communion and pilgrimage

[David hiking El Camino de Santiago]

> So, the Eucharist would be, in the Episcopalian church,
> mainly symbolic and commemorative of the last supper in an attempt to
> make human kind to remember that Jesus died for our sins and to liberate us
> but every time you take the Eucharist you are not
> taking part of the last supper but commemorating it and you are not having,
> as catholic church believe, the "body and blood of Christ"
> but remembering and honoring Christ last supper.


Although this seems off topic at first, I find it very closely related to
the essence of the Camino pilgrimage.

Is the significance of communion the miraculous transubstantiation
or the identification with Christ's mandate to remember him, shared (in common)
with all the believers in all times and places?
Is the significance of the Camino whether the actual bones of St James
are in Santiago Cathedral or the sincere shared (in common) faith of the
millions over 1000 years who have made the same pilgrimage over the same
sharp stones and through the same cold rain and blazing sun?

Does the saint sanctify the pilgrims or do the pilgrims sanctify the shrine?

In my own personal view, what's important is "none of the above" - instead the
changes that the experiences work in the participants.     The real power
of and living existence of St James is the sum total of all the changes
worked in all the pilgrims in all times.

This is all theorizing on my part.   St James hasn't done anything to or for
me yet.    God willing, St James will get his chance next year.