was able to have all these amazing experiences already! And peace…that I gave it my best effort and got so far! And then, of course, profound thanksgiving.
Today we walked about 13 miles through beautiful mountain passes, enjoyed the lovely, colorful villages to the ascent to “O Cebreiro.” Quite a significant ascent. We will take it tomorrow.
Some thoughts going into this challenge:
1. The elevation looks fierce. 2. We hear it is breathtakingly spectacular. 3. We are not walking up to an active volcano. Pilgrims successfully accomplish this every day. 4. We will do this on the feast day of St. James! 5. We are in fine lodgings and will be rested and ready. 6. I have a very, very special intention for tomorrow.
We found the last little town before the ascent that had anything but bunk beds, that we could see. It’s an adorable little place, oddly shaped.
Also, I invited the girls to my room for a little surprise tonight in celebration for the feast day! They don’t know it, but I snuck into a local market and bought some fresh, local-made goat cheese. We’ll have cheese and crackers for dinner – we already had our big meal of the day. St. James, pray for us!
Later: we had a sweet little feast with best goat cheese any little cabra could produce. It was amazing!
Also, the view from my window:
