To the Field of Stars

A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela

Kevin A. Codd

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781467423861
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

"I am about to share here a story about stars that dance.... If the very thought of seeing stars dance piques your curiosity at some deep level of your soul, then pay attention to what follows, for the walk to the Field of Stars, to Santiago de Compostela, is a journey that has the power to change lives forever."
-- from the introduction "Pilgrimage" is a strange notion to our modern, practical minds. How many of us have walked to a distant holy place in order to draw nearer to God? Yet the pilgrimage experience is growing these days in various parts of the world. Seeking to take stock of his life, Kevin Codd set out in July 2003 on a pilgrimage that would profoundly change his life. To the Field of Stars tells the fascinating story of his unusual spiritual and physical journey on foot across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional burial place of the apostle James the Greater. Each brief chapter chronicling Codd's thirty-five-day trek is dedicated to one or two days on the road. Codd shares tales of other pilgrims, his own changes of perspective, and his challenges and triumphs along the way -- all told with a disarming candor. Seen through the eyes of a Catholic priest who honors the religious worldview that originally gave rise to these medieval odysseys, "pilgrimage" comes to life and takes on new meaning in these pages.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: The Field of Stars
• Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
• I’ve Been to the Mountaintop
• Peregrino
• Poor Fermín
• Pilgrim Paella
• Hospitality Is Everything
• The Eighth Day
• Life Measured in Feet
• First Tears
• In the Spiritual Heart of the Camino
• On Sin and Suffering
• Paella Redux
• A Vision of Light
• Brothers
• Cures, Crusades, and Dancing Stars
• Girasoles
• A Good Shepherd
• Slow Moe
• The Children of Bethlehem
• The Children of Bethlehem: An Alternate View
• Sandals Lost and Family Found
• El Santísimo
• Matamoros or Peregino?
• My Own Damn Fault
• Shock and Awe
• Cross and a Conscience
• Visitations
• Our Camino
• Ai-la-la-le-lo
• Planning Our Attack
• Under the Oak Trees
• Seventy-Five Verses for Seventy-Five Kilometers
• So Close Yet So Far Yet So Close
• A Rest and Then the Rest
• And the Stars Dance
• “And the Pilgrim from America…”
• Conclusion: The Field of Stars
• Afterword