Walk, love, pray

Canon Professor James V Lucey, mental health care professional and good friend of the Jesuits, gave the sermon at Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin on Sunday 3 November 2024. Jim, who had once launched Brendan McManus SJ’s book Redemption Road: Grieving Along the Camino » had just completed a part of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela himself. He used that experience to underpin the sermon which you can read in full below.

The Camino De Santiago – The Way

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

My friends, in today’s scripture Christ our saviour teaches us his way; we are to love God and to love each other and to remember that ‘there is no greater commandment than these’ (Mark 12, 28- 34). God is love. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14, 6-7).

The narrative of each of our lives is unique. It includes both positive and negative experiences. We must find the way through our relationships with each other and with our world but we believe love is always the better way.

For me, Paul McCartney put it well when he sang ‘To lead a better life, I need (my) love to be here, there and everywhere.’

In reality, we make the best of our lives when we relate to each other by loving one another, when we are willing to give to each other, and crucially when we give way one to one another.

And the good news is that despite everything most of us continue by trying to live in that way every day.

Throughout my career in mental healthcare I have witnessed people persevering in this human loving way, in continuity. I saw it so often in families who struggled on their way despite their disadvantage, their homelessness, and their illness, and yet continued to take small steps daily towards recovery, and I saw it so often in communities who supported them by loving beyond the ordinary.

I saw more evidence of this loving way as recently as September of this year when I attended the AGM of the support group Grow Mental Health. Some of you may know about GROW. It is a volunteer-based organisation which promotes a vision of ‘an Ireland where no one needs to navigate mental health challenges or life’s struggles alone’. Their mission is ‘to create hope, a sense of identity, meaning and empowerment, to nurture positive mental health and wellbeing through personal education and peer support’. And to do this they provide support groups in communities and online and they work in collaboration with other organisations to help people find their own way’.

There are many other groups and examples of this kind of collective support in the community, each helping people to take small steps towards health and wellbeing and GROW is just one of them. These groups respect all faiths and none, and together they all have something in common, they help many people to find their way

None of this is naive. There are so many obstacles to a life shared in this way. The world is set on fire and multitudes are suffering through war. Violence without limits has been licenced, and there is no guarantee of success, but this much is true, for each of us there is a way, if we can just find the support we need to continue along it.  

This is true in my own life as well.

And so, when a few weeks ago, I got a call from my brother in the USA inviting me to join him in walking The Camino Francais – known as The Way – I said ‘yes’. I did so without hesitation. It was his gift.

We started off just south of St Jean Pied Des Ports. He had arranged every step, and as we walked together along ‘the way’ we were joined by his two good friends Mike and Julia. We walked together, but we did more than share in an adventure, we rehearsed our connections, with our time, with our world, with ourselves and with each other. I left them near Logrono in the Rioja and they carried on towards Burgos, but I wished I could have continued on the way.

Together we had walked over mountains and valleys, through beach tree woods and along turbulent rivers, following the Camino through small villages where for a thousand-years people had sheltered as they made their journey to the shrine of St James.

I stumbled sometimes as we climbed, and when we stopped together, my brother bandaged my feet. In the evening, we eat together and with other Pilgrims we shared unforeseen connections to our hearts and to our heads and as we parted, we wished each other as all the wanderers do, the pilgrims salute- Buen Camino!

Whenever possible, we shared in the eucharist, to be reminded of His mystery, just as St Paul’s epistle tells us today, that God has sacrificed his only son ‘to cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death’.  

The way, like all our journeys, is a human reminder of this message of faith and hope and love. Each of us is on our way, and the way is for everyone, and for everyone there is a way,

And so today let us pray for each other, as pilgrims do, the ancient prayer of all wanderers on the Camino De Santiago

‘O God, who brought your servant Abraham out of the land of the Chaldeans, protecting him in his wanderings, who guided the Hebrew people across the desert, we ask that you watch over us, your servants, as we walk in the love of your name (to Santiago de Compostela). Be for us our companion on the walk, Our guide at the crossroads, Our breath in our weariness, Our protection in danger, Our Albergue (our hostel) on the way (Camino), Our shade in the heat, Our light in the darkness, Our consolation in our discouragements, And our strength in our intentions. So that with your guidance we may arrive safe and sound at the end of the Road and enriched with grace and virtue we return safely to our homes filled with joy. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Apostle Santiago, pray for us. Santa Maria, pray for us.’

Amen

References

The GROW Program, ‘Your journey to mental health’. GROW Mental Health.  grow.ie

‘Here, There and Every Where’ (Lennon & McCartney) Revolver 1966

‘…There is no commandment greater than these.’ (Mark 12, 28- 34)

‘…to cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death…’ (Hebrews 9,11-14)