Cold and Rainy! Who knew?

Good afternoon, well, it is here anyway.

We have had a few internet issues, but hopefully we are on track to keep blogging for a while. The post from Matthew was actually written a couple of days ago, but only was sent out today. It's been a good couple of days since then. When we began yesterday morning, the sky let loose with a driving cold rain. Camilo was generous in giving up his poncho and gators so that I could try to stay dry and somewhat warm. I think I will appear in the next issue of CQ (Camino Quarterly).

The nice thing about hiking in the rain is that it forces one to remain quiet and pray. So, even though we have agreed to keeping the first few hours as a grand silence, the rain made it a bit longer. With hours on end to pray and just be open to the movement of the Spirit, I have turned to offering many rosaries. I have found the offering each decade for a person (or intention) takes on a whole different reality. Many of us often remember someone or another at the beginning of a mystery as we offer our daily rosary, but here, with 4 or 5 complete rosaries being prayed each day, I am remembering people or situations that I have not thought of for years. Yesterday afternoon, I was remembering my first grade teacher! How beautiful and joyful to bring so many people to prayer that otherwise I might not have ever thought of again. I recommend the practice anyway, but now, it is with gusto.

I have to tell you about the day I caught up the the men. I began in the darkness of 5am, with only the moon and light from a few other hikers to follow. I was hoping to catch them before they had begun their hike, I found out that I arrived to the town where they stayed only about a half hour behind them. Of course, they are faster and I had an unexpected struggle ahead.

The road you see rising from right to left was cut into the hillside with about a 12 degree grade. But with some planning and patience...

...I made it to the top!

This is looking back to the town.

Of course, what goes up, must come down and the other side of this height descended with a 13% grade.

Long story short, however, I actually arrived at the town ahead of the rest of the fellowship as they met a gentleman who told them his life story and introduced to his family and basically kept the off of the trail for two hours. So, when I arrived, I spent some time in the church, one of the few we find open, then found the others had arrived and settled into the albergue across the street.

Finally back together, we set off the following morning. The men had met several along the way who were curious about the Faith and seminarians, but I'll let them tell those stories. However, on the road this day, we stopped in a town to see if the church was open and not only was it, but there was Adoration this day. What a gift!! We made a Holy Hour and the continued on our way.

The rest of the day's events, I'll let one of the others write about. However, the beautiful takeaway is the God has gifts everywhere. One has to be ready to see and embrace them. Til next blog,

God bless,
Fr. Roux

The Role of the Catholic on the Camino Today (and a brief update)

Seminarians in Eucharistic Adoration
in a small town in Spain

Our efforts have been quite successful in this territory. People see the beauty in our fraternity, and are immediately attracted to us. They see that these men sing, pray, have pushup contests, and are still fun to share a drink with at the end of the day. People ask us questions and we happily answer them. People see us praying the breviary, and want to pray too, despite never having laid eyes on the book. One particular man, is a Reformed Lutheran, who despite his views, always feels inclined to find us if we are in the same town.

El Camino opens the Pilgrim to new and beautiful things, and for those we have encountered, it is the Roman Catholic Church and her seminarians. It is easy to see why this is, if we go back to my main purpose for hiking this trail: detachment. We all have our cellphones in airplane mode. The media cannot tell these people that religion is superstitious nonsense 24/7, as of right now. They cannot be told it is just a bunch dead garbage from ages past when four men, under the age of 25, stand by with a fire in their bellies, and a zeal for the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

Pray for these people that they may find God, and pray for the pastoral formation of all the seminarians throughout the world!

Thoughts and Reflections
from Matthew W. Dimock, Jr.

In the seminary, we have a rule that we are not allowed to maintain social media accounts, so this will be my first public Internet post in over a year. Hello world!!

With that said, I would like to personally update you on our adventures from the seminarian point of view. After our departing from Fr. Roux, we made haste to our next stop, Hornillos del Camino, a small town in the middle of nowhere, Spain. From there we went to Castrojeriz. From there, last night, we met up with our clerical superior, who moved like a roadrunner to meet up with us. Tonight, we are in Itero de la Vega, a town formerly the home of the Knight's Templar (Deus Vult). That, in an extremely abbreviated fashion, is our big travel update.

Saint Joseph, pray for us!

When I first heard of the Camino, I knew that I should have a spirit of detachment in mind (see the introductions page to the right of the blog), but as I continued doing my research on the pilgrimage, especially in regards to preparation, I gained a whole new goal of evangelization along the route to Santiago.

You see, many people (maybe even a majority of people) walk the way of St. James for non-pilgrimage reasons. For some, it has to do with sight-seeing, others just want exercise. Some are on the Camino because they have reached some sort of crossroads in their lives, and have to make an important decision, or come to peace with some baggage of their past. Some do it for "spiritual peace of mind" or to "find themselves, which are as arbitrary of reasons as they sound. Many, we have found are trying to grow closer to God, but know nothing about Him.

This gives us, as seminarians a very unique ability to evangelize to these people, just as the apostle did 2000 years ago. People here are searching for something, though they do not realize that He is searching for them. The answer is right in front of their faces in the beautiful Spanish churches, that pop up with every town.

Finally on the Camino de Santiago

The Road Behind

You already know the difficulties with the bag. I will not bore you further, except to say that I went out last evening and 'resupplied' as best I could and started out at 6:00 this morning. I have met many nice people along the way and after 32k (about 24 miles) I arrived in Hontanas and have discovered that I am only 9K behind the boys. Maybe we will catch up tomorrow.

The Road Ahead

It's still amazing how the good Lord always finds ways to strip up us everything so that we know what's important. The silence of today's walk brought that home clearly today.

Once I finally arrived, I met a nice man, Andres, who was very accommodating at the Alberge and introduced me to the Sacristan so that I might offer Mass. I also met Fr. Francisco, a very welcoming priest. He was very kind and thoughtful. Please keep him, and Andres in your prayers along with so many who have been helpful along the way.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception

See you again, hopefully with my companions,

Fr. Roux