DREAMS & THE EMERGING PUZZLE

DID YOU NOT KNOW that one my dreams is to walk the whole length of the Camino de Santiago from Irun to Compostela, Spain by way of the coastline of the Bay of Biscay and Cantabria? I know it is impossible. I do not have the means but I could walk my own Camino here and my eyes were trained then to the Municipality of Badian where the St. James the Apostle Parish is located. The journey would have started from either the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral or the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño. That was in 2012. Big dreams!

These dreams are but a by-product of imaginative minds aiming to surpass the limitations of a present disposition, of everyday ordinariness and of other people’s expectations of you. These dreams seem to defy the impossible and became spark plugs of your passions. But not all dreams are like that. They came from out of nowhere. Mysterious in origin. Just seeds of inspiration planted by some divine will. These kind take time to bear fruit but, once it does, there is no stopping that.

The Camino de Santiago does not need introduction. Everybody knows that but a few could afford the international travel, for it is in Spain, and you spend in euros (which would be roughly 58 pesos per €1) once you are there for food and lodgings. There are over 88 million Roman Catholics in the Philippines, majority of them poor, and why would they be deprived of that once-in-a-lifetime chance to practice their faith in the form of a long pilgrimage? Why not a Camino here?

That was what I was dreaming of to find an answer? But the answers are not mine to give. It is from somewhere else. Answers that answered a question to a question which is part of a big puzzle. This puzzle has many pieces and I am just the first piece, because I am the one telling you this story. But when one part of a puzzle fits in with mine, it cannot be stopped. It moves forward like opening a book, page after page. Or an overflowing stream where rivulets became mighty rivers. Unstoppable!

One day, a friend notified me if I am available for a meeting and he said the magic word:  CAMINO! It is the morning of March 27, 2017. I am standing on the corner of GL Lavilles Street and MJ Cuenco Avenue, Cebu City and a Toyota Grandia stopped infront of me. A glass window gets lowered and there is Jhurds Neo and Jonathaniel Apurado. A slide door opened for me and I am welcomed inside. More pieces of the puzzle. Sitting and smiling are Jhurds’ parents, Cedee and Julie Neo. We are going to the Municipality of Compostela.

The pious couple has a ministry – Doneo Host Making – baking altar bread or host. DHM distributes these for parishes and Eucharistic Celebrations within the Archdiocese of Cebu and outside. Bro Cedee told me of a conversation he had with the parish priest in our very own Compostela. The priest had somehow heard of people walking the whole length of Cebu recently and he would like to know who these people were because he is planning of introducing the Camino de Santiago here? The puzzle began to emerge here. Hmmm…?

The priest was asking that question to the right person and it was the first time they met. I was the one who hiked through Cebu from Santander to Daanbantayan and Jon was with me. It was walked in 27 days between January and February. Jhurds was handling communications for us. The puzzle begins to take shape. We all arrive at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela in the Municipality of Compostela and meet Fr. Scipio Deligero or Fr. Jojo. With him is Vice Mayor Fe Abing.

Fr. Jojo, wanted to establish the Camino de Santiago here in the Archdiocese of Cebu and asked me if it was feasible for anyone to do a pilgrimage from the Municipality of Badian to here. I informed the good priest that I had planned a pilgrimage route from Cebu City to Badian years ago but Fr. Jojo explained to me that, although the parish in Badian might be older, but the one in Compostela is bigger, being an archdiocesan shrine. And it is in the town with a namesake of the town in Spain. I could not disagree more.  

The church in our own Compostela was established on July 21, 1865 by Fr. Manuel Alonso, an Agustinian Recollect. He brought an image of St. James the Apostle from his native Spain when he came over to las Islas Filipinas and became its first parish priest and was the one who initiated the construction of this structure. On July 24, 2007, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal declared the church as an archdiocesan shrine in honor of Señor Santiago de Compostela. It just had its 150th founding celebration last 2016.

