Chronicle of Monday 4 August

Dear parents, grandparents, friends and all the other pilgrims,

Buona notte!

We’ve got through the first stage and we’re shattered, but we know everything will get better... or so we hope.

Last night we attended an excellent concerto for snores in C major. It sounded so good that some pilgrims considered sleeping out in the open, in what they christened “Mosquito Bay”, rather than having to sit through this ninth symphony.

The day began at 3:00. Between yawns and nodding off, during the hour of silence, we took our first little steps towards Rome. In the morning meditation we reflected that life, like St Anthony’s, can take many turns.

By the time we reached the stop we had already done almost 20 km, not bad at all for the first day, and a super breakfast prepared by the logistics team was waiting for us: Maria biscuits with Nutella and a good dose of sugar in every possible form.

During the spiritual reading, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke to us about the importance of our relationship with God, because, if that doesn’t work, my relationships with others can’t be true. Fr Ferran also stressed that, in the life of prayer, what matters is not how we feel, but how we look at God and how He looks at us. When we set off again, along the way we kept meeting people who took an interest in us and encouraged us to keep going.

When we reached our destination, Don Pier Paolo, who would later stay for dinner with us, and the mayor of the town were waiting for us, next to a table full of sweets that the parishioners had made with great love. Our cake competitions look ridiculous next to so many delicacies like the ones we were able to taste today.

After a well-deserved rest and lunch, in which Emma complained about the lack of generosity of our Bimbo sliced bread sandwiches, “with one sad slice of that Italian ham”, we were able to have the Blessed Sacrament exposed for a couple of hours, before joining the parishioners of the town in praying the Rosary and in the celebration of the Eucharist, in which we all took part in Italian, Catalan and Spanish.

To end the day, we enjoyed a get-together with Don Pier Paolo full of songs and laughter.

These pilgrims are signing off now, as they have to hit the sack.

P. S.: Emma insists on wishing her mum a happy birthday — she hasn’t forgotten.