Day 7, Burgos to Lourdes
Inside the Cathedral de Burgos is a chapel where we attended a Mass officiated by Fr. Joel Bugas. I consider him a very holy priest given his emphasis on listening, applying God’s word to pilgrims sharing their experiences, without any judgment nor even losing interest of listening to the most mundane of sharing. By his radical listening and full measure of respect, folks are changing to become their better versions: helping another pilgrim, leading folks to sing, and caring. It was quite profound to see positive changes around me that he jokingly called one pilgrim, a version of a Mother Superior.
The hours of travel were long, almost a whole day, to get from Burgos to Lourdes. The drive was quite relaxing, but for our fatigue: passing through verdant hills, lots of green fields, yellow green tall corn stalks, blue skies, dark gray and white clouds, simple homes, cows meandering with chickens in some backyards, and nearby rivers. The countryside of France is very beautiful, it is blessed with unspoiled nature and well-run watering holes for tired tourists, serving pate, steak, hamburger, fish with unlimited sides of broccoli, French fries, carrots in two colors, brown gravy, spaghetti and delicious flan.
For the first time, photos of food were not important, as I valued more the conversations: to listen, to observe, to contribute, to become more connected as a pilgrim including the sharing of my dessert.
Back to feeling uncomfortable – how can there be discomfort when we are travelling in a very new van?
Could it be perhaps the condition of our inner selves? We maybe all smiles yet there was some panic in one pilgrim’s experience of using the bathroom. It was dark and not knowing the lights inside bathrooms go off automatically in just a few minutes, she could not get out of the bathroom. She panicked and with her cries of help and Our Father prayer, Lionel, another pilgrim, heard her and rescued her from the dark. Could that be another metaphor for our lives on earth?
That we loudly cry for help for God’s light to illuminate our path and then a kind human being extends a lifeline or conscious help? Conscious as he thought of, why is she taking so long, heard her screams and went down to the bathroom in the lower level. Is that how saints might be assisting us to see the light, as we pray to them, I wonder?
