The Death of a Pilgrim

It’s Halloween and the walk is going ok. But unfortunately, a fellow pilgrim on the Camino died of a heart attack yesterday. Yes, people die on the Camino, since having a heart attack makes it a near certainty that the person will die, given the amount of time it takes for help to arrive. The person, named Michael, collapsed in the village of O’Cebreiro, one of my favorite places on the Camino. An emergency helicopter arrived but it was too late. CPR was tried but unsuccessful.

I always joked I wouldn’t mind dying on The Camino, what a way to go!! All the comments on the Camino blog said the same thing, that it was a beautiful way to die. Michael’s partner agreed that despite the suddenness of his passing and the horrible grieving that awaits loved ones, he died doing what he loved.

I hope I make it to O’Cebreiro which is two weeks away, so I can honor my fellow pilgrim Michael.

Right now, after eating lots of candy I just purchased in honor of Halloween, I am thinking about life’s “thin places,” experiences that come on in an instant, lifting the veil that separates us from God and the world beyond our sight. Transcendence: something outside of ourselves overshadows us, unlocking a forgotten memory, carrying us over a threshold beyond our everyday life. For me, the corner of Dayton and Dickens, just a few blocked from the rectory, is a beautiful “thin place,” the three story building on the corner is where my mom, aunt, uncle and grandparents lived in the 1930’s and 40’s standing their I am transported by memories that keep giving me hope. My ancestors, my family… they are alive!!! They are with me, but not visible. But they are definitely alive and well.

Halloween originated in a world that believed an invisible wall or barrier existed, that separates this world of ours with the world beyond sight. On this one day, Halloween, that barrier dissolved, allowing the spirits to make their presence felt. Putting on a costume allowed you to hide your true identity, making it impossible for the spirit of a dead person who didn’t like you for whatever you did to him when he was still alive, to recognize you.

This is the ultimate “thin place,” this time of Halloween, because we celebrate the ways we can be open to experiences that transport us over the threshold between the visible and invisible….everyday!!! The spirits of the dead return and are given freedom to interact with us in ways beyond our control or manipulation. We are NOT communing with the dead!! We experience their presence in ways that God wishes. We pray to them and with them, but there presence remains in mystery.

On this journey, I have had a few experiences in which loved ones in my life who have passed away made their presence felt to me as I was walking. I didn’t need a costume because I am loved by my parents, grandparents, friends, they WANT me to feel their presence and accept my love, my apologies, my forgiveness. I want to be recognized by them and I want to recognize the ways God is bringing them to me. These are moments, experiences, of “thin places,” that leave us as quickly as they come.

And so this painful journey has been made easier, even joyful, as I was enveloped by unseen presences made present in an instant. Yesterday, Michael, the pilgrim, crossed the ultimate threshold in this life, making his destination, not Santiago, but Paradise.