On The Rocks

I took a walk up the hill from the monastery in Montserrat, a gentle and upward path to the little chapel above the St. Michael´s lookout over the cliffs. People on pilgrimage to this place to see the special image of the Virgin and Child used to climb up from the little village far below, and then, I read, they would gather themselves into a procession to walk the rest of the way. I imagine singing and carrying of special objects aloft, and a generally festive atmosphere, since the direction of travel is a gentle downward slope rather than the steep climb up from Colbató. And I remember walking with the pilgrims on the Way of Saint James, the Camino de Santiago, and imagined how they would be feeling when they finally arrived in Santiago de Compostela. Festive, and tired! (There´s a giant censer in the Santiago church designed to overcome the smell of thousands of pilgrims all at once. Bathing facilities have improved since the middle ages...)


Today the pilgrimage to Montserrat is made pretty much exlusively by bus, train, and car. I suppose you could climb the trail from Colbató, which would be like reaching the summit of Mount Washington on foot, only worse!The nicely dressed pilgrims would look at you as if you were a bit of a freak in your climbing clothes, then get back on their buses and wonder who whose inappropriate ruffians were? I wonder about the spiritual benefits of pilgrimages by bus, but then, I have a kind of Henry David Thoreau approach to matters of the spirit. The folks on the Santiago chat were always chiding each other about looking down the nose at non-walkers. It´s easy to do. They stroll into the great spiritual monument, then out again, go buy an ice cream, have a look around. Has any inner anything changed for them?

As they say on the Camino, "Everyone has their own pilgrimage". So I´ll hold my judgment and concentrate on my own Way. Today, some people celebrating the 75th anniversary of their town´s "giants" brought them on pilgrimage to Montserrat, danced them around in the plaza outside the basilica, with festive drum and bagpipe-chanter accompaniment. Who says pilgrimage has to be solemn and serious?