The original statue of St. James the Apostle that Fr. Alonso brought is housed inside a small attic of the church’s facade. It can be seen from a small round window from the pavement. It can be accessed from the roof which can only be reached by climbing a ladder. It had been visited by a church worker many years ago and Fr. Jojo wanted to know the condition of the image and what is its construction. I volunteered to do that task because, I believed, that being there in that tight hole with the relic would make my purpose meaningful.

I climbed first the wide awning that sheltered the front entrance of the church with the adjustable ladder. I walked on a ledge that connect to the main structure where there is another ledge that also led to another steep ledge. I held on to both edges of the ledge as I slowly climb up the angle to a small door. The door is closed with a 4-inch nail bent to keep it shut. I do not have a pair of pliers but I have a Victorinox Ranger. I will use its flat screwdriver as a pry bar, come what may.

Slowly, and without exerting too much pressure, I was able to unbend a little the nail. I tried many times until I could twist the nail away with my thumb and I got it opened. To go further inside where the statue is, I have to crawl down a very narrow hole and, once I was in, I found the attic just big enough for St. James and me. The apostle is riding a horse, left hand holding the bridle while the right is raised and held a sword. A classic image of the saint as depicted in legendary reconquista tales except that the sword has a missing blade. Saint and horse are made of plaster. It is in good condition except that it is dusty.

The glass window is thick with dust and needs cleaning. I could see the town the way St. James would have seen it every day, from this imposing vantage. Only few mortals saw it and I am very fortunate to have answered the call. The pieces of the puzzle begins to unravel beautifully as I returned to the convent where the rest were. Lunch gets served. Fr. Jojo not only wanted to have the Camino realized, he also wanted to take part on it. Bro Ced jest him about it but Fr. Jojo was serious. He admitted though that he found it hard to walk up and down the stairs of the pastoral office.

On the dining table, Fr. Jojo and Bro Ced talked seriously about this project. Bro Ced would even go voluntarily to Spain and Rome, on short notice, to have the Camino realized here. He would just have to ask permission from Bishop Jose Palma first. Now the puzzle is swaying and weaving to more possibilities and this was not mere circumstances but something unexplainable that is beyond understanding. The hand of God is upon us and I felt goose bumps.

Fr. Jojo mentions a well-to-do couple from the Municipality of Consolacion who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The husband had an illness and, before he would leave this world, he would first cleanse his soul by going to the Holy Land. When they came back to Cebu the couple planned to dedicate their experience of their pilgrimage by building a huge cross in their own place. They were not able to do that and, finally, settled on a barren hill in the Municipality of Compostela.

Construction of the cross was stalled. In fact, it had even been abandoned for sometime when the wife suffered an illness instead and eventually died. To honor her memory, the husband brought all his energies, resources and time to erect the unfinished project. It became also a monument of love. I have not known the presence of the giant cross nor seen it until Fr. Jojo told us about it. It was amazing. Another piece of the puzzle.

The Camino from Badian to Compostela, from St. James Parish to the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela, is perfect. I would see to it that the cross would be part of the route. I have read from a Cadoggan travel guide of Northern Spain, about a an iron cross on a pillar on the original Camino. Pilgrims would pick up a stone along the way and leave it on the foot of the cross. The stones piled up over a thousand years of the Camino’s existence and is now a few feet short of the horizontal bar. It became a hill.

The good priest further states that another church which is dedicated in honor of St. James the Apostle is found in the Municipality of Sogod. I cannot include this church in the Camino from the south but I could add another Camino coming in from the north. It would be better if there are two Caminos for Cebu. One long route over the mountains and one short route along the coast.

It is up to Fr. Jojo to make the Camino de Santiago in Cebu realized but it will also depend on the result of Bro Cedee’s pilgrimage to Spain on the Camino itself. My purpose is already set and determined. I will make the route and I will lead the first pilgrims should the Camino becomes ready. God gives favor to those whom he sees righteousness in their hearts. God chose Cebu since 1521 yet. It is long overdue.

Document done in LibreOffice 5.3 Writer