The day has come: at last we start walking. How crazy! Nobody thought this day would come, and sometimes doubts creep in. Yesterday we had the sending-off Mass, presided over by Cardinal Joan Josep Omella. What beautiful words he addressed to us, and how encouraging for this pilgrimage on foot to Lisbon that we begin today. He encouraged us to look at the cross in moments of difficulty, because there we find Christ, and Our Lady at his feet. It isn’t an empty cross; it has meaning. Just like our pilgrimage: it isn’t something absurd, but the inner meaning, for each of us, of encountering Christ. We want to carry the cross in our lives, and that’s why we will walk carrying a cross that will be with us every day.
In the evening, the three priests who will accompany us gave us our crosses. So that they are also a sign when we see the cross on another pilgrim. And so that we think: “In this person walking beside me is Christ himself”.
The alarm goes off at 3 in the morning, the lights come on and everyone was getting up in good spirits. Joy and excitement are in every one of us; you can see it on their faces. Well, it has to be said there were also some sleepy faces, and someone wasn’t quite sure where they had woken up today, but never mind. Along the way, a few pilgrims met someone who asked them where they were going. They told him: to Lisbon, on foot, 40 days. He was amazed and replied: “But that’s a lot of days away from home!”.
That’s right: we will be away from home for many days, but very close to the Lord and with the family of the Church wherever we go. After all, as Father told us in the meditation, what the heart longs for is to be in heaven, and that means being with Christ. Many won’t see that these days away from home are, truly, that encounter with Christ the cardinal spoke to us about yesterday at the sending-off Mass.
Yes, what we are starting today is crazy. But it is a madness of love: for Christ, for his Church, for all souls and for their salvation.
The stage was fairly light. Thank God, early on there was a gentle breeze and we walked at a good pace. At 11 in the morning we reached the parish of Our Lady of Montserrat in Castelldefels, where Fr Juan Antonio Vargas, Fr Jordi Mondragon and Juan Eusebio, a seminarian from Sant Feliu, were waiting for us. And a lovely parishioner, Maria Antonia, who had prepared a good bite to eat and lots of cold water for us.
After lunch we had some time to rest, in which the guitars, the cajón, the violin and all sorts of musical contraptions, including the voices of Paula and Norah, began to sound.
At 16.15 on the dot, we had the meditation and a time of personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Fr Juan Antonio, in the homily, reminded us that Abraham was a friend of Jesus and that we, on this pilgrimage, must become true disciples and friends of Christ.
After a delicious dinner of pasta bolognese, fruit and some coques de Sant Joan, we’re now singing at our traditional get-together. Tomorrow we’ll tell you how the day ended.
Until tomorrow, parents!