Yesterday a Spanish friend asked me if I had had a spiritual experience or awakening since returning to the Camino. And it caused me to reflect on spirituality during today’s challenging section from Redondela to Pontevedra, Spain. The trek was a mix of coastal scenery and arboreal fern forests coupled with a never-ending series of hills. Exhausting.

However, for the first time, we noticed a spike of pilgrim traffic and that warmed our hearts. When we arrived in Pontevedra we managed to tap into a reserve energy to locate two bookshops, Cronopios Libros and Espazo Lector Nobel, willing to entertain my Spanish version of It’s Your Camino (Es Tu Camino). Yet something was still missing.

Then it happened. While poking around in the city center we came upon the Sanctuary of the Pilgrim. Rory found a pew to reflect and pray while I stood off to the side. An elderly sacristan came forward and touched my arm, “Could you help?” Half an hour later I found myself at the Pilgrim’s Mass standing in front of congregation of pilgrims and Pontevedrans reciting the First Reading from the Book of Exodus 14:21-15:1…in Spanish! The experience was an emotional jolt, a personal message…and it rocked me to the core. The Lord works in mysterious ways. 🙏