Chronicle of Sunday 24 August

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

The penultimate stage of our way began at 3:30, as usual. At breakfast today there were chocolate-filled croissants that vanished in no time and, with our batteries charged with sugar, we started walking with an hour of silence, as we always do. At that point, none of the pilgrims could have imagined how tough today’s stage would be.

The climbs along the way left the pilgrims shattered, and they were able to enjoy a well-deserved rest at the stop, where iced water and the sweet treats typical of the pilgrimage were waiting for them. After the stop, there were still 20 kilometres to go. The situation was enough to make anyone lose heart, but these pilgrims are made of iron and the love of God. Not a single complaint: all smiles as they kept walking and encouraged one another. The spiritual reading and praying the rosary are powerful weapons, and this closeness to the Lord and Our Lady is always a boost to keep walking.

Today we had to make a second stop. At around 13:00, the logistics team came to this second, improvised stop at a village church, where a very friendly priest opened the doors for us so we could use the toilet and rest very close to Jesus. There we were able to recharge our batteries with refreshing ice lollies, a bit of Nestea and some glasses of nice cold water. We still had two and a half hours of walking left, but our spirits didn’t flag; on the contrary, against all odds, the desire to reach Formello outweighed the general exhaustion and the pace didn’t drop. As planned, at around 16:30 and after more than 12 hours on the stage, we reached the sports centre where we are sleeping today.

For lunch, we enjoyed a delicious soupy rice that Isa and Laura made for us, and then a well-deserved rest. Today we were able to sleep a little longer because of the tiredness built up after the hardest stage of all. At 19:30 we had a time of meditation all together. We held it in the sports centre itself. Together, we took the retractable stands outside to set up an improvised altar, using God’s creation as the altarpiece: a simple space, made by all of us, where the everyday is transformed into the sacred. We celebrated Holy Mass there too. The pilgrimage is a journey of faith that unites us. Between tiredness and rest, we find a source of strength in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.

Today we’re going to bed later and we’ve decided to leave for tomorrow the jobs we usually do before bed, with the idea of doing them all together when we wake up. Tomorrow we finish this way between Padua and Rome, and our hearts fill with gratitude at the thought that, after so many days of walking together, we will be reunited in Rome with our families and with the rest of the parishioners of our parish community. In this final stretch, a synthesis of what we have lived comes alight: the unity that has sustained us at every step, the universality of the Church, which transcends cultures and destinies, and the coming together of Christ and Our Lady as the pillars guiding our march towards holiness, which is the true goal.