Santiago!
MORNING
Psalm 34 • Jeremiah 16:14-21 • Mark 1:14-20
EVENING
Psalm 33 • Jeremiah 26:1-15 • Matthew 10:16-32
I was thrilled when the Morning Reflections rotation revealed that I had been assigned to write for the Feast of St. James the Apostle, sometimes known as St. James the Great. Most of us know the story of James’ first appearance in scripture. Mark tells the tale in the gospel passage for this evening. At the outset of his public ministry, Jesus is walking beside the Sea of Galilee and encounters four men fishing: Simon and Andrew and two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Telling them that he wants to send them forth “to fish for people,” Jesus chooses these men as his first disciples. They were the “simple fisher folk” whom we recall when we sing Hymn 661. (The lovely lyrics are from William Alexander Percy’s 1924 poem, “His Peace.” You can read it here: www.covert.org/georgetown.html.)
My thrill, however, goes beyond today’s readings. For 33 days in the fall of 2018, to transition from my 42 years as a teacher to retirement, I walked the Camino de Santiago, the way of St. James, in northern Spain—799 kilometers from a small village in southwest France to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela. Legend holds that, after the crucifixion, James visited the Iberian Peninsula to evangelize. Returning to Jerusalem, he was arrested by Herod Agrippa and beheaded in 44 A.D. Then, by a series of miracles, his remains were transported in a rudderless boat and ended up buried in a field in Iria Flavia, a Galician town about 23 kilometers from Santiago. Sometime between 791 and 842 A.D., these relics were discovered by a shepherd, and church authorities ordered them transported to Santiago, where to this day they are believed to be interred under the high altar of the cathedral. Beginning in the 9th century, pilgrims from all over Europe would walk—for months, sometime for years—to the site to pay homage to St. James, who would eventually be recognized as the patron saint of Spain.
Hiking the Camino remains an extremely popular enterprise to this day. In 2018, when I went, over 327,000 people presented themselves to the pilgrims’ office in Santiago to attest that they had walked at least the last 100 kilometers. (Those of us who hiked the entire Camino felt what might have been overweening pride in having gone beyond that bare minimum.) I’m not sure how many folks today make the trek as a religious pilgrimage. I can simply attest my experience was consummately transformative. Just knowing that my feet were treading the same path that pilgrims had been traveling for 1100 years, and realizing at some level of consciousness that St. James was at the end of my journey—well, it was an experience beyond words and beyond compare.
Written by David Jolliffe
At St. Paul’s, David signs in the choir and helps to coordinate the Tippy McMichael Lecture Series.