[Gocamino] Dogs and other four-legged peregrinos

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hi Pati,
In fact, there are blind pilgrims (in the hundreds) who make the pilgrimage to Santiago accompanied by their eye-seeing dogs. Their dogs are most welcome in the Santiago Cathedral and in any church in the Camino.
Spain has a very energetic association that looks after blind people. The acronym of the association is ONCE, (which does not, at all, mean eleven). The association has secured a quasi monopoly in the distribution of newspapers, and the selling of national lottery tickets-which is why the ONCE acronym is ubiquitous throughout Spain-. Through this organization blind pilgrims and their dogs are remarkably well looked after throughout the Camino. Accommodations for them and their dogs are secured, and, often, churches have special services for them.
As anyone who has read the Gospels knows, Jesus was particularly kind to those unfortunates deprived of sight, and cured them when they came near.  
All the churches I know honor those Biblical instances and welcome the blind and their dogs.
Many a Sunday I've had as a pew companion a dog accompanying its blind person to Mass.
However, the distressed woman pilgrim with the dog that I met in Santiago was not, in the least, physically impaired.  She was just tired, and, like most of us at the end of the Camino, overcome with yearning, and longing, and a feeling of unfinishedness, and, like most of us, she felt that she would find some sense of wholeness and solace through the pilgrims' ritual in the Cathedral that we all perform, and she wanted to share that with her dog companion. 
When, at the end of the pilgrimage, we walk into the Cathedral, the rituals that we perform, I think, are awesome because we know, or sense, that for hundreds of years, thousands and thousands of pilgrims, have seen what we are seeing and have done what we are about to do,  and that sense comforts and fulfills us.
The word "religion", after all, derived from ancient Greek simple means "linking back". It probably expresses the profound feeling of being one with the mysterious human family when we do something, soul-admirable and simple, that millions have done before us throughout the centuries.... like walking the Camino. 
I suspect that such magnificent simplicity might come more naturally to, let's say, dogs after a very long and just bearably  arduous effort. 
Hugs!
Rosina    
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Hathor821 at aol.com
To: Blaroli at aol.com; GoCamino at oakapple.net; saintjames at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 4:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Dogs and other four-legged peregrinos


Oh...Rosina, what a beautiful and touching story...being a animal lover myself I understand the pilgrim's feeling and your love and concern.
 
My question? What if the person is legally blind and needs to enter church --even in Santiago-- with her dog?  Jesus certainly didn't preach like the church built to follow his teachings, in my opinion.
 
Warm regards,
Patricia
de Miami y mi camino
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