As the days grow shorter before departure, my prayers grow longer.
They stretch across names and needs. They linger in the silence of early morning.
They rise up with each footstep on the Humber Trail.
Because the Camino — at its heart — is not a holiday.
It is a prayer on foot.
And that has me asking:
Who shall I carry with me in prayer?
What will I pray for as I walk?
A Pilgrimage of Intercession
Since announcing that I would be walking the Camino de Santiago, people have quietly, and sometimes tearfully, asked:
“Would you pray for me?”
Yes.
Yes, I will.
I will carry their names — your names — in my heart and in my pack.
I will walk not alone, but as part of the great company of saints and seekers whose burdens I now help shoulder in prayer.
I will pray for:
- The weary
- The grieving
- The hopeful and the heartbroken
- The Church—at its best and at its most bewildered
- This fragile world
- Those who walk with heavy steps and those who long to walk again
Prayer That Moves With You
Not all prayers will be formal.
Some will be whispered in the rustle of eucalyptus leaves.
Some will rise with the sound of boots on gravel.
Some will take the shape of gratitude, or tears, or laughter shared at a table.
And some prayers, I trust, will be prayed for me, by others — friends, family, parishioners — back home. That, too, is the body of Christ at work.
A Quiet Invitation
If you would like to be remembered in prayer along the Camino, please know this:
You already are.
But if there is something or someone you’d like me to pray for specifically, you are welcome to send me a note, quietly and confidentially.
Your name — or theirs — may be written on a slip of paper and placed in my pocket. Or in my journal. Or simply carried in memory and love with each step I take.
The Prayer of the Pilgrim
I will not have all the right words.
But I will have presence.
I will have silence.
I will have the rhythm of walking to shape my intercessions, and the open road to remind me that grace is always ahead of us.
And so, I go.
Praying as I walk.
Walking as I pray.
Trusting that every name I carry is known already to the One who walks beside us all.
Buen Camino.
Fr. Don+