A Camino Blessing

Today we came to the Camino.

This will be our last night in a hotel for a while, but the cool thing is that the hotel sits right on the route of the pilgrimage.  The street outside is marked with yellow arrow and shells in paving stones pointing pilgrims to Santiago.

We are in Burgos, one of Spain’s larger regional city and a place with history going back to the ninth century.  It has a large cathedral built over many years with the chapel of St Nicholas being the oldest that we saw dating back to about 1270.

This evening we went to the Pilgrim’s Mass, a twenty-five minute service including Eucharist especially for pilgrims.  Probably half of those in attendance were pilgrims the rest appeared to be residents who knew the songs, when to stand and sit, and the words of response as required. We understood little of the service because it was all in Spanish.

Here we are in front of the Our Lady of Burgos Cathedral

Our tour guide, visited immediately after the service with the priest and arranged for a blessing for our group.  Each of us, in turn, kneeled in front of the priest and he laid his hands on us, sending us on our journey with God’s blessing.  This was a new, uncomfortable experience, but that is what we are here for, to experience the new and uncomfortable. This blessing was obviously something that others wanted to have as well since other pilgrims, not with our group, quickly joined the line to receive a blessing as well.

And so we start our walk, blessed by God and blessed with community.

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