How It Feels to Arrive

Arrival in Santiago

 
What does it mean to arrive?  I started walking over a month ago and I knew that my goal was to arrive in Santiago to pay a visit to the remains of the Apostle Saint James. What I didn't know was how it would feel to arrive.


At first I walked right past the pilgrim's entrance to the Church because of the music of a flute player that drew me into the main plaza in front of the Cathedral. Afterward I walked in to the Cathedral and visited the place where the bones of St. James are kept. Then I climbed up behind the main altar to hug the statue of St. James. (It just seemed like the right thing to do after all of the help he gave me finding the right way to go along the Camino.)

Altar in Santiago Cathedral

Statue of St. James

After paying my respects to Santiago, I went to the pilgrim's office to show my credencial with all of my stamps from the places I stopped along the way. They wrote my name in Latin on my Compostela to show that I had completed the pilgrimage. (Interestingly, Boettner in Latin is Boettner).







  
At noon, I was able to be one of two principal concelebrants for the pilgrim's Mass.  The Church was packed wall to wall with pilgrims in various states of health. 

Preparing for Pilgrim's Mass

After Mass I was able to reunite with so many different pilgrims I met along the way. It was like a homecoming party. Everyone was excited to see that the other person had completed their journey.

Companeros de Camino

My favorite couple were two young people from Bulgaria. They came to the Camino with very little money, but tremendous courage.  Often they had to camp outside to save money. And for food they would have bread and what they could cook in the kitchen in the Albergue.  They spoke no Spanish and very little English, but they had dreamed about the Camino and decided that they must do it some way.

So what does it mean to arrive? That is a question I am not able to answer. I can tell you how it feels to arrive.  It feels like the joy of Christmas morning.

Someone has prepared an amazing gift for you and now you have the pleasure of opening the gift and beginning to understand what the gift represents. Unconditional love.

Peace and Goodness,

FD