There are numerous prayerful routes to Santiago de Compostela, that nice pilgrim vacation spot within the northwest of Spain. The normal Camino de Santiago route begins in France, and a less-traditional however more and more widespread route winds by Portugal. My spouse and I started our trek in Sarria, some 100 kilometers from Santiago. Or, we’d even say, our pilgrimage started even farther away, in our residence in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Camino de Santiago begins in many alternative locations and methods, as any good pilgrimage ought to. We muddle onward by life, starting in a single distinctive place and bringing to bear our personal distinctive experiences. The invitation of pilgrimage is to maintain our eyes each on the promise of the ultimate vacation spot and on the richness of the current second, at all times discerning what we’d uncover and contribute alongside the best way.
The vacation spot for us—because it has been for therefore many—was Santiago de Compostela, particularly, the good cathedral during which the stays of the Apostle St. James (Santiago, in Spanish) are stated to be buried. This closing cease was by no means in query. In any case, it’s within the very title of the pilgrimage.
Besides, a pilgrim may go farther nonetheless.
I had by no means heard of Finisterre, the so-called “finish of the world”—or at the least what handed for world’s finish within the European creativeness earlier than anybody sailed throughout the Atlantic. The coastal vacation spot lies 90 or so kilometers past Santiago de Compostela; any pilgrim wishing to achieve this mystical landmark begins the trek the place so many different pilgrimages finish.
We didn’t attain Finisterre on our pilgrimage. However I did be aware the indicators, the ads, and the invites. I puzzled in regards to the place. In some methods, my pilgrimage immediately felt incomplete.
Maybe in the future I’ll make it to Finisterre. Maybe I’ll start on the finish, strolling from Santiago de Compostela. Or maybe I’ll start initially, journeying all the best way from France.
However what I do know now—what the very problem of Finisterre represents to all of us on our non secular journeys—is that this: these so-called locations alongside our life’s pilgrimage are merely pauses. God is consistently calling us farther and alluring us deeper.
We don’t must go suddenly; none of us will see all of it. That’s what makes pilgrimage so particular: every life is a journey unto itself. Restricted creatures that we’re, we’re compelled to pause. We’re compelled to cease and settle and wait and watch.
As St. Ignatius Loyola knew effectively, as pilgrims, we’re requested to go the place God most wants us, understanding that the very place the place we cease to serve and to like could also be the place one other particular person begins the journey, takes up the torch, and carries on.
Ultimately, Finisterre is just one other place to pause the pilgrim journey. We will go farther nonetheless. However the vacation spot is simply half the equation; we should be aware of the locations during which our toes are discovered—and extra aware nonetheless that our vacation spot is really the ever-expanding embrace of God.
Picture of Camino de Santiago marker on Finisterre by Irene Grassi beneath CC BY-SA 2.0, by way of Flickr.
