26 May 2013

SANTIAGO!

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Buen Camino

Praise God. We've made it.

We left our last albergue so excited to do the last 22.7km to Santiago. We walked like our hair was on fire. No coffee break, no lunch, just a dead sprint walk. The first hard climb was manageable. The second, tougher. Then we hit Monto Gozo which looked like an olympic ski slope from a distance. I made it to the top, but I was exhausted.

From there it was to be 4km to Santiago. This was grueling. I was completely spent physically. After those 30kms yesterday and these three climbs, the needle was on "E." I walked and walked through town dragging myself to any view of the cathedral. Nothing in sight for inspiration. It got to a point that my arms were so tired that I couldn't lift my trekking poles to accompany my walk. I let the poles drag on the sidewalk behind me. I could have played the last scene in the Rocky movie. Each step was three forward, one to the side. The pack dragged on me, and my back pained me between the shoulder blades. I could have tripped over my gasping tongue.

Then the cathedral loomed in front of me. It was a walk through the old part of town and then finally arrived at the side door of the cathedral. What an awefull sight. I nearly shouted, "Yo, Jesus, we did it!"

I raced into church with minutes left to catch the end of the pilgrims mass in high hopesto see the thuriber being swung. I arrived at 1:00ish, right at the end of mass. It was not to be. Sadly I learned later from other pilgrims that it was swung at the 10:00 mass. Missed it. It will be a challenge to find if it will be used again while I'm here.

I did get to attend the next mass and sat in the cathedral overwhelmed by the cathedral's awefull beauty, all the memories of the camino, the people whose life touched me, and the abundant number of God moments along "The Way." By God's grace, I arrived.

I began to think about how the camino started. I vividly recall when we walked the Pyrenees Mts during that gale-force wind storm. I remembered that I "offered it up" for Macey and Liv, darling little girls, one of which needs a liver transplant. I often still pray for them. God be merciful.

Now it is 34 days and just over 500 miles later. My story will end in much of the same nature as it began. I never had it as a sole purpose for whom to "offer it up." I truthfully embraced the camino wholeheartedly as a calling from God. That's all.

However, about 2 weeks ago, the inspiration came to me for how I'd like to end the camino. The idea has been fermenting in prayer since. Here's how the pilgrimage closed for me at the Camino Pilgrim's Office just hours ago.

At the office, there is a bit of an inquiry regarding your pilgrimage from the officials. You are asked questions about the camino. Where you started, did you walk the whole way, was it for religious reasons or other reasons. Then they study your Camino Pilgrim's Credentials, the long, accordion-like document that must be stamped at each albergue where you stayed along the way. Each town has its unique, artistic design. No one could counterfeit their credential. An authentic credential merits the pilgrim an official "Compostela." A document written in Latin and recorded for all time.

I requested of the Pilgrim official to complete my Compostela as follows:

Scribed across the top of my Compostela are the words:

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
For the Greater Glory of God

The body of the document is written in Latin with a legal explanation of the Camino and inserted within it they scribed my name in Latin.

At the closing, she respectfully agreed to my directions to scribe these words:

Dedicated to Tony Williams

A beautiful, awefull Compostela

Every step I offered for God's glory and dedicated the experience in appreciation of God's gift of having the love of our son for 28 years.

Once again, I never had the notion of doing the camino as a mirror image of the events in the movie, The Way. But once the idea imprinted upon me, it was the bonfire motivation in my heart.

A closing reflection:

My favorite movie in the whole world is "It's a Wonderful Life." It's been replayed on TV at Christmas time for years and so many sermons done on it.

Because I've watched it every, and I mean, every Christmas Eve for nearly 50 years, I know it in detail. One scene is dynamic in my memory. Try to recall it yourself. In this sequence of the movie, George Bailey finally saved enough money to travel; it was his life ambition, always denied by others' needs and his self-sacrifice. In particular of this movie episode, there is a run on the bank just as he is leaving town for his honeymoon and long overdue travel. He learns that all of the money for the Savings and Loan is committed. He's frozen wirth indecision on what to do. Know the scene? Here's one detail you might have missed.

In that scene of the movie, as he wrestles with what to do, there is a portrait of his dad, George's life hero, directly behind him. Under the father's portrait are these words, "The only thing a man keeps is that which he gives away."

The memory of that scene, a father's legacy, passed on to his son for a greater purpose, ignited the passion in me to give the entire camino experience as a dedication to our son for God's greater purpose.

Carinos, I hold the camino riches with "gentle hands."

I give it all. All of gift and challenge, joys and hardships, as a gift of this father's love for his son, all for God's greater purpose.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Carinosamente,

Deacon Willie