Chronicle of Tuesday 12 August

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

After a few days sleeping in beds, yesterday we went back to our habit of sleeping on mattresses, and that meant a few pilgrims found it hard to peel themselves out of bed at 3:00. After our pre-dawn breakfast, we set off for San Piero in Bagno, a small, picturesque village in Emilia-Romagna that looks as if it has stepped out of an old antique dealer’s painting. Last night it turned cool and, wrapped up in our sweatshirts, we headed into the darkness of the mountain, and so today’s stage began.

From the outset, today’s stage looked tough, because we had to climb a lot of metres in very little time, but in the end our “Sherpa” decided to take a slightly longer way round to spare us the ordeal.

At the end of the climb, we found a small hermitage dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, surrounded by beautiful rose bushes. The man who looks after it opened it for us and we were able to sing a Salve Regina to our Mother in heaven. This good man gave us a rose of Our Lady so that we could put it on the cross that always goes with us along the way.

We arrived at the stop worn out by the mountain path, and the glasses of water and second breakfast did us a world of good before we went on with the daily spiritual reading. Today St Francis of Assisi made us reflect on our compassion through the example of St Anthony of Padua. Afterwards, we set off again to cover the 10 km we still had left.

When we arrived in San Piero, we were welcomed by Father Israel, a missionary who looks after the Franciscan convent where we are spending the night today. The logistics team was preparing lunch: meatballs in tomato sauce with peas, served with a little rice. After resting for a while, we were able to go and shower in the changing rooms of the Sampiertana football ground, which they very kindly let us use.

At the end of lunch, something truly incredible happened. It turns out that a few days ago Marina and Kathe bet Isa and Laura Ariza that the logistics team wouldn’t be able to have everything done before they arrived, and they lost. The logistics girls had done all the day’s tasks by the time we pilgrims reached our destination, which meant Marina and Kathe had to pay up. So Kathe and Marina delighted us all with their version of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, with lyrics about what the world would be like if we pilgrims served the logistics team in everything they wished. It was great fun.

In the afternoon, we were once again able to have the Blessed Sacrament exposed for a good while of personal prayer and, afterwards, a time of prayer all together following In Conversation with God, which we are reading in prayer these days. Then, in the homily at Holy Mass, we heard a sermon on forgiveness and on the need we all have to feel forgiven too. Let’s never forget that God always forgives if we ask him.

For dinner today we had a fantastic salad with breaded fish fingers, with crisps on the side. The truth is we’re loving the menus. Tomorrow’s stage is long, so today we didn’t have a get-together; instead, after praying Compline all together, we went straight to bed to save our strength for the day ahead.