Walking Off the War
By The Rev. Steven G. Rindahl
Founder and Director, Warriors on the Way
An Elder was asked by a certain Soldier if God would forgive a sinner. And he said to him: Tell me, beloved, if your cloak is torn, will you throw it away? The Soldier replied and said: No, I will mend it and put it back on. The elder said to him: If you take care of your cloak, will God not be merciful to His own image?
~The Wisdom of the Desert~
When a soul has been damaged by war, and you want to be a part of the healing process, what do you do? With nearly two decades of persistent conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many other smaller conflicts around the globe, the United States once again has a sizable combat veteran community (yet still only a fraction of 1% of the total US population). Unlike Vietnam, where the draft allowed for a steady flow of new recruits and most service members only deployed once, the new generation of combat veterans are members of an “All-Volunteer” military. The majority have deployed to combat zones multiple times.
The result is a tiny portion of the total population who have between one and ten (or, although rare, even more) years of direct combat exposure. The general population struggles to find a point of commonality with these warriors. Ministers, already facing plummeting male involvement in faith, let alone regularly attend worship services, are largely at a loss as to how to reach these battle-hardened men (and to lesser numbers, but no less important, women). The American public recognizes the need to care for its service-members and pressures the Veterans’ Administration (VA) to provide care. The VA struggles to meet the demand within a system that has been largely ignored for decades. The question returns, “When a soul has been damaged by war, and you want to be a part of the healing process, what do you do?”
First, let us recognize that since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there have been multiple grass-roots efforts aimed towards assisting veterans with a broad spectrum of forms of relief. The majority of them are secular. A fair number of them are faith-based. Some, both secular and faith-based, focus on PTSD and moral injury. The results these organizations experience are mixed, with some being more successful than others. Finding any tangible information proving efficacy can be a daunting task. I’d like to introduce you to a program that is faith-based, reaching these warriors, documenting the healing they are experiencing from their PTSD symptoms, and seeing souls healed and lives changed through the power of God.
Warriors on the Way is a pilgrimage that takes place on Spain’s Camino de Santiago (a.k.a. The Way) which is purposely designed to address PTSD and moral injury healing. Warriors on the Way pilgrims achieve, on average, 70% reductions in their PTSD symptoms. The pilgrimage is supported by an ethos of utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, combining the practices of Catholic Christianity, with input from psychology, and psychiatry. The Warriors on the Way pilgrimage is led by a team comprising one priest, two clinical psychologists, and one consulting psychiatrist (all of whom are devout Christians). We demonstrate to the combat veteran pilgrims that Christian faith and the behavioral health sciences can be, and should be, complementary to one another and together provide a greater level of healing than either does alone. I pray at this point you are on tenterhooks wanting to know how the combat veterans on the Warriors on the Way pilgrimage consistently experience rates of symptom reduction far exceeding other forms of care. I invite you to walk along the Way with us to find out.
Pilgrims begin their journey in San Antonio, Texas, where they meet the leaders and fellow pilgrims, are issued the pilgrimage gear necessary for the trip, and are soon on a flight to Madrid. Upon arrival in Madrid, Luís (our America – especially NYC – loving transportation provider) meets us, assists each pilgrim to convert currency, and brings the group to Flores del Camino, near the city of Astorga. Upon arrival, all are greeted by Basia and Betrán, who provide a warm welcome, assist in securing gear, and usher the team into the courtyard of the retreat center where a stone table is waiting as an altar for the first pilgrim celebration of the Eucharist. Others join in. They have been told about Warriors on the Way by Basia and Betrán and are praying for participants’ healing during this pilgrimage. During this first celebration of the Eucharist, there is the blessing and bestowing of shells. The shell is the badge of the pilgrim, its many rays converging to a single point a symbol that, although each has his or her own pilgrimage to make, the group is making it together. Then this post-communion prayer is recited in unison:
St. James, ApostleChosen among the firstyou were the first to drinkthe Cup of the Masterand you are the great
protector of pilgrims;Make us strong in faithand happy in hopeon our pilgrim journeyfollowing the path of Christian lifeand sustain us so that
we may finally reach the
Glory of God the Father.In the Name of the Father,
The Son, and
The Holy Spirit
Amen.
As everyone finds a place to affix the shell to their rucksacks, tray after tray of food is brought out as a celebratory, pre-pilgrimage meal. There are baskets of bread, fresh salads, a variety of main courses, delicious desserts, and water, wine, and coffee according to each pilgrim’s preference. A time of communal eating and sharing of hopes and expectations for the pilgrimage follows, after which all retire to their quarters for a good night’s rest, in anticipation of the next day’s journey, which I’ll recount in first-person, as I’ve experienced it over so many years.
In the morning we celebrate the Eucharist again. (This time it is only the Warriors on the Way pilgrims.) From today forward, we will start each day with a brief Gospel message of healing and celebration of the Eucharist. The worship is part of the intentional design of the pilgrimage. By starting the day with the message of healing and the tangible experience of Christ’s sacrificial love for each of us in the Eucharist, we are in a mindset to spend more time contemplating those realities throughout the day. Also, by having them in mind during the elevated intensity level of physical activity created by carrying a rucksack for the long day’s walk has been proven to increase a mind’s ability to gain “unity” (i.e., more likely to believe and integrate) the message.
Through the day we stop and eat, enjoy some of the rich history of Spain, and begin to learn about our fellow pilgrims, and the brotherhood each felt while in the military begins to be restored – the effect of a certain type of “brotherhood math” promoted by LTC Grossman: pain shared is pain divided, but joy shared is joy multiplied.
This becomes our daily pattern – wake up, healing Eucharist, walk, think, pray. Certain days are punctuated with unique experiences. We arrive at the Cruz de Ferro one morning just before sunrise and celebrate the Eucharist there. Why is it different? This is where pilgrims leave their stones at the foot of the giant cross. The stones, representing burdens too heavy to bear any longer, are offered as special intentions of the Mass, given to Jesus at the foot of the cross at daybreak, and we walk away never to pick them up again – a new day, a new way of living, has dawned. A few days later, we arrive in O'Cebreiro, where, in the winter of 1300, a eucharistic miracle occurred, bolstering the faith of a priest who had grown skeptical. We celebrate the Eucharist in the ancient church – considering where our faith can be challenged and reminding ourselves of times God has shown clearly himself to us.
As we travel on, we grow stronger in body and soul. Accepting God’s healing becomes easier, and the walking is not as exhausting. Soon we arrive in the city of Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrims from around the world fill the cathedral plaza. Some celebrate, some cry, some dance, some fall to their knees, all are overjoyed to have made it. We enter the Catedral de Santiago and wind our way down to the sepulcher where we see the relics of St. James the Greater (a.k.a. Santiago). Each takes his/her place on the small kneeler and, having walked 180 miles to get to this place, ponder the contents of the silver ossuary before us: this man walked side-by-side with Jesus. Then, as each considers this personally transforming experience, we realize, “Jesus, who is the Way, has been walking side-by-side with me.”
The Rev. Steven G. Rindahl is a retired U.S. Army Chaplain and avid pilgrim. Fr. Steve discerned a call to the unique ministry of leading combat veterans on PTSD/Moral Injury healing pilgrimages while making his own pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in 2016. To read more about Fr. Steven’s ministry, you may visit www.WarriorsOnTheWay.org.