I have searched but not yet found how people have planned for this spiritual journey. I am Catholic - and this pilgrimmage originated as a Christian journey. I don’t want to go on this walk being distracted - but hope to focus on prayer, petition, getting closer to God through the history of the thousands who have gone before for centuries. I visited with my priest who suggested I read the gospels at very least & the New Testament in total if possible - lectio divino and meditation on the Word. He suggested having a list of people/intentions for which to pray. Any other suggestions out there? Ideas that worked to enrich your walk for greater spiritual benefit? Thank you!
Ms. Barby (Aussie???)
What to say???
The Camino cliches...Walk your own pace...If you leave something behind, don't go back for it...The Camino will show you...Man (in your case woman) makes plans, and God laughs (universal cliche),...etc.,etc.,etc.
I am not a Catholic. I am not really sure if I am a Christian. I don't know if God really cares???
I go into every church that is open and attend every mass and take communion when offered, which seems to be at every mass. I have never gone to confession. How much time does one priest have??? When I walk I have three mantras that I use. One is from a Hindu holy man whom I came into contact with many years ago. The second is the Our Father that I learned even many more years ago in a church in Lexington, Massachusetts, and the third is the Hail Mary that I copied down from the stone walls at a shrine dedicated to Mary in La Crosse, Wisconsin a few years ago. They present themselves, and I accept, I repeat.
When I was eleven or twelve I purchased a slim volume entitled All Men Seek God that had quotes from all the major religions, philosophers, scientists, agnostics, atheists... It was an impulse buy...really.
My whole life has been a spiritual journey that has just seemingly 'appeared'. Sometimes I go right, and sometimes I go left. When I look back I have no regrets. What is that lyric from the Rolling Stones??? "We don't always get what we want, we get what we need". And, Mother Theresa's thought "We accept" don't be foolish (???), but in the end "We accept".
As a unstructured pilgrim my knee jerk response is to advise you to 'put one foot in front of the other and just walk', but a woman, who just happens to be a Catholic of some renowned, Theresa de Jesus (Avila) whom I met in a library in SE Iowa spent her life talking to and serving God (today we would say "she had God on her speedial---literally). Worked within the framework of a very structured church and with many confessors who were not within a country mile of her in developed spiritual consciousness. She persisted, and miracles appeared in spite of fear and small minds.
I mention this because who am I to say weather you should walk like me, or a more structured Catholic paradigm like Theresa. In the end you will walk your walk. Your Camino will be your Camino (another cliche). And, whatever happens, I feel somewhat certain that you 'will get what you need', and you will put 'put one foot in front of the other' (well, I guess you could take the bus, but it's just not the same).
Theresa of Avila: A Souls Progress/by Cathleen Medwick If you have the time and the inclination Avila is a lovely city and inhabited (still) by a great soul.
My computer says 9:37 CST, Sunday, April 29th 2018. You have been at it for one day(?). Your almost there. I'm writing from the Abbey Guesthouse on St. John's campus in Collegeville, Minnesota, USA. There is ice still on the lake (although melting), and hopefully the Robins can start building nests within the week. It has been a very long winter.
Your journey may seem like it stretches out in front of you, but the days will collapse very quickly and you will be closing in on Santiago only to feel the often felt twin pangs of joy and sadness. It is the duality that we live in. It begins and it ends.
My blessings to you and all your fellow pilgrims.
Buen Camino