The hope of the Camino: To walk closer to God and others

Kim Striby, left, Michelle Roberts, Beth Reel and Stephanie Okerson—all educators at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis—traveled the Camino together. (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 Spain, to share how that experience has influenced their life and their faith.)

Fifth in an occasional series
 

By John Shaughnessy

Before the four friends began their journey on the Camino, they all embraced the succinct advice that Jane Blanchard shared in her book, Women of the Way: Embracing the Camino.

“Don’t come to the Camino looking for answers,” Blanchard advised. “Come with an open heart.”

Beth Reel, Stephanie Okerson, Michelle Roberts and Kim Striby—all educators at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis—also came to their journey with the hopes of their colleagues.

“Before we left, we gave every faculty and staff member a card for a prayer intention that we could take with us on our journey,” recalls Reel, Roncalli’s assistant principal for academics. “We began in Sarria, Spain, and every day we stopped to read out prayer intentions aloud.”

They read the prayer intentions at churches, by a waterfall, as they walked through a eucalyptus forest, and at the foot of the tomb of St. James in Santiago.

“There were so many sacred moments along The Way,” says Reel, a member of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Franklin. “And we were blessed to carry our school community’s prayers as if they traveled with us.”

They were also blessed by each other as they walked 70 miles on the Camino during five days in June of 2019.

“We encountered each other every single day,” Reel says. “The four of us lifted each other up, sometimes literally—walking uphill for hours on end—and definitely spiritually as we prayed in community with our intentions.”

Roberts found strength and comfort from another woman during an especially miserable day of the pilgrimage.

“We hiked 18 miles on the longest day of the pilgrimage,” says Roberts, a member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis and Roncalli’s director of special services. “A weather event, which created cold temperatures, torrential rains and shearing winds, made the hike extremely challenging.

“We couldn’t hear each other and had to keep our heads down, simply moving forward. We were cold, wet and uncomfortable. I found myself saying the rosary, over and over, to distract myself from the misery. When the day was done, I felt a profound peace, deep within. That serenity, a gift from Mary [the Blessed Mother], stayed with me during the remaining days.”

Like her three companions, Reel says the pilgrimage tested her physical strength, and it also strengthened her prayer life and her faith.

She still carries the prayer that she prayed on the Camino with her.

God, help me, with each step I take, to walk closer toward you. Help me to know your will and how to become what you will for me. Fill me up so I am whole. Help me love others and myself the way you love me. †