#276: The Long and Winding Road

EXCERPT: St. Jean Pied-de-Port is where pilgrims from three different starting points in France converge to rest one last time before beginning the daunting trek over the mountains into Spain and their eventual destination. The steep cobbled lane leading up to the trailhead is lined with hostels for pilgrims spending their last night in France.

Some make the pilgrimage on foot, others on bicycle or on horseback, or even by car. But they all have the same destination: the town on Spain's Atlantic coast where, legend holds, Saint James the Apostle (Santiago in Spanish, Saint Jacques in French) began his mission to convert Spain. Pilgrims have been tracking to his tomb since the tenth century.

What amazed me most is that each year El Camino sets new records. In 2008, 25,964 Pilgrims passed through St. Jean Pied-de-Port. In 2009, 26,901. When registering to certify their trek, some pilgrims cite "religion" as their motive; some cite "spirituality," others “sport" or "tourism" or "culture." Some cite several motives.

For me, it begs this question: "Why is the pilgrim experience so popular—especially in a secular age like ours?” Many other activities, after all, could serve those same motives. Why is it that pilgrimage draws people? Why do growing numbers choose the pilgrim’s path?

Perhaps pilgrimage touches on an inner desire much like John the Baptist’s -- a desire to make paths straight? Maybe, by completing the trek and conquering its obstacles, pilgrims feel they have filled every valley, made low every mountain and hill, straightened the winding roads, smoothed out the rough ways? We are all pilgrims, of course, all on our way to some destination, however distant or vague.

Advent reminds us that life is indeed a long and winding road. Our paths are seldom straight smooth or flat, and we may often feel like a voice crying in the wilderness. Yet, sometimes we find our way to a place (or a moment) where the pathway stretches before us clear and bright, with a new beginning at the end -- the beginning we Catholics celebrate as Christmas.