The Beatitudes of the Pilgrim: Camino de Santiago

We visited the Church of St. Stephen which is on the Camino de Santiago (Frances) in the tiny village (eight houses) of Zabaldika. We were given the “Beatitudes of the Pilgrim” and “The Way: Parable and Reality” by a nun at the church. I don’t know the origin of either. I’ve found them inspirational, during the Camino and after.

The Beatitudes of the Pilgrim

1. Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that the “camino” opens your eyes to what is not seen.

2. Blessed are you pilgrim, if what concerns you most is not to arrive, as to arrive with others.

3. Blessed are you pilgrim, when you contemplate the “camino” and you discover it is full of names and dawns.

4. Blessed are you pilgrim, because you have discovered that the authentic “camino” begins when it is completed.

5. Blessed are you pilgrim, if your knapsack is emptying of things and your heart does not know where to hang up so many feelings and emotions.

6. Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that one step back to help another is more valuable than a hundred forward without seeing what is at your side.

7. Blessed are you pilgrim, when you don’t have words to give thanks for everything that surprises you at every twist and turn of the way.

8. Blessed are you pilgrim, if you search for the truth and make of the “camino” a life, and of your life a “way”, in search of the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

9. Blessed are you pilgrim, if on the way you meet yourself and gift yourself with time, without rushing, so as not to disregard the image in your heart.

10. Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that the “camino” holds a lot of silence; and the silence of prayer; and the prayer of meeting with God who is waiting for you.

and on the reverse side of the paper…

The Way: Parable and Reality

The journey makes you a pilgrim. Because the way to Santiago is not only a track to be walked in order to get somewhere, nor is it a test to reach any reward. El Camino de Santiago is a parable and a reality at once because it is done both within and outside in the specific time that it takes to walk each stage, and along the entire life if only you allow the Camino to get into you, to transform you and to make you a pilgrim.

The Camino makes you simpler because the lighter the backpack, the less strain on your back and the more you will experience how little you need to be alive.

The Camino makes you brother/sister. Whatever you have you must be ready to share because even if you started on your own, you will meet companions.

The Camino breeds about community, community that greets the other, that takes interest in how the walk is going for the other, that talks and shares with the other.

The Camino makes demands on you. You must get up even before the the sun in spite of tiredness or blisters; you must walk in the darkness of night while dawn is growing, you must get the rest that will keep you going.

The Camino calls you to contemplate, to be amazed, to welcome, to internalize, to stop, to be quiet, to listen to, to admire, to bless…Nature, our companions on the journey, our own selves, God.

Read more: My Camino Story, Day by Day