One Hundred and Counting

 Finally - one hundred cycling excursions accomplished - it took longer than I expected but here we are in July 2021 with an opportunity to add more biking trips.  In 2020 I decided that we would complete 100 biking trips between our time in Arizona and Illinois - cut short due to knee issues and total knee surgery.  This year - once in Arizona for the winter - we were able to accomplish 81 trips.   Back home in Illinois with weather that cooperated with us - we were able to add 19 outings to get us up to trip #100.  It is early July - now to see how many more decent days we will have to continue adding to that number.

As I get older - it is a little harder to get things done - too many things get in the way - projects that pop up - needing my immediate attention - distracting me from personal goals.  It is similar to keeping my attention focused on my spiritual growth.  Best intentions - distractions pull me away - tugging at my heart - mind as I try to focus - develop my relationship with God.  Thankfully - Jesus is patient - giving me the space - time to be with him.  This summer I have been drawn outside to sit on the deck and watch the beans growing in our fields - appreciating the miracle of life - the cycle of life from bare soil to the first buds of green - to the full grown plants that look like a huge sea of green.  The view is peaceful - just as the sky when it is calm and blue with wisps of clouds dancing across the sky.  This summer has been good so far - now that the pandemic is quieting down - able to gather with friends.  I see hope everywhere I look - just as I hope you do.  With God all things are possible.

Deacon Dale 

Fire and Flames - Pentecost

Holy Flames Batman!  And that my friend sums up the Fire that was poured down on the apostles at Pentecost by God - by Jesus. For the first time sealing the covenant of a Trinitarian God.  God the Father who Wills it - Jesus the Son who Speaks it - the Paraclete - The Holy Spirit that Does it.  

As Disciples of Jesus this event should excite all of us - just the knowledge that on that day - in a single remarkable event - God manifested Himself in a very visible manner - revealing Himself not just to the Apostles - also to everyone within shouting distance.  For us - significant that God is constantly repeating this event over and over - sometimes in similar manifestations - other times in not as dramatic ways - however - just as powerful.  For those who call themselves Christians - all should pray that God send His Holy Spirit down upon them - pray for a release of the Power of the Holy Spirit - in their lives - that they too may bring others closer to Christ.  For new Christians - Graduation Day - Empowered with His Spirit to go out into the world - to Baptize in His Name - to Proclaim His Gospel.

Deacon Dale 

One Long Easter

Yes - believe it or not - it is still Easter! The average person thinks that Easter is a one day event - the reality - Easter is a Season in the Catholic Church that lasts for 50 days. In Western Christianity - Eastertide is the period of 50 days, spanning from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. It is celebrated as a single joyful feast called the "great Lord's Day". Each Sunday of the season is treated as a Sunday of Easter. Why so we spend so many days celebrating Easter and not Christmas? On Christmas we celebrate that day when God came down - to appear to the peoples of the world - as a man. All of mankind - has done as much - in our own births. However - with Easter - none other than Jesus - has resurrected - none besides Him - has come back from the dead - that deserves special recognition. This Sunday we celebrate the Sixth Sunday of Easter - another Sunday when we focus our attention on what is called the Easter Event - when one man - rose from the dead - that event which gives hope to everyone - that we too may rise from the dead and continue our own existence in the next life.

Every day we should thank God for another day of life - another day to correct our mistakes - another day to do better - another day to get it right - whatever that right maybe.  As long as we live - as long as our lungs take in another breathe of air - is additional time to leave this world a better place than we found it.  With Jesus at our side - we will do that 

Deacon Dale 

Blog Updates

 Recently I received a notice that those who have been getting my blog by email will lose that function this July.  If that happens to you please return to this main page for an update fix.

Thank you

Deacon Dale 

El Camino - The Way #48

Last Things 

Divine Mercy Sunday

April 11, 2021

It would be impossible to end my Lenten Reflection series of posts without mentioning God's Divine Mercy. On Good Friday we began the Divine Mercy Novena - 9 days of prayers celebrating Jesus' Divine Mercy - His love given freely to mankind - young & old - male & female - everyone.  God - Jesus - the Holy Spirit - does  not limit His love - forgiveness - to any one group of people.  He is all for all - period.  With this novena - we celebrate and honor our Lord with all that is Divine and good.  The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed daily at the 3 o'clock hour by many.  In a series of revelations to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s, our Lord called for a special feast day to be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter.  Today, we know that feast as Divine Mercy Sunday, named by Pope St. John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina on April 30, 2000. 

