Pilgrimage: A Journey of Transformation

Stage 10 – Nájera to Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada is one of my favorite stops along the Camino Francés.  It might be because there is a chicken coop in the town’s Cathedral.  It’s up high on the wall and there are benches where you can sit and watch the chickens.  Usually, when I visit a cathedral, I sit on the benches in front of the altar – taking in the artistic expressions of our faith.  This time, I watched them clean the chicken coop and feed the chickens.  It was a unique way to honor the connection between faith and miracles.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada is named after a medieval hermit – St. Dominic – who lived next to the River Oja, helping pilgrims through this part of the walk to Santiago.  Many miracles are associated with St. Dominic.  The most famous is the Miracle of the Chicken.   The story is that the son of a German family, on pilgrimage to Santiago during medieval times, was falsely accused of stealing a silver goblet.  He was hung for the theft.  On their way back from Santiago, his grieving parents stopped in Santo Domingo to say goodbye to their son.  They found their son still alive – having been held up by St. Dominic.  The family went to the local sheriff to tell him that their son was still alive – proof that he was innocent.  The sheriff, who was about to eat dinner, said: “Your son is as alive as this chicken on my plate.”  With that the chicken came to life and ran away. 

The Cathedral honors the life and miracles of St. Dominic.  It is a beautiful Cathedral and well worth a visit.

Miracles and the Kingdom of God

It is human nature to look for miracles.  I think it is because we long to see the presence of God in our world.  But we lose the meaning of miracles when we forget to connect them with God’s loving presence in our world.  Miracles are an expression of God’s care and mercy.

The ministry of Jesus is marked with miracles.  Jesus begins his ministry when he receives word that John the Baptist has been arrested.  Jesus’ ministry is grounded by his teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  We are also told that Jesus cured every disease and illness among the people.¹ The connection between Jesus’ ministry and the miracles he performed show that miracles were part of the gospel proclaiming the Kingdom of God.  In ancient times, it was seen as proof that Jesus was the Messiah reestablishing the reign of God in Jerusalem.  When John the Baptist asked Jesus if he was the “one who is to come,” Jesus responds with a description of his miracles:

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Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk, lepers are cleansed , the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.²

Miracles were a central part of Jesus’ ministry.  However, we lose sight of what is important if we believe that the Kingdom of God is about miracles and not about the compassion and mercy that they represent.  The miracle of the loaves and fishes was performed because Jesus was moved with pity for the crowds that followed him to a deserted place.³  Jesus raised a widow’s son during his funeral procession when her weeping moved him with pity.⁴  He healed a woman unable to stand straight for 18 years.⁵  He healed a man with a withered hand.⁶  Although Jesus was criticized for healing on the sabbath, Jesus told those who accused him that compassion was more important than the observance of the sabbath.  And he grieved at their hardness of heart.⁷ 

Jesus’ healings were an outpouring of his compassion.

A leper came to [Jesus] begging him, and kneeling he said to him,
If you chose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!”⁸

Although we are in awe of mracles, we cannot lose sight of the fact that miracles bring God’s healing power into our broken world.  Miracles are not about showing God’s greatness.  They are about showing God’s mercy and compassion for those who are afflicted.  When we think about the Kingdom of God and how to make it present in our world, what we need to remember is that Jesus expressed the Kingdom of God through an outpouring of mercy and compassion.

On this day when we walk into Santo Domingo de la Calzada, we contemplate the meaning of miracles.  We see them as an outpouring of God’s compassion and mercy.  When we think about how we reflect God into the world, we see that through acts of mercy and compassion we are also able to create miracles.  Miracles are not about power or greatness, they are about mercy, compassion, and walking humbly with God.⁹ 

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1. Matthew 4:23. ↩︎
2. Matthew 11:25 (NAB). ↩︎
3. Matthew 14:13-20. ↩︎
4. Luke 7:12-15. ↩︎
5. Luke 13:10-16. ↩︎
6. Mark 3:1-5. ↩︎
7. Mark 3:5, Luke 14:16. ↩︎
8. Mark 1:40-41(NAB). ↩︎
9. See Michah 6:8. ↩︎