Arco do Pino to Santiago 18K ??? Day 31

YEAH!!!! We have arrived and are celebrating in Santiago......stay tuned....we are on a holiday for a few days!! Hasta Luego!!!!

This celebratory day of reaching the destination of our pilgrimage, the Cathedral of Santiago, I dedicate to my hero and life-mentor, my father, because of his strength of character, determination, unwavering work ethic, common sense, abundant capabilities, and his desire to always see a job through to completion (all admirable characteristics for any pilgrimage and especially the Camino of Life). I enjoyed walking with Dad this summer in preparation for this trip because it gave us alone time together...thanks Dad and I love you!

The community of the Camino has reminded me of the sense of community I was lucky enough to experience growing up on our family farm. It was so much fun working together on projects. Each person had their job all of which contributed to the final goal. I loved that team approach to life and the feeling of reaching the goal.

This last day of the Camino has been no less challenging than many of our other days, with many steep ascents and a never-ending walk in and through the city to our final destination. Coming around the last corner into the Cathedral Plaza, we chicas all linked hands and closed our eyes so that the first vision of the Cathedral of St. James could be shared simultaneously. Other pilgrims watched us and understood as we beheld one of the great European monuments from both an artistic and symbolic standpoint. This cathedral is considered the third most holy place in the world.

The highlight of Santiago was the Pilgrim Mass on Sunday with standing room only, its music, and the sense of welcome and significance we experienced as pilgrims from the priest. Celebrating eucharist together was like ¨the heavenly banquet prepared for us¨. Later, outside on the sunny steps by the fountain, the mass reunion of pilgrims from the past 30 plus days was not unlike a highschool graduation where everyone embraces, remembering all they have shared, and bids farewell as new lives begin.

In truth, I found the cathedral amazing and awesome, but in the end less significant than the power of the Camino itself. For me, the Divine presence was found on the Path in the most beautiful cathedral of all....our world. What a gift our Earth is to us and what a gift we are to each other. May we, as pilgrims, renew our efforts to respect and care for each other and our world. ¨The Kingdom of God is found among you.¨