The Love and Joy of Living in Service to Others

I wrote the following while I was living in service. I was volunteering as hospitalera (host) at an albergue (pilgrim hostel) on the pilgrimage route, El Camino de Santiago, in Northern Spain this spring.

If you have walked the Camino already, you are eligible to be a volunteer, either along the Way or in Santiago de Compostela.  

Volunteer Options on the Camino 

My friend is scheduled to volunteer at Pilgrim House in Compostela this fall. That is a place where pilgrims can spend some time after walking.

The staff and volunteers there are a valuable resource to help people process the experience and even help pilgrims to integrate the Camino into their lives going forward.

It is said that the transformation of the Camino often happens after you finish walking, and I found it in living in service. 

In Rabanal del Camino I met Benjamin, who is a hospitalero at the monastery next door to our albergue. This is a place where pilgrims can pause during their Camino, to rest and reflect, and participate in monastic routines.

There is a minimum two-night stay, unlike regular albergues that send you on your way each morning.  

My own volunteer experience is right on the Camino, as Hospitalera at Refugio Gaucelmo, approximately 250 kilometres before Santiago. For some pilgrims that is about two thirds complete. For others, it is their first day of walking, if they start from Astorga.  

Working as a volunteer has been interesting and a terrific role for living in service.

The day-to-day chores are repetitive – breakfast, cleaning, preparing, checking in, afternoon tea (we are sponsored by a British organization), and preparing for the following day prior to closing the gate at 22:00.

It is the pilgrims who provide the variety.  

Village Life 

There are several services every day at the 12th century church across the plaza, though we don’t have time to attend them all. Sometimes we have visitors from the Monastery next door for tea, and sometimes they invite us for lunch.  

Llew, from New Zealand, is my partner hospitalero. We met in Astorga and walked up the hill to Rabanal del Camino together. And I mean hill.

It was a 20 km walk with an almost 300 m elevation gain. When pilgrims walk on from this village, they face another 350 m gain over 8 km up to the highest point of the Camino (1500 m at the Cruz de Ferro / Iron Cross).  

Rabanal is a pretty village, population 58. Not counting pilgrims. About 35 years ago two British pilgrims were walking from Astorga to Ponferrada, a walk of about 52 km. At the time there was no stopping point along the Way, and they believed there should be (I agree).  

So, a suitable building in Rabanal was acquired and renovated by the UK organization, the Confraternity of St James. It was the first albergue in the village, now there are at least ten accommodations. Plus, more in many of the other villages between Astorga and Ponferrada.

Today anyone who walks that 52 km stretch without stopping does so by their own choice.  

We have met several of the villagers, shop-owners, and restaurateurs. They cater mostly to pilgrims, but we also see local residents in the tiendas and bars.

These people have been very friendly toward us and treat us quite well. I will miss them when I move on. It truly does “take a village”.

Living in Service 

Hospitalera is a volunteer position. It is an act of service. Pilgrimage is like a river of people all walking toward Santiago de Compostela.

When you are a pilgrim, you are part of the river. You flow along, interacting with the other pilgrims in the river. Being the hospitalera in an albergue is like being a rock in that river.  

You touch people briefly and they keep flowing down the river. Sometimes that brief touch is powerful. Sometimes that pilgrim leaves a lasting impact on me.

They don’t realize they are also living in service. And I like to think that sometimes I have an impact on some of those pilgrims.  

Working together, Llew and I create a very warm and accepting environment. Llew is a master at recalling names and nationalities of the pilgrims. I provide a friendly smile and a bit of their own language (when possible) as I show them around their home for the night.  

One of my favourite things is hugging the pilgrims as they leave in the morning. We have many young pilgrims, and I like to think their mom would like to hug them, so I do it for her.  

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay on Compensation, and Charles Haanel, in The Master Key System, both talk about being of service, to give without expectation of reciprocity. When you do that, they say, you will receive.  

It is inevitable that the entertainment of positive, constructive and unselfish thoughts should have a far-reaching effect for good. Compensation is the key-note of the universe. Nature is constantly seeking to strike an equilibrium. Where something is sent out something must be received; else there should be a vacuum formed.

— Charles Haanel, Master Key System, Part 23 

I have received much. The pilgrims have left kind comments and told us they felt welcomed and cared for here. That is our goal, to make people feel welcome and cared for. Doing so brings me that joy of living in service.  

Two days ago, when Brother Antoine came for tea, he said that we can see God in the pilgrims around us. For me, that means we see their higher selves, the higher power within. Sometimes that power shines so brightly that I am in awe!  

At Vespers in our 12th century church, I did the reading last night. It was about giving and receiving in the name of the Lord. As hospitaleras and hospitaleros, we give love. And in turn we receive love. It is a worthwhile endeavour, experiencing the love of living in service.

This is much like the Master Key Experience. The members are the pilgrims. As guides, we have the privilege of seeing that higher power shine more brightly. Learn more by getting on our list for scholarships when the class opens again this Fall.