{"id":107753,"date":"2023-04-19T13:20:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T20:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=107753"},"modified":"2023-04-19T17:50:36","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T00:50:36","slug":"the-gathering-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-gathering-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gathering, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span>hree years ago, Francine and I took our Hospitalero training at the annual Gathering of American Pilgrims on the Camino<\/a> in South Lake Tahoe. It was quite the adventure<\/a>, what with a blizzard, driving down a mountain in the snow, and finally the beginning of the Plague. When we got back home, we both had COVID, and it laid us out for a solid week. Famously, my sense of taste was short-circuited for about nine months afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Heading for the Gathering with Francine and our local Peregrina friend, Becky<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This past week, we again again attended the annual Gathering, returning to South Lake Tahoe. It was an amazing experience, full of beautiful moments. It was great to reunite with some of our dear pilgrim friends and to meet some new ones. The programming was, as always, excellent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rachel!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, though there was snow on the ground, it was cool and clear the entire time we were there, with not a hint of precipitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In particular, three moments stood out to me during the Gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first was the annual walk to Cruz de Ferro. The original Cruz de Ferro<\/a> is located in Spain, marking what is supposed to be the highest altitude on the Camino Franc\u00e9s in Spain. The tradition<\/a> is that Pilgrims bring a stone from their home and lay it at the foot of the Cross. For some, the stone represents a habit or sin to be discarded. For some, a memory or worry or fear to let go of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those attending the Gathering bring stones to our own version of the Cross, forged by a blacksmith Pilgrim. Each year, the Cross is auctioned off to help raise money for the American Pilgrims grants program<\/a>, and then the smith makes another for the next year. Each of us laid a stone at the foot of the Cross, and then we sang the pilgrim song <\/a>Ultre\u00efa<\/em><\/a>. And while we were singing, a Bald Eagle flew over the Cross, low and slow. It was a magical moment, and I wish I’d had the presence of mind to photograph it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I will come back to the Cruz de Ferro stones in a later post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second moment was during a writing exercise at a panel on “Writing your Camino Memoir”. At that moment, my long-dormant idea for a Camino novel got a shot in the arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, two Pilgrim priests and a Pilgrim deacon celebrated the Vigil Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday outdoors at our Cruz de Ferro. Simple, but glorious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mass at South Lake Tahoe<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There were many other memorable moments, of course, but these three stand out for me. And the entire conference absolutely energized me for the Autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Excited for the next adventure!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Originally published at Pilgrims on the Way<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, Francine and I took our Hospitalero training at the annual Gathering of American Pilgrims on the Camino in South Lake Tahoe. It was quite the adventure, what with a blizzard, driving down a mountain in the snow, and finally the beginning of the Plague. When we got back home, we both had COVID, and it laid us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40,24,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camino","category-community","category-francine-my-love","category-moments-in-time"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-04-15-17.08.28-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-s1X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105242,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/pilgrimage-in-a-time-of-plague\/","url_meta":{"origin":107753,"position":0},"title":"Pilgrimage in a Time of Plague","author":"Thom","date":"17 March 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I've not been posting our \"Camino Photo of the Day\" recently. There's a story behind that. We've been in South Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Oh, not for any vacation - well, not really. We were there to complete our training as hospitaleros. But I'm getting slightly ahead of myself. 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Some background is probably in order. At the annual Gathering of Pilgrims back in 2022, Francine attended a talk on one of the four main Camino routes in France: the Voie de V\u00e9zelay, also known as the Via Lemovicensis. She was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vezelay.png?fit=837%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vezelay.png?fit=837%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vezelay.png?fit=837%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vezelay.png?fit=837%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107759,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/i-want-to-walk-for-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":107753,"position":2},"title":"I Want to Walk for You","author":"Thom","date":"20 April 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"weeks ago, I was struck by the thought of carrying others with me on my long Camino this autumn. Now I know what you're thinking. Sounds a little odd, yes? Perhaps the easiest way to clarify is to quote from the note to myself that I wrote back on April\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-04-15-17.50.45-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-04-15-17.50.45-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-04-15-17.50.45-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-04-15-17.50.45-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8930,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/why\/","url_meta":{"origin":107753,"position":3},"title":"Why?","author":"Thom","date":"11 August 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Why walk the Camino? Why would anybody want to spend a month walking nearly 500 miles through northern Spain? Why do I? That\u2019s a darn fine question. I wish I had a good answer. When somebody asks me, I usually reply with a glib, \u201cobviously, I\u2019m an idiot.\u201d The truth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/1117_monte-do-gozo-estatua-los-peregrinos-300x266.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89760,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/blogging-the-camino\/","url_meta":{"origin":107753,"position":4},"title":"Blogging the Camino","author":"Thom","date":"06 July 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When Francine and I finished our Camino in 2016, I began a project on my Camino blog to post the best of my Camino photos, one day at a time. The \"Camino Photo of the Day\" project has been running since July 6 of 2016, so today marks its two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90112,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/training-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":107753,"position":5},"title":"Training Video","author":"Thom","date":"01 October 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"We thought we\u2019d try something new. 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