From the Camino: I frequently posted on Facebook, seeking a balance that left wide room for the internal work I wanted to do, yet kept me connected with parishioners for whom I was praying. I included pictures and reflections from my day. Many will choose, for good reason, not to remain connected online while on pilgrimage. I will just say that it worked for me, and actually led to rich graces for others.
The social media companionship with friends and parishioners was a boost to me every day, reminding me to whom I belonged, and often enough, where I needed to grow. When I was on the second, longer Camino, this was particularly important, as I was seeking an interior experience most of the day. Where social moments on the walk happened organically, I was truly nourished by them, but didn’t always seek them out. That didn’t mean I didn’t need to connect at all, though.
The surprise to me, though, was the impact on others of my Facebook posts. I didn’t know if anyone was going to be interested in my thoughts. Many parishioners and friends read them, thousands even, and told me they enjoyed journeying with me. I was in a local market, a Trader Joe’s, once, and a man who worked there, but I didn’t know, recognized me and told me he had accompanied me the whole way.
The most noteworthy reaction, though, at least to me, was that my pilgrimage seems to have sparked a hunger in a surprisingly large number of my readers to do it as well. After following my social media posts, they would say something to me along the line of, “I may want to do the Camino?” I always responded, “Yes, I think you do. If you give it a chance it may become one of the greatest blessings of your life.” The end result is that a number of my parishioners have taken time to do walking pilgrimages. Two groups of several married couples set out with my blessing from the parish. By all their accounts, it was a great grace for them, even though their time in Spain was more limited than mine.
Mark 4:30-33 – 30 [Jesus] said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. 32 But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” 33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.”
For reflection: The example of the pilgrim is its own proclamation that “the kingdom of God is at hand.”
God’s kingdom breaks into the world whenever God’s will is done. Your journey is, itself, a proclamation of that will. You’ve set aside the normal for the extraordinary, the mundane for a grasp of the divine. So fill your day with small opportunities for not only recognizing, but proclaiming the presence of God’s reign, as ever, making its way into our lives.
The grace from your experience will inevitably overflow into the religious imagination of others. Your friends and acquaintances will wonder about the time you set aside for your Camino. They will be curious about what it came to mean for you. They will be astounded by the distances traveled. They will, perhaps, consider if this kind of journey was meant for them, too.
We don’t make our pilgrimages with the intent of making a statement to others, and yet it can’t help but say something about our priorities to those who observe what pilgrims do. And for some, it will plant a seed that will grow into something life giving for them as they, too, say yes to walking in the ways of the Lord.
In the Emmaus story, after Cleopas and his companion discern that their traveling companion is Jesus, they return to Jerusalem, relating to their fellow Christians there how they had recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:33-35). Is there some graced way for you to share the richness of your experience of pilgrimage, and the renewal of your relationship with the Lord to others, and to respond to their curiosity about the experience that might lead them to opportunities for grace?
