The first really long hike I went on was the Camino of St James in Spain back in 2003. I really had not done any long hikes before that. I hiked on that route for about 350 miles. I felt God’s presence so much in the nature of that hike, walking along trails that Christians on spiritual pilgrimage have been hiking on since the early 9th century. Some of the trail today consists of Roman roads that we built before the birth of Christ. I not only feel God’s presence on every part of the trail, but I also feel the presence of all the pilgrims have gone before me. Sometimes, I stop on the trial in the middle of nowhere and I can feel the presence of those ancient pilgrims with me. I can sometime hear their footsteps on the road. To me, that pilgrimage trail is a holy place, as holy as entering a church.
Last week in daily Mass, we heard the story of Abraham and the promise God made to him and his descendants. Today, we hear of Jacob, who is the grandson of Abraham. Jacob is out in God’s nature. He has a dream under the stars. When I am hiking out on the Camino in Spain, I stay in pilgrims’ hostels, with a lot of pilgrims staying in bunk beds or floor mats in a big room. Some pilgrims complain that those accommodations are too primitive for them. However, compared with Jacob sleeping outside on a stone for a pillow, our pilgrimage accommodations are not too bad. Jacob would name that place the house of God. Jacob heard God say to him in the dream: “Know that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go...I will never leave you.”
As disciples of Christ, our spiritual roots go back to Abraham and Jacob, to the people of Israel that descends from them, the nation in which Jesus is born. From the promises God made with Abraham, Jacob, and the people of Israel, God establishes a new covenant with his son Jesus Christ. May we never forget these roots. May we never forget the covenant God has made with his people.
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