The Rev. Klein finds peace on 500-mile walk across Spain

He was a couple of days short of two weeks into a 500-mile walk across Spain when the Rev. John William Klein awoke with a strange feeling.

“Is it your heart?” asked a young German man who had accompanied him part of the way.

“I don’t think so,” Klein replied.

The man, studying to be a Lutheran priest, checked Klein’s pulse and questioned him about what he had eaten. “Maybe, you just need some coffee,” he told Klein.

He then asked Klein if he was worried about anything. Klein answered he was not. Saying that, Klein realized the cause of his strange feeling.

“I had zero stress. I had not felt that way in a long time. It was wonderful,” Klein said.

For the past 10 years, the 70-year-old Klein has lived in Opelika, Ala. He is the priest in charge at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Smiths Station, Ala.

He and wife Linda have been married for eight years.

When he made his walk in March, 2006, a marriage of about 40 years was coming to an end, and Klein was unsure about the direction of his life as he was retiring from the rector’s position at Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore, Md.

At a lecture hosted by the Pastoral Institute on Tuesday, Klein will be describing his 34-day journey from the St. Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees mountain range to the shrine of St. James the great in northwestern Spain, the town of Santiago.

His walk was along what is known as The Way – El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. It is a journey thousands have made through many years that finishes at the purported grave of St. James the Great.

The native of Eustis, Fla. has walked it two other times and in September will do it again.

“All of the people who make the pilgrimage are seeking answers, direction, strength, forgiveness, and sometimes healing,” Klein said.

Making his first walk seemed like the logical thing to do, to have a time for reflection and decision, at this point in his life.

He remarked that most on the The Way come, as he did, with what they think are their particular reasons for walking but most end their journey only to discover that the presenting problem was not the real problem. “The end, much like in T.S.Eliot’s poem “Little Gidding,” is actually the beginning. The journey is the destination,” he said.

He recalled reaching a high place where he could see Santiago, he did not want the walk to end so he and three companions he had met along the way sat and ate a meal.

Klein said the pilgrimage changes lives as one walks and prays with nothing but what fits in a backpack. It is difficult walk over some rocky terrain. He had to trudge through snow.

His result was the idea to live each life to the fullest, a less stressful life. He said not everyone comes away feeling the same.

“Walking and praying are the pilgrim’s work, by so doing the interior and outer dimensions of one's life are synchronized. Private and corporate also come into focus as one becomes part of a sojourning company of fellow travelers. The harmony of earth, air, fire, and water – virtual daily companions - also becomes much closer. In the end, a simpler daily routine, with humbler objectives, enables one to meditate deeply on a life-transforming trajectory that prioritizes that which is truly, personally important,” Klein said.

When he returned from his first pilgrimage, he got a divorce and moved to Alabama. His mother and a sister lived in Auburn. Already with a Doctor of Ministry degree, he attended Auburn University and got a doctorate in English history. He soon met his future wife.

When he began the journey he had many doubts but soon learned to love himself. Unlike one companion who went from being a banker to being a yoga instructor, he learned to love himself. “I realized I was a good person and in the right vocation.”

He said the stories one shares with others along the way makes people realize they are not alone, that “we are all pilgrims.”

According to Klein, along the trail one meets people from other places speaking different languages yet they all have the same needs. He feels if world leaders would get together to make such a pilgrimage a lot of issues could be settled.

The journey helped him to prioritize things in his life, to have clarity about what is really important. He said he wakes up each day knowing that something good is going to happen and people can believe this same way whether they ever get to make such a pilgrimage themselves.

“I get up every morning knowing this is a day that God has made. Every day brings a new discovery and our exploration never ends. I don’t ever want to stop exploring.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2016 at 7:29 AM with the headline "The Rev. Klein finds peace on 500-mile walk across Spain."