The Communal Camino Lesson 2 (6/23/2016)

Yesterday, I came across a lady that we have talked with several times along the Camino. She is an older lady from South Africa—and that’s what I call her—South Africa. (And she calls us “Wisconsin.”) We’ve ended up staying in several of the same hotels as we’ve journeyed. And we’ve cheered each other on as we pass each other on the walks.

Ponferrada

Yesterday when we met, she and I were talking about taking a bus out of Ponferrada, and I told her that Eric and I had just come from buying bus tickets and I told her how to get there. She said, “You’re my angel of the Camino today!” And we talked about how every day, we seem to have angels along the way. These are the people who offer words of encouragement, cheer us on, affirm the path we are taking, share insights, or help us translate.

The Camino is full of angels. But, I think that might be because we are all challenged on the Camino. It would be TOUGH to do the Camino on your own. And I don’t really think any of us were designed to do something like the Camino strictly on our own. We may have moments of solitude, but it is a communal journey.

Communal Life :)

On the Camino, we are so out of our element. Most of us have never been here before. Many of us don’t speak Spanish. And, because we walk (well, mostly…), we are moving slow enough to take the time to talk with each other. We move slow enough to recognize each other at a cafe or rest place somewhere down the road. And, we aren’t embarrassed when we don’t know names—we assign names like “Team Wisconsin,” “South Africa” and “Belgium,” and we greet each other in that manner. We check in with one another and see how the day has gone. We talk about where we are headed next and how we are getting there.

And, because the Camino can be brutal, almost all of us have stories to tell of blisters, hip & knee pain or other walking-related maladies. We can commiserate and offer advice.

But back to the idea that the Camino is a communal journey…Isn’t that true of our daily lives too? God didn’t create us to do things on our own. He created us in community, to do life in community. We need God and we need each other. On the Camino, it’s easy to go slow and notice each other. But how do we do that on a daily basis? How can we be angels to the people around us? I guess that’s one of the things I’ll be working on when I get back home…

Buen Camino!