Creating a Happy Median: The School of the Pilgrim Learns from Chimayo and Santiago

I am getting myself internally prepped for the one-hundred plus mile pilgrimage I am taking next week to Chimayo with my brothers from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. I've done this pilgrimage. I walked it successfully in 1999. I look forward to this well run pilgrimage that allows me to rest in the knowledge that all will be well, that food is taken care of; that the housing is taken care of; that leadership is taken care of; that prayers, songs, rituals, and other practices are taken care of; that water is taken care of, as is health care. I will fall right into the practices as they instruct. It was a pilgrimage of "we."

This is so not like Santiago, where I was on my own, back pack and all. Along with my friend Jaqui and others I had to negotiate food, housing, health care, prayers, rituals, practices, length of walk, etc. By the end, it was a pilgrimage that was more dependent on the "I" than the "we" though Jaqui was great.

For the School of the Pilgrim I look forward to carving out our "niche" between the two of "we" and "I." My hope is that we will give a little bit more freedom and responsibility to the pilgrim per se than the organizers.

And unlike these two pilgrimages, my hope is we follow folks up for 6 months as they learn to be a pilgrim right where they are.

Buen camino!

Pace, B

p.s., putting on my walking shoes now for the rest of the day.