As four sleepy-headed travelers made their way to the airport at 4:45 am for a trip that would take them to Madrid, Spain, one would call out, “The journey begins!” Two days later found us in Sarria, Spain, ready to begin the last 70 miles of the ancient pilgrimage route, Camino de Santiago. The complete route spans 500 or more miles approachable from several starting points. All end at the 12 ^th century Church of St. James.

If you have done the minimum distance, as our small troop had, you would earn a  copestelo, a form of certification that you had completed this walk of the pilgrim. Participation in the Pilgrims’ Mass the day after your arrival in Santiago De Compestello has special significance for the foot-weary pilgrim.

Like many ventures in life, the Camino is not the end point, but the journey itself. Our total trip took two weeks. And, yes, we can tell you about delayed planes, bus connections that miraculously appeared, sore feet, a cold, two rainy days and crowded dorms with bunk beds, and helping a stumbling senior man who doesn’t want to admit that he is getting old.

To deny any of this or fuss about it would be to deny that Camino is, in part, pain. Yet, to stop our account there would be to distort, without reveling in the hours upon hours of walking through wooded country paths, hearing afresh a bird's tweet, and the barnyard’s smell ushering from each passing farm.

Any discomfort in this 1,000 year old pilgrimage walk fades when compared with what goes on inside each pilgrim and between them in this long walk. There are extended periods of quiet self-reflection. We share life stories with each other and fellow pilgrims met along the way. With each passing pilgrim, a message of “Buen Camino” is shared. We learned throughout the trip that this contagious message was both motivating and a profound statement, exemplifying the fact that we were not walking alone. -  Fr. William Headley, C.S.Sp.