Wednesday, April 25

Greetings everyone.  We are all progressing on our journey across Spain.  I told you all about the wonderful stay we had at Carrion de los Condes last Sunday where we stayed at the albergue run by St Augustine nuns - one from Spain and two from Peru.  I got the great opportunity to celebrate mass that evening in the local church, an incredible building from the 13th century.  Father Julio, the pastor there, was very welcoming.  The nuns also had me give all the pilgrims a blessing in a welcoming service they had for us in which they gave us all a colorful paper star symbolizing the light of Christ, the strength we will need for our journey, and the hope all of us Christians should carry in our hearts along our pilgrims´journey both on the Camino and through life.  The next morning, we said goodbye to many of the friends we had made along the journey, including a wonderful young actor from Germany, a couple of young women from Germany and France, and an adorable couple from Korea.  Many of us had tears in our eyes.

The next day we traveled to the large city of Leon.  The cathedral there is one of the most beautiful in Europe.  The indigo, royal blue, and vivid red colors in the stained glass windows were the most incredible I have seen.  I attended mass there at the cathedral.  After I met Lyons Walsh from St Richard at the bus station, we went to a night prayer service held by the Benedictine nuns where we were staying.  The mother superior explained to us how we are not primarily walkers or runners or tourists on our journey as pilgrimage.  We are pilgrims who must take in God´s beauty in the nature we see, who must process in our interiors the sights, sounds, relationships, and other experiences we have along the way.  The nuns gave us a traditional pilgrims´ blessing.

We spent the night at a wonderful little albergue run by the British Confraternity of St James.  It was nice interacting with the British couple who served as our hosts.  The husband, originally from Scotland, knew of the small town of Newborough, Scotland where my ancestors originated on my dad´s side of the family before they immigrated to the US in the early nineteenth century.  I concelebrated mass in the old church there with the German Benedictine priest there.

We went to the Cross of Iron today, an emotional moment for me.  It was frigid and rainy.  I placed my rock, given to me by parishioner Sally Davis of Yazoo City, a rosary made by the ladies orf the Knights of Columbus of St Richard, and my prayers.  I cried the minute I saw the cross from the distance.

All for now.  My prayers are with all of you.  Buen Camino.