This post is based on Week Five of An Ignatian Prayer Adventure.
One of the most powerful experiences of my life was the penniless pilgrimage in the novitiate. As part of my formation as a Jesuit novice, I walked with a companion across Spain for a month. It was extremely challenging as we had to beg for food and accommodation, facing ourselves and our fears. Walking up to 20 miles a day and with no money, we were reliant on providence and people’s goodwill for food and shelter. This was unpredictable to say the least and more than a little anxiety-provoking, but