Chronicle of Wednesday 6 August

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

Today, as usual, the stage started at 3:30 in the morning. Marc stood in for our usual sherpa and, to be honest, he is an excellent guide. First thing in the morning, Father invited us to reflect on trust in God and on how harshly life can sometimes strike us. These first steps of meditation each morning are essential and, even though the pilgrims may look tired and worn out, you can feel in the air how Jesus walks with us at every step we take.

In the first part of the stage it was clear that our pilgrims were keeping up an exceptional pace today. So much so that the logistics team had to make the first stop a little further on than planned because, by the time they got there, the pilgrims had already passed the usual point. At this stop we carried on with the spiritual reading of the interview with Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, in which we read about his childhood and how his family lived the faith. It is lovely to see a Holy Father speaking to us from the heart about the importance of a life of piety in the family. These days, Fr Ferran keeps insisting on the importance of having a living and ordered prayer life, a daily encounter of personal dialogue with Christ, which is, after all, the most important thing. During the reading we enjoyed the company of Tessa, a sausage dog who was less a sausage than a whole botifarra.

Today we were welcomed at a Salesian oratory. A statue of St John Bosco presides over the building where we are sleeping, a saint for whom those of us pilgrims who are teachers have a special devotion and affection, and from whom we can learn many things. On arrival, the pilgrims were able to rest a good deal and, after a nice glass of cold lemonade and some fruit, they could go off for a well-deserved rest, preceded by a reviving cold shower. Before resting, however, some of our pilgrims had the idea of playing a little game of basketball in the sports hall where a pilgrim or two was already resting. Joan Xipell is knocking time off purgatory with every day that passes, thanks to these lads, who do nothing but bring him closer to heaven by dint of sacrifices.

One of the most special moments today was the afternoon prayer, which was a little different from what we had experienced on previous days. All together we read a passage from the book In Conversation with God about the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. Then, in the homily, Father reminded us that some of us pilgrims climbed that very mountain on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and he helped us to enter more deeply into the passage and live it in a different way. In this little time of reading in community prayer, a few moments of silence were left so that each person could reflect on what they had read. It was a lovely, heart-warming moment in which we were reminded that these encounters with the Lord, this personal prayer of each one of us, reach heaven and make the whole Church better in the communion of saints.

To round off the day, Fr Ferran treated us to a delicious pizza at a trattoria in the centre of Ferrara. When we had finished, the owner asked us for a group photo and assured us it will have pride of place in her “Hall of Fame”, a stretch of wall with photos of groups of people who have been there. After dinner, he also treated us to a delicious ice cream as we strolled around the centre before going back to base camp where, after Compline, we went off to rest, already thinking about what tomorrow will bring.

It is heart-warming to see how prayer said all together unites us; it is the glue of a group of pilgrims walking with the intention of drawing a little closer to Jesus each day and growing in holiness. We pray a lot for you; please keep praying, too, for each of these pilgrims, who are a real gift from God.