Chronicle of Thursday 14 August

Dear parents, grandparents, friends and the rest of the pilgrims,

4:06:52. You read that right. 4 hours, 6 minutes and 52 seconds. That’s how long it took us to finish today’s stage. THE WHOLE STAGE. An unprecedented record. As usual, we set off at around 3:45 in the morning, with a little time of silent prayer at the start. Bright and “early”, we started wishing Kathe a happy birthday, as it was her birthday today. Today’s route went without incident. We managed to keep up a pace of no less than 5.5 km/h for two hours straight. A real success. Before 8:00 in the morning we arrived at the parish of St Paul in Sansepolcro, the end point of today’s stage, where we enjoyed a good second breakfast and did the spiritual reading.

Afterwards we all went to shower at a swimming pool with a very, very high diving board, from which some dared to jump several times. When you hit the water, your ears even popped. After the shower, and to celebrate Kathe’s birthday, we had lunch at a restaurant in the centre of town. Sansepolcro is a lovely walled town, and strolling through its streets is really pleasant. Lunch was a good plate of macaroni “al dente” with tomato and parmesan, with various dishes to share: baked onions, roast potatoes and caprese salad. Everything was delicious. For dessert we had an ice cream as we strolled around the town and went into its various churches, including a cathedral that has a stone brought from the Holy Land that belonged to the sepulchre of our Lord; that’s where the town’s name comes from. At the end of the walk, we went back to rest in the church that is hosting us today.

In the afternoon, as usual on our pilgrimage, we had an hour before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and prayed the rosary with the parishioners of the local parish, before celebrating the Eucharist all together. It’s the most important moment of the day, when we can thank Jesus for all the graces he gives us. How beautiful it is to be able to pray united as the Church. Today’s homily was preached by Don Simone, the parish priest of Sansepolcro, who spoke to us about Our Lady and how the Lord seals a covenant with man through her, like a new ark of the covenant carrying the Messiah. He spoke to us about the Assumption and encouraged us to say to God every day a “yes” as great as Mary’s. At the end of the Eucharist, we took a photo all together.

For dinner, Jose and Martí made us a delicious mustard chicken with chips, and Emma decorated the place with garlands, paper flowers and a great big 25 in honour of the birthday girl. The fraternal affection we feel for one another really shows in these little details that keep coming day after day. Don Simone joined us for dinner; he sang with us for a while and stayed with us for Compline, before we went to bed to rest for tomorrow’s stage, which certainly won’t be as quick as today’s.