33. MUXIA & GOING HOME - I Can't Forget

December 3, 2011 

Had a great sleep. After breakfast I headed to the bus station for the trip to Muxia, half hoping that Becky & Mark might turn up. Their plan is to go to Finistera and maybe connect with Brend...but what do you know they turn up for the bus to Muxia becasue the other trip would be too long. They assure me that they would not invade my solitude but I'm really glad to be with them, not wanting too much solitude after the emotion and excitement of yesterday.

We had a beautiful day together and Muxia did not disappoint - the church on the edge of the sea, the waves. Wonderful. 

When I got back there was a note on my door from Aelfred who had hoped to see me before he moved on. "I can't or shan't forget those early days of the Camino and our time of walking..." he wrote. It was memorable for me too.

December 4, 2011 Santiago Cathedral 8.45 a.m.

"Even as you Father are in me and I am in you, so let them be in us...that it may become clear to all...that they are loved by you as I am loved by you" (John 17:21, 23)

I have the Cathedral to myself. Beautifully quiet, peaceful, complete. After all the locked doors of the churches of the Camino, here on the last day I am experiencing that embrace that I so desired in the first week. Here I am at home, at one and I am full of gratitude.

A question in the guide book is "have I changed?" as a result of the Camino. Will it make any difference to the way I live my life? Possibly not in any dramatic or visible way. But I have done it - 500 miles over 32 days - alone and in communion with others. There is a new silence, new light, new joy inside me.  

Cathedral 6.15 p.m.

There was a great, happy gathering at the noon Mass. As well as Kathrin, Mark & Becky there were Bilal, Cornel and Harold, plus some new faces. Hugs, laughter, tears - the two Koreans Yesouk and Jinsun Jo cried when they saw me. Yesouk said I always make her cry!!! Lorna has bravely gone on to Finistera.

Eight of us went for lunch. I sent Brend a text to see where he was, telling him we really wanted to see him. He had just arrived in Santiago, so we all met up. Great! 

9.15 p.m. 

The goodbyes are said and the feelings strong. 19 of us went out together for the evening and to my delight Aelfred turned up again. I told him how much I valued our time together in those early days. He was disappointed that he had missed seeing me at the Mass in Santiago on Friday. It still amazes me how much that mattered to those who were there and how word of it spread. Aelfred and Marika have hit it off and I hope it will be good for both of them. I was glad to see him one more time. PY was also with us and he will continue a Camino lifestyle until next May. Good for him.

I never saw Jacquie again after she left to go to Manjarin but I have her belt - a souvenir of her support! There are others too that I lost along the way - Claudine, Jose Miguel, Javier, Michael Lacombe, Pedrp, Joan & Bea - and would love to see again but it's the way of the Camino....

The younger ones were staying out for longer. It was time for me to move on. Bilal came and said "give me another hug. I have no words." He told me during the evening that he will never forget the Mass we celebrated on that Sunday in Hontanas a few weeks ago.

December 5, 2011 Santiago Bus Station 8.30 a.m. 

The Cathedral was open early so I had a quiet time there before breakfast. It's certainly a place of prayer. Went again to the tomb of St. James to say a prayer of thanks and to ask that God's will be done in me.

Harold asked me last night if the Camino made me more tolerant. I said I think I'm fairly tolerant anyway but yes, it has made me more tolerant, more at home with all of the differences I encountered. Maybe too I came closer to Mother Theresa's desire to love others rather than try to convert them; to St. Francis' wish to preach by silence. Harold said I'm the finest priest he ever met. I told him he's full of blarney. He said he means it and I accept that he does. He himself is greatly to be admired for completing the same route as the rest of us - at 80 years of age. An inspiration.

When I told Brend that I would like to keep in touch he looked at me silently, even lovingly with those amazing eyes and said "that would please me very much." 

Becky gave me a doll for my niece Katie and was quite emotional. She and Mark are in a very special way companions of my heart and soul, we are companions in love and faith. We are part of different Christian Churches and I have never been good at Ecumenism but we have shared the best kind of Ecumenism possible. I was, am, the adopted father of the three of them and I have no hesitation in saying how much I love each of them. Nor do I doubt how much they love me.

All of us who walked this Way together are companions even if we never meet again. We belong to each other because we have shared something that no one else in our lives will have shared. We belong, and in belonging it is necessary to let go...

Jin gave me a yellow arrow of the Camino - a little pin that I have attached to my jacket. It points in the direction of my heart which is the path that I will follow on my journey from here. 

"...you will s how me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence,

at you right hand happiness forever." (Psalm 16)