Intention

     One of the most frequent questions one is asked on the Camino, I'm told, is this, why are you walking the Camino? Clearly, there is no one answer. Each person's reason for walking his or her Camino is as different as each of us is from the other. So then, why do I want to walk the Camino? What is my intention?
      The simplest answer is that I felt called to do it. It was an interior summons, direct and insistent and impossible to resist. But not long after I felt that summons, that interior call, something happened to solidify my intention. A young couple I've known for years, dear friends of my daughter, were in a horrific automobile accident. They had gone out for a Christmas tree, when their car was broadsided by a speeding motorist, fleeing from the police. The young woman was seriously injured, but her husband, Chuong, was injured so critically, it was doubtful from the first that he would survive. My heart was wrung out as I waited for news with my daughter. He made it through the first night, and then the next, and the next, but his injuries were manifold and complex, and it wasn't clear what the final outcome would be. I knew then that my intention on the Camino would be for him, either a prayer at the Cathedral of St. James for his recovery, or a prayer of thanksgiving if he had managed by then, against all odds to come back to full health.
     Since then, Chuong's recovery has been nothing short of miraculous,  because of the strength of his spirit and his body, the outpouring of prayer and support from his wide circle of friends, and the support of his amazing wife, who herself recovered quickly and dedicated all her energies to helping him recover. My own intention has not changed. I know that my pilgrimage will be multi-layered, that I will find myself face to face with much in the depths of my heart and soul, but beyond all that, I will carry in my heart my first intention and lay that at the altar at the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, a prayer of profound thanksgiving for the life and health of our dear friend Chuong Doan.