Chronicle of Thursday 7 August

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

It’s hard to believe, but our pilgrims are walking better and faster every day. Today they reached the first stop in the same time as yesterday, but covering one more kilometre. Obviously, this good pace is explained by Fr Ferran pulling the cart from the front of the group, setting the pace with an iron stride.

One more day, Father preached to us before we started walking so that we could live the first hour of the stage very close to Jesus. This time, on the importance of putting our talents at the service of others, since God did not give them to us to keep for ourselves, but to give Him glory through them in community.

Stopping after four hours of walking is starting to be the norm on our stages, and today was no exception. Once we were sitting down, our daily spiritual reading began, only to be interrupted by a poor woman whom we were keeping awake and who kindly asked us to find somewhere else to carry on. Despite the incident, she took an interest in us and encouraged us all to reach Rome safe and sound. After finding a bit of shade by the side of the path, we were able to continue the reading, meditating on the conversation with Cardinal Ratzinger that fills our ears and hearts every morning these days.

We carried on walking after the reading and, almost at our destination, we stopped at a small chapel, where we paid a visit to the Lord. The truth is that the churches in Italy are really beautiful. A very attentive parishioner took an interest in our group and offered us a place to sleep right there, but we had to decline such a kind offer.

Once at our destination, we had a warm welcome, not from the sun crowning creation, but from a group of young people from the parish of Portomaggiore. They told us they had been joyfully waiting for us for some time, and we invited them to have dinner with us. How beautiful it is to see how one can share moments of faith and joy with people from all over the world. It is, without a doubt, an image of the living Church.

In the afternoon we had a time of prayer with the Blessed Sacrament exposed and Holy Mass with the rest of the people of the town, celebrated in Italian by Don Ugo, the priest who welcomed us today. The only thing we had in Catalan was the Gospel, but how lovely it is to see that it isn’t hard to follow Mass in another language if you put your heart into it. A special mention of thanks to all the pilgrims who helped put together the booklets that let us follow today’s readings.

For dinner we had a good plate of “rice à la Gomar”, which you absolutely have to try, with sausages. Today we were celebrating Albert Lorda’s name day and so, at dinner, which the group of young Italians joined, we had Coca-Cola and, for dessert, yoghurt with all sorts of sweets as “toppings”: Chips Ahoy, Oreo, Smarties...

To end the day, we had a sing-song get-together with the young people hosting us and with Don Ugo, and we finished by praying Compline all together, realising that, in the end, what unites us all most is our faith, which crosses borders and becomes universal.