I went to see a movie called The Way tonight. I have been intrigued by the Camino de Santiago de Compostela for years now. I first heard about it in Taize where I met a pilgrim from Belgium. Every year he walked part of the pilgrimage, starting where he had stopped the year before. Over the years several of my friends have done the trek. One suggested we do it together but that has yet to materialize. I bought Joyce Rupp’s book, Walk in a Relaxed Manner: Life Lessons from the Camino and my interest was peaked again.
After seeing the film, I doubt I could actually physically do the Way with my limitations. I would have to do it slowly…and even then maybe not truly be a pilgrim as they discuss in the film because I might have to cheat and ride a bike, horse, or bus to complete the Way. Rupp was 60 when she did it so maybe there is still hope.
The movie is beautiful on many levels. Four pilgrims end up doing the journey together and each enrich their souls in their own way, just perhaps not the way they expected. The characters throughout the film are decadent from a spiritual gendarmerie who delivers the difficult news to the father, played by Martin Sheen to crazy pilgrim hosts who scare off the pilgrims to the son Daniel whose desire to break free of the constraints of the first world expectation on how to live.
On the way to the airport, Daniel tells his dad, “You don’t choose a life, you live it.” Ah, therein lies the sacredness of life. We spend so time trying to create life that we miss living it. Sometimes you just need to leap in, with a heart full of trust.
The theme of these past 24 hours has been that sometimes life does not turn out as you plan. The sense I had watching this film is that the son wanted to live fully while the dad had settled for living a life that had not turned out exactly as he wanted—especially when his son is suddenly killed. I am back to reading If You Want to Walk on Water which is now discussing that sinking feeling when not everything has a fairy tale ending and still things get worse. Have you ever had a time in your life where you weep until you fall exhausted in a heap? It is there that God may meet you.
Interestingly enough, none of the four pilgrims are doing the journey for spiritual reasons. I am not sure that they are even aware that they see the sacred spaces until they are enlarged enough to each have their own aha moment. Each life is a pilgrimage but like those in the film, despite the longing for something deeper or more meaningful, not everyone recognizes it along the way.
I have lots to ponder from this excellent film…and a desire to re-read Rupp’s book now having seen it. The desire to walk El Camino has never left me. Perhaps one day this sacred journey will be mine to discover.
Peace,
Suzanne
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