Today we set off at a brisk pace (although it slowed down later on), encouraged by the short distance of this stage. The walk was easy, with just one critical moment, when there was a threat of rain at the breakfast stop. After breakfast, our megaphone springs into action so we can pray the rosary all together. It’s the moment when, together, we contemplate our intentions and entrust them to our mother, Our Lady.
The time we spend together is taking its toll on the quality of our conversations and, to remedy the decline of our dialogues, today we outdid ourselves with a fine array of riddles. We spent 4 hours thinking more about brain-teasers than about our blisters.
Special mention must go to Uri Gel, who amazed us with flashes of intellect worthy of the pupils of the school of Pythagoras on the hardest riddles, only to freeze on the simplest ones with a Syntax Error written all over his face.
When we arrived in Sagunt, Juan, the parish priest, ordained 5 years ago, was waiting for us. The welcome never ceases to surprise us: Father Juan had mobilised several parishioners so that the girls could shower in their homes. How clearly we notice, and live, what the family of the Church is during these days of pilgrimage! How happy they were to welcome our group: several of the girls ended up having Coca-Cola, coffee and even tea at the homes of these good families.
The boys were lucky that the parish has a little garden with a hose, so, once again, a communal cold-water shower with the hose while they belted out “I want it that way”.
As every day here, today there was something new as well: new pilgrims joining us. Three more pilgrims (Alex Freixes, Franco and Martina Vitagliano) have joined our adventure. Now we have two more violins and another guitar; at this rate we’ll finish the pilgrimage with more instruments than any philharmonic.
Another anecdote worthy of a chronicle starred Luis, our seminarian on wheels, when he went to Decathlon to get hold of every inflatable mattress possible. How well Maria and Ale looked after them, bringing all the mattresses from the warehouse on a pallet to the car: 57 inflatable mattresses so we can rest properly!! On top of the 23 we already had! So there are no more excuses about the floor. Our priest was making sure that rest was a priority for the group. According to the doctors, it’s the most important thing for getting through this pilgrimage.
Having so many mattresses awoke the engineering instinct of Álvaro Peregrín, who, together with Nacho Lorda, directed the construction of a Dantesque sculpture of mattresses, put up by the finest workers among the boys, expert inflators.
Martí Ramió is also the star of a chapter of today’s story: he made friends with someone passing near the parish who spoke several languages the pilgrim didn’t recognise. The man assured him that he used to walk a lot and gave him some valuable advice for the way, the most important being to change his socks every day. If we notice a favourable change in the way he walks, we’ll know why.
In the meditation, Fr Toni preached to us about sin. That we mustn’t be afraid of it, but that we must face up to it, to ask the Lord for help in whatever we need. Confession is an extremely important weapon in the fight against sin, because that is when you realise how merciful God is.
Today at Mass the parish priest, Don Juan, preached to us. He spoke about the kairos we are living through in these days of pilgrimage. He told us that kairos is that qualitative time in which God fills us with his grace to reveal something of Himself to us. He encouraged us to be attentive, because these days we are going to live are days of grace and we will never forget them.
Don Juan had prepared everything for us: the rooms to sleep in, and he had spoken to a bar next to the parish, where they had prepared a super set menu for us! How well we ate, and sitting at a table! After 11 days of eating on the floor, a table, a glass, some cutlery are much appreciated. They are reasons to realise how lucky we are every day to have a plate and a table to sit at and eat.
While we were having dinner, Xipi’s brother came. We were able to have a chat in the bar itself, going over the day a little, and, as was to be expected, Joan gave us a forecast of the coming days in terms of kilometres and climbs. Tough stages are coming, but the pilgrims have found their rhythm and there’s no stopping them. The thing is not to think about tomorrow, but about today, about now. Without letting ourselves be overwhelmed by uncertainty about how our feet will be, or our blisters, or any possible tendinitis. Like today, we will offer up these possible pains for the list of intentions we have, which keeps growing in every place we pass through. Today we take with us as an intention this young parish priest who has looked after us so well, for his work in Port de Sagunt.