A tired and soggy pilgrim I have arrived in Santiago De Compostela.
I arrived just in time for Mass in a totally packed cathedral and I must admit I was disappointed. The ancient portico (right) with the pillar of St James, where millions of pilgrims paying homage has worn a hand shaped grove in the Galician granite, was closed and covered in scaffolding. No homage today thank you.
The botafumeiro (left) is swung at the end of mass as a carnival attraction to the accompaniment of camera flashes and applause. It is not used as part of the liturgy and ritual of the mass.
As I went down to the crypt to pay my respects at St James´s relics I knelt down to pray and was promptly pushed out of the way so someone could take a photograph.
Grumpy and disappointed I found a place to stay and replenished my blood sugar levels - which had a notable affect on my mood!
Not to be discouraged I wandered back (in a torrential downpour that has lasted all day!) to the cathedral and sat in the chapel with the blessed sacrament. I´m not surprised that I was disappointed. I mean what did I expect? This pilgrimage was, and continues to be, about journeying not about destinations. To continue to journey, to learn, to explore, to be an adventurer on the journey of life. This is what it means to be a pilgrim. But the world is not full of pilgrims it is full of tourists who want instant gratification and value for money, whose idea of respectful silence is putting their phones on vibrate.
OK I'm still a bit grumpy! Going from the silent contemplation of the road to a big city full of people has unsettled me a little - doesn´t bode well for going back to London, eh?
I made it back to the tomb of St James, queued up and went to give the traditional embrace to the statue of St James with is in the centre of the cathedral above the altar. The 'traditional embrace´is basically giving the statue a hug from behind and kissing the brass shell. Photo's are banned here usually (praise be!) but they made an exception when the Pope came two years ago! (see photo right) I then went back to the crypt and prayed.
In his address at the cathedral at the time Benedict XVI said "To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where He has revealed Himself, where His grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe".
On this pilgrimage so far I have encountered God reveled in silence alone, in the beauty of a landscape, in conversations, in acts of kindness, in the stillness of places that have been prayed in for centuries, in doubt, in blisters, in tears, laughter and in languages I do not understand.
I continue my journey towards Finisterre and Muxia. I will return to Santiago next week with different eyes and hopefully a better mood!
I arrived just in time for Mass in a totally packed cathedral and I must admit I was disappointed. The ancient portico (right) with the pillar of St James, where millions of pilgrims paying homage has worn a hand shaped grove in the Galician granite, was closed and covered in scaffolding. No homage today thank you.
As I went down to the crypt to pay my respects at St James´s relics I knelt down to pray and was promptly pushed out of the way so someone could take a photograph.
Grumpy and disappointed I found a place to stay and replenished my blood sugar levels - which had a notable affect on my mood!
Not to be discouraged I wandered back (in a torrential downpour that has lasted all day!) to the cathedral and sat in the chapel with the blessed sacrament. I´m not surprised that I was disappointed. I mean what did I expect? This pilgrimage was, and continues to be, about journeying not about destinations. To continue to journey, to learn, to explore, to be an adventurer on the journey of life. This is what it means to be a pilgrim. But the world is not full of pilgrims it is full of tourists who want instant gratification and value for money, whose idea of respectful silence is putting their phones on vibrate.
OK I'm still a bit grumpy! Going from the silent contemplation of the road to a big city full of people has unsettled me a little - doesn´t bode well for going back to London, eh?
I made it back to the tomb of St James, queued up and went to give the traditional embrace to the statue of St James with is in the centre of the cathedral above the altar. The 'traditional embrace´is basically giving the statue a hug from behind and kissing the brass shell. Photo's are banned here usually (praise be!) but they made an exception when the Pope came two years ago! (see photo right) I then went back to the crypt and prayed.In his address at the cathedral at the time Benedict XVI said "To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where He has revealed Himself, where His grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe".
On this pilgrimage so far I have encountered God reveled in silence alone, in the beauty of a landscape, in conversations, in acts of kindness, in the stillness of places that have been prayed in for centuries, in doubt, in blisters, in tears, laughter and in languages I do not understand.
I continue my journey towards Finisterre and Muxia. I will return to Santiago next week with different eyes and hopefully a better mood!
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