‘Beautiful acts of humanity’ and love mark Camino journeys

Peter and Christina Rosario of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis experienced God’s grace and people’s generosity as they traveled the Camino. (Submitted photo)

(Editor’s note: The Criterion has invited people from the archdiocese who have made all or part of the Camino pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain to share how that experience has influenced their life and their faith.)

Sixth in an occasional series
 

By John Shaughnessy

After another day of walking during their 600-mile pilgrimage on the Camino, Peter and Christina Rosario were bone-tired one evening when they faced a disheartening reality.

As they entered the town where they planned to sleep that night, they learned that the hostel for pilgrims there was already full. And the next hostel in the next town was another 2 1/2 miles away.

That’s when they received what they view as “a beautiful act of humanity.”

“We had met two women on the Camino from Germany,” Peter recalls about that day. “Fortunately, the German women knew we were walking slowly and paid for two beds. Their act of kindness saved us from having to walk further to the next town.

“We bought dinner for them—an even swap. It was amazing how helpful and kind people were, freely willing to offer food, medical help and advice.”

Ten years have passed since the Rosarios completed their journey from Lourdes, France, to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, but the memories and the life lessons from that pilgrimage continue to influence the couple who have been married for 52 years.

One of the life lessons revolves around the gifts they see other people share and that they try to share.

“We continue to live our Camino memories with the beautiful acts of humanity we daily see lived out around us,” Christina says. “These include any variety of an act of love, trust in God, facing uncertainties with resolve, receiving suffering with acceptance, and continuing forward unrelentingly.”

The other main lesson focuses on the presence of God in our lives—and placing our trust in him.

Members of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, the Rosarios trusted in God being there for them every day on the Camino—through the threatening weather, while being surrounded by the beauty of nature, and even in the evenings when they wondered if they would have a bed for the night.

“The overall experience which has continued to influence our lives is one of total trust and total surrender to God for every detail ahead—and filled with thanksgiving for daily blessings and miracles received,” Christina says. “He does provide in amazing, surprising and unbelievable ways.”

Peter adds, “Our knowledge of God’s grace in our lives took on greater awareness after the Camino. There is no doubt about his presence in our lives. The Camino taught us to see him even in the simplest of conditions.”

Celebrations of the heart and the soul

It was not your usual wedding anniversary celebration.

Still, Tom and Kathleen Williams have fond memories of their anniversary in 2017, during their 500-mile Camino pilgrimage from France to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

“If I had to pick out one episode that was special, it was being in Sahagun—about the halfway point—on our 44th wedding anniversary,” Tom says.

“We stayed in a convent guest house and shared a table for the pilgrim dinner with four women from Portugal who were cycling the Camino and a woman from France who had been walking from Paris.”

Another daily celebration on the pilgrimage was also memorable for the couple, who are members of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Indianapolis.

“Many towns had a daily Mass that often included a special welcome and blessing for pilgrims,” Tom notes. “I was privileged to read at Vespers in Rabanal del Camino and at the weekday morning Mass in English in the Cathedral in Santiago.

“It was a joy to share Mass with fellow pilgrims. At the Sunday Mass in the Santiago cathedral, we were joined in our pew by a Canadian couple we had seen on and off along the way. They came to join the service, though neither was Catholic. At another Mass in the magnificent cathedral in Leon, we were joined first by two women from California, and then by a young woman from Poland, again pilgrims we did not know well but had interacted with as we trekked across Spain.”

Two other aspects of those Masses stand out to him. They reinforced how universal the Church is. He also appreciated how joyfully the parishioners of the churches, especially in the smaller towns, welcomed the pilgrims.

That gift of welcoming was shared in different venues along the pilgrimage route—in the hostels, the small hotels, the restaurants.

“While it was eight years ago, the memories of that remarkable journey are still fresh,” Tom says. “I never tire of thinking about it.” †