Deacon Dale 

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

El Camino - The Way #47

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!  

We pray that this day is filled with true joy and happiness and everyone gathers and celebrates in their own way.  Thank you to those who followed this blog for part of their Lenten reflection.  Thank you for your comments.  In this blog I showed select photos from the Camino pilgrimage that we walked in fall of 2013.  At your request I am posting the link to a video that is on YouTube from our Camino.  This will include our entire video file and comments that were posted daily as we walked those almost 400 miles   You are invited to get a drink and a snack and sit back and enjoy the video - it runs about 34  minutes.  Enjoy! 

Deacon Dale 

Dale & Arlene's Camino

Click this link or copy & paste the link below into your browser

https://youtu.be/IggCogi4HNw

El Camino - The Way #46

Holy Saturday

A day of waiting 

Tonight the Easter Vigil - the Mother of all vigils.  This - not Christmas - the greatest celebration in the Christen Church.  Yes - celebrating the birth of Jesus - very important - the day when God came to earth as Man - Easter - even more important - celebrating Resurrection - the day Jesus rose from the dead - giving hope to everyone that they will one day share in that resurrection - life in Heaven.  Although apparently quiet and abandoned early in the day - a lot of activity going on inside.  In my parish - the early morning Blessing of Easter baskets - an ancient tradition celebrated by the Polish and other Slavic peoples - followed by the final instruction and blessing of those who will be baptized and received into the Church at tonight's Vigil.  The Art & Environment crew removing signs of Lent - the purple banners and replacing with signs of renewal - Easter flowers - white banners - all signs of hope.  After sunset - the faithful gathering - marking the beginning of the Easter liturgies. 

This day on the Camino we finalized our pilgrimage - walking almost 400 miles - by ourselves - not alone - carrying cremains of my two brothers and my deceased sister-in-laws' rosary with us.  This day we head to the farthest point in Finisterre, Spain where we will say prayers and commit those cremains and rosary to the depth of the Atlantic Ocean. Jesus we trust in you - we trust that you are always with us - in life and in death - will always be with us on earth and in heaven - always.

Please do not drive your car off the edge - we are walking 

Heading to the edge 

Our goal in sight 

Up the stairs and to the left please 

At the end of the earth 

Happiness

Arlene tossing the rosary into the ocean - RIP Susan - Miss You 

Dale tossing the cremains into the Atlantic - RIP Dennis and Dean - Miss you

And on that day God shined His love on His Ocean of love 

As we celebrate Resurrection tomorrow on this Easter Sunday - we rejoice in the fact that no matter who we are - where we are - what we have done - have not done - God loves each and every one of us.  For those who believe - for those who do not believe - for those who question - Jesus is always there.  Just as we wait this Vigil night with prayers - Jesus waits with His Love.

Deacon Dale 

El Camino - The Way #45

Good Friday

Wrapping It Up 

Having completed the walking portion of the pilgrimage - we had just a few things to do before heading home. Initially we had anticipated spending 7 weeks in Spain - we finished after 5 weeks and admittedly were homesick as this was the longest we had been away from home.  Some had urged us to visit Barcelona or go south to Seville - we had already visited the southern part of Spain on a previous trip and trying to be reasonable with our expenses did not think spending two weeks in Barcelona would be justified as two weeks in normal hotels and restaurants would easily double our budget that we had allowed for the Camino.  We changed our flights and scheduled our return for 4 days later.  We wanted to go visit Finisterre - the purported end of the earth. Before anyone had ventured father west - Finisterre was the western most point of land in Europe.  Unknown to anyone we had walked the Camino carrying some special cargo with us. I had a small container that I kept with me night and day containing the cremains of my older brother Dennis and my twin Dean.  Arlene had carried a rosary that belonged to Susan - my twin's deceased wife who - although not Catholic - had frequently prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet on that rosary.  Our intent - to send both container and rosary into the Atlantic ocean at the end of the earth.  Having ended Lent and now in The 3 days of the Triduum  - time to let go and let God.  Whatever one needs to let go of - now is the time - give it to God - expect nothing in return - except Joy as we all celebrate Easter this Sunday. 

Welcome to the Port of Finisterre - Doorway to the Ocean 

Another Monument Pilgrim - Sailor

The Harbor

Anchors Away 

Small Castle

Finisterre on west coat of Galicia, Spain - Atlantic Ocean 

For many pilgrims walking to Santiago ends their pilgrimage - for many others continuing on to that spot which was once considered the end of the earth - an added experience - seeing the Atlantic ocean.  In Lent many Christians observe the full forty days of Lent - miss the Days of The Triduum - returning only on Easter Sunday.  In The Triduum we celebrate with moving liturgies the institution of Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood - The day of final atonement when Jesus was crucified - veneration of the Cross - the Vigil with a multitude of Scriptures and Prayers as the faithful wait in anticipation of the Resurrection on Easter morning.  For those who are able - the Triduum is not to be missed.

Deacon Dale 

El Camino - The Way #44

Holy Thursday

The Botafumerio

Botafumerio  80Kg (167 pounds)  5 feet tall

At the conclusion of the Camino pilgrimage the majority of pilgrims will attend the daily Pilgrims' Holy Mass in thanksgiving for blessings received during their pilgrimage.  A large number of pilgrims are not Catholic - these pilgrims also attend the Pilgrims' Mass out of curiosity just to see the Botafumerio fly through the Cathedral at the end of Mass.  I am listing two video clips for you to see.  

The first is from the Pilgrims' Mass in 2011 - note the volume of smoke - originally it was not just signifying that the prayers rise like incense - in the early days of the Camino the pilgrims had spent a month or more walking - most without baths thus the smell was not pleasant and the incense provided a way to eliminate the stink. 

https://youtu.be/S_s2Rf0Z0eE

The second clip is from this past December 31, 2020 with much less people and the focus is strictly on the Botafumerio marking the beginning of the Holy Year of St. Joseph.    As you observe either or both clips - please use those minutes to reflect on your Lenten journey - the prayers that you offered up to God - flying like the smoke from the incense to heaven above.

https://youtu.be/zpobjTG99m4 

With this post we officially end Lent - tonight marks the beginning of The Triduum - the three holiest days of the Christian Year.   Holy Thursday - Good Friday - Holy Saturday.  Tonight at Holy Mass we celebrate the institution of Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood.  Tonight we commemorate that day when Jesus told His disciples - Take and eat - this is my body and in a similar way - Take and drink - for this is my blood shed for all mankind.  After supper Jesus told them - Go and make disciples of all - baptizing them in the Name of the Father - and the Son and the Holy Spirit thus the creation of the priesthood.  As baptized Christians - have we done as Jesus commanded? 

Deacon Dale 

 

El Camino - The Way #43

Completo?

Today marked the official end of our pilgrimage - the quest to walk to the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela - to reverence the bones of Saint James.  In the cathedral in a niche behind metal bars lies the container of those bones.  You cannot touch the container - you cannot see the bones - in faith you know they are there.  In reverence we stand - bow our heads - in thanksgiving we offer our prayers for a safe - pilgrimage.  We allow tears to well up in our eyes as we consider what we have done.  By ourselves - no tour guide - no bus - our planning - research - our faith has brought us to this moment.  In this Holy Week - our eyes fill with tears - as we thank our God for all our years of life - for all the Lents we have walked - for all the blessing He has given us.

In a Niche 

Behind protective bars 

Remains of Saint James 

Well deserved smiles 

Pilgrim Mass

The silver  botafumerio hanging top center 

The Botafumeiro is suspended from a pulley mechanism in the dome on the roof of the church. The current pulley mechanism was installed in 1604.  The present Botafumeiro is made of an alloy of brass and bronze and is plated by a very thin 20 micrometer layer of silver. The current one was made in 1851. The Santiago de Compostela Botafumeiro is one of the largest censers in the world - weighing 176 pounds and measuring 5 feet in height. It is normally on display in the library of the cathedral -  for certain important religious occasions, it is brought to the floor of the cathedral  and attached to a rope hung from the pulley mechanism.  It is swung normally once a week during the pilgrim Mass.  For special groups it can be used for a 450€ fee. On a future post I will show this being used at the end of Mass. 

Today even more pilgrims than yesterday waiting for their compostela 

Our Compostelas

Arlene's Compostela 

 Deacon Dale's Compostela 

Pilgrim Passports showing the stamps each of us collected

Pilgrim Passports - we collected one stamp for each albergue we stayed at. From Sarria we had to collect two stamps each day - one at our albergue and one at a church or restaurant we visited during the last 100 kilometers as proof that we were actually walking.  Those who were biking had to collect stamps from the last 200 kilometers.  Some people were so desperate to collect the stamps that they cheated by driving and not walking or cycling. Walking the Camino for residents of Spain is very important for their resumes when applying for some jobs and promotions.  For those who honestly prepare themselves for Easter - no proof required - God knows their hearts - what was done.

Deacon Dale