In the middle of the Jubilee Year, we spoke with Nani, Manolo and their three children in Santiago de Compostela after completing their Camino De Santiago with Red Educar. They have walked it as an act of faith and gratitude for the life and health of their youngest daughter, and as a testimony of hope that they want to carry into their daily lives.
While many families opt for sun and beach destinations, Nani, Manolo and their three children have chosen a different path for their vacation: the Camino de Santiago. Coming from Granada, with strong ties to St. Thomas of Villanova School and members of a community in the process of becoming a fraternity linked to the Augustinian Recollects, they were not just looking for an adventure, but a profound experience of faith, gratitude and life.
A path of gratitude and praise
For Manolo, a former student, and Nani, a teacher at the center, the Camino is “a metaphor for life. “a metaphor for life”.. They live it as a place to celebrate the Eucharist every day, share in community, practice austerity and live the faith as a family. They had already walked it together in 2010, but this time they did it with their three children aged 14, 12 and 5. “We want to give thanks,” says Nani.says Nani, explaining that the main reason is the health of their youngest daughter, adopted in India after a long and difficult wait. “She’s doing great, and we wanted to give thanks as a family for that.”
Between difficulties and ‘angels’ of the Camino
Not everything has been easy. There were hard stages, such as an endless hill in the heat, pushing her daughter’s stroller. Added to this was a contracture suffered by Manolo on the second day, which made Nani think that they might not be able to continue. But they also found moments of grace and providential help: a stranger – “” an angel “”.an angel”– helped them to get the cart down a difficult stretch.
One of the happiest memories was a detour along a parallel path, in silence, for two kilometers, surrounded by dragonflies and butterflies by the river. “They were 15-20 minutes of absolute gift, cool, walking, praying, feeling the presence of God,” says Manolo.
The real pilgrimage begins now
For this family, the Camino does not end at the Cathedral. “The camp starts now, just when it ends,” says Manolo. Now is the time to “to come down to reality and bring the Camino to those who haven’t done it.”
Nani underlines the certainty that “God is always with us and that in any circumstance he is there in one way or another”, and the importance of feeling accompanied by his community and fraternity. Manolo connects the experience with his family vocation, inspired by figures such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “to be open to the life of the most disadvantaged”.
Nani and Manolo’s Camino has been a pilgrimage of gratitude, overcoming and commitment. A journey that does not stop in Santiago, but continues on a daily basis, bringing hope and charity wherever they are, living the call to “proclaim Christ wherever you can”. “proclaim Christ wherever you can”.