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Caminata juvenil de Santiago al Santuario de Los Pinos Youth walk from Santiago to the Shrine in Los Pinos Jugend-Pilgermarsch von Santiago zum Heiligtum von Los Pinos |
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Cinco dias de marcha Five days of walking Fünf Tage unterwegs |
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Una aventura... An adventure... Ein Abenteuer... |
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... con Dios ...with God ... mit Gott Fotos: Enrique Leigh © 2008 |
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En la tarde: Santa Misa In the evening: Holy Mass Am Abend: heilige Messe |
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En la tarde: Santa Misa In the evening: Holy Mass Am Abend: heilige Messe Fotos: Joaquin Rivera © 2008 |
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CHILE, Benjamin Murillo and Juaco River. The University Branch of the Shrine from Los Pinos, Chile wanted to have an experience that would profoundly mark their lives with Mary and would make the Shrine of Los Pinos truly their own. For this reason on January 2, 2008, fifteen university students accompanied by their Adviser, Father Patricio Rodriguez, departed by bus to Santiago, They went to the New Bethlehem Shrine in the area west of Santiago, where the University Branch affectionately welcomed them. The objective was to unite this Shrine with the one at Los Pinos through a youth pilgrimage.
At 5:00 a.m. on the following day, we began a walk through the valleys and hills arriving at the first rest stop about noon.
The walk lasted five days; five days of conversation with God in the silence of the night – the first hour of the walk was in silence – it was five days of long conversations among ourselves along the roads. It was also five days of contemplating the beauty of creation in the stars; and by dawn we were climbing La Dormida, a hill in the mountain range of the Andes.
Mary, loyal companion of each one of her children
The pilgrimage truly marked us as a branch. We endured long hours of walking in the heat beneath the sun, without losing the contagious joy of some of the youth who helped us continue move forward, and each Mass in the late afternoon at the rest areas, undoubtedly filled the hearts of each of us. Each Mass, each walk was different. There was a new color at the end of each day that gave us the impetus to continue the next day with a strength, which could only come from our Mother, loyal companion of each one of her children.
The day we all desired finally arrived: the arrival to our Los Pinos Shrine. We arrived with our hymn and with all the petitions people had entrusted to us, and which we gladly carried during the entire walk until we deposited them as a contribution to the Capital of Grace during the final Mass.
We are very grateful to the Blessed Mother, who helped us to carry out this walk that marked a milestone in the history of our lives with the Shrine. We know that life is a continuous walk, but today we truly feel it. Moreover, we can experience the difficulties or the easy things on the path of life, but we know we should not be afraid, because we are walking with the Lord who never leaves us alone.
Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA/amj