Pilgrimage to the Lands of Dominic - 1985
By: Barbara Cooper

After breakfast at 9:30 we all got on our bus (which stayed with us for the whole journey) and headed for Osma. In the Church where Dominic served as a Canon, we saw his place in the choir. Some of us got to sit in his chair before the guard caught us!

Being at Osma, I thought of the parrallel of our ten years of monastic life preparing for the "mission". I still don't know what my mission is - other than to live for God in Christ. But maybe that's all Dominic knew moment to moment.

How did Dominic feel about this part of his life? Certainly, like myself, a sense of gratitude for the training in prayer. But once he left that period, did he grow as I am, deeper, more incarnational, in that life of prayer? Does it confirm what Steven says: "preaching forms the preacher".

At noon, we return to Caleruega, celebrated Eucharist and dinner/siesta. At 4 p.m. we are off to the Benedictine Monastery at Silos (San Domingo de Silos); and then back to Caleruega and the parish church there. We are learning a little of what it means to be a pilgrim! Our journies back and forth are considered a part of the learning.

At 8 p.m. we gather for discussion and a lecture. I don't have any notes of this lecture so jet lag and an upside-down schedule must have caught up to me!

We are creating a "tradition" of spending each evening at "La Plaza"! Getting to know all the local people.