Spiritual preparation
For the man of faith, nature is a constant marvel (…) He makes a vow, takes up the pilgrim’s staff and bumblebee; he crosses the Alps or the Pyrenees, visits Notre-Dame de Lorette or Saint-Jacques in Galicia; he prostrates himself, he prays to the saint to give him back a son (a poor sailor, perhaps wandering the seas), to prolong the days of a father, to save a wise wife. He leaves to return to his cottage; laden with shells, he makes the hamlets resound with the sound of his conch shell and sings, in a naive lament, of the goodness of Mary, mother of God…
François-Auguste Chateaubriand, Génie du Christianisme, ou Beautés de la Religion Chrétienne, III, Paris, 1802, pp. 175-176
Minutes of previous sessions
Minutes of the meeting of December 7, 2024
The pilgrim’s attitude on the Camino de Compostela requires forward movement. The walk involves a process. The quest for meaning seems essential, even if it may not be shared by all.
Do we seek solitude, do we want to escape the hustle and bustle of the world around us?
Too much noise, numerous daily worries, continual turmoil, are all disruptive elements.
Placing one’s faith in any temporal power can be risky.
We need to remain cautious about the many ideologies of earthly paradise that are proposed to us.
The theological representation of the earthly Jerusalem to the heavenly Jerusalem can help us to go and recharge our batteries in the desert. Embarking on a pilgrimage can bring about a period of transformation and renewal that benefits both body and spirit.
It is in this natural setting that pilgrims can seek out “living water”, and experience rebirth with the ears of their heart. To do so, they must be willing to let go, to let themselves be carried along by the Word.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament tells of the work of his hands…No words in this tale, no voice that can be heard;” (Ps 18)
The psalm is a means of transport, a way of looking at life, a way of behaving as we might expect the chosen people to behave.
To be amazed by a landscape, a church, a word, an encounter, you have to be led by the breath of the Spirit, to listen, to hear the call.
The liturgical season of Advent gives us the opportunity to be on the alert for the coming of the Risen Christ.
According to Father P. Sonnier, approaching pilgrimage is a reference to the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris. This church establishes a sacred space within which there is a threshold to cross in order to approach the Holy of Holies.
To enter, the pilgrims that we all are on earth must respond to God’s call. Careful response means gathering in places of worship to nurture and nourish the Covenant he has proposed.
Minutes of the meeting of April 29, 2023
At our last spiritual encounter, Father Patrice Sonnier began by stressing the challenges facing Europe in terms of direction. What meaning should be given to the common path that has shaped European identity?
On the route to Santiago de Compostela, a community of living, breathing Christians is formed. The difference in languages is not a barrier – quite the contrary. This diversity creates a harmony that allows pilgrims to share their experience without fear. This openness to one another creates a harmonious architecture, like the arrangement of different rooms in a church. It’s a Europe without
borders, but one that doesn’t renounce its Christian roots,” he declares, echoing the powerful words of Pope John Paul II
during one of his visits to the city of the apostle.
Another important figure is then summoned to underpin this spirituality on the Way. This is the mother of Jesus, who also supports pilgrims on their journey. To ensure that this pilgrimage is not merely undergone, but lived with others and with one’s son, we must allow ourselves to be surprised by the spirit of the Lord. Like the apostle, we ourselves are sometimes prey to a form of discouragement on the Way. We can be supported and protected by Mary, if we know how to be “docile to the Holy Spirit”.
On previous occasions, Father Sonnier advised pilgrims to pack a bible and a logbook. This
time, he suggests a rosary, a useful object of Marian devotion for pilgrims. Holding it firmly, the recitations that follow evoke the movement of steps. This address to Mary brings us not only to the breathing of the body, but also to that of the mind. Long ago, in addition to the psalms, people who didn’t have the knowledge of God reserved for monks in abbeys were able to come into close contact with the “Word made flesh”.
So by welcoming the Holy Spirit to transcend our gravity as we walk, we can move from being hikers to pilgrims.
Minutes of the meeting of February 25, 2023
Father Patrice Sonnier began the talk by recalling the great figures of the pilgrims of faith with whom we had become acquainted at the last session. Abraham, the father of faith, whose expectations were not fulfilled, represents humanity on the move. Moses, who will structure this action with the support of the Word following the call to set out on his journey.
At the risk of repeating ourselves, the walk to Santiago de Compostela is not a “stroll” but a pilgrimage. If the motivations of walkers are not all necessarily Christian, it’s because today’s attraction to material things has led us to lose sight of any transcendence with the Most High. The pilgrims of the Middle Ages, in whose footsteps we now walk, had in mind a world full of marvellous, invisible things, which structured their imagination and their approach. Setting out on the Camino de Compostela is not a trivial undertaking. It may seem merely an ecological step. But aren’t nature, the sun, the wind and the birds we come into contact with, the work of Creation?
While the Way certainly introduces us to a space to be discovered, it is also an opportunity for encounter: that of the figure of Christ. Take, for example, the experience of death shared by all walkers. It evokes our own human experience. So, finishing in Obradorio Square or Fisterra is often not the end of the Way. For many walkers-turned-pilgrims, the end is rather an opening, a new beginning. And the mystery of Christ, who shared our human condition and experienced this “finitude”, sheds light on our relationship with death. “Christ, dead and risen”, inspires this “passage”, this “Easter”, this dilation of time in the sense that the Way is not finished.
The experience of meeting others with whom we share the joys and sufferings of the walk, with whom we experience the ordeal of death, is also an opportunity to discover the face of Christ. At the end of the Way, having experienced our finitude, something greater beckons. Another walk, new encounters, a different “passage” to be undertaken.
With the discovery of the Other on the Way taking place in reciprocity and sharing, taking the Way of St. James can be a propitious occasion to turn our gaze to the figure of Christ, the face and pilgrim of faith.