Reminder for Saturday:
In time for Easter, this DaySpring/faith-based movie centers around the (usually) month long, famous and historic pilgrimage walk/hike along the "Camino," short for a section of El Camino de Santiago.
The Camino is an ancient network of at least 500 miles of roads and paths that crisscross Portugal, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and even southern England. The imposing cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain’s region of Galicia, toward which all these routes lead contains, according to tradition, the relics of St. James the Great.
As recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, James — one of a trio of core Apostles among the 12, along with his brother John and St. Peter — was slain on the orders of “King Herod”. The first of the Apostles to be martyred, he likely died about A.D. 44.
Most of those who undertake the journey to Compostela follow a single roadway of about 200 miles, covering roughly 15 miles a day for two weeks. Those in search of a challenge can include a crossing of the Pyrenees in their itinerary.
The high season for the expedition comes in the months from April to June, with September and October being the next most popular periods. As Monica and her companions do in the movie, registered pilgrims can obtain a credential that is then stamped at various points. Some hostels require this document for admittance.
Pilgrimages in the strict sense date back to the 9th century. In the 1950s, the Spanish government began promoting a more loosely defined version of the trip as a draw for tourists.
While the pilgrimage's goal to to make it to the cathedral, it is the actual journey that is often the life changing event, not the final destination.
Journey to You is on the Hallmark Channel at 8pm ET/PT, 7pm CT.
Re-airs:
Sunday April 20 7/6c
Wednesday April 23 8/7c
Saturday May 3 10/9c
Starring: Erin Cahill and Erik Valdez.
Description: In “Journey to You,” Cahill plays emergency room nurse-practitioner Monica. Responding to Monica’s concern that both her personal life and her career seem to have stalled, her mother Dot (Pamela Field) suggests that she undertake the same pilgrimage her father had once made. “It will change your life,” Dot advises her daughter.
That Monica already has some religious faith is shown by the fact that she regularly consults a devotional journal she inherited from Dad.
Monica joins a group of four other wayfarers, among whom is her eventual love interest, Luis (Erik Valdez). On the rebound from a divorce, Luis is traveling with both his father and his teen son.
A spirituality-tinged friendship springs up between Monica and Luis that eventually burgeons into romance, albeit at a very deliberate pace. That, Cahill enthusiastically notes, distinguishes the film’s plot from those of many other Hallmark presentations.
“Normally, the romance has happened a little more quickly,” she observes. “I love that they gave our characters enough time and space to know each other.”
“Part of the reason this felt so divine,” Cahill added, “is that I knew exactly what Monica is going through.”
(Snipped from
OSV News By Kurt Jensen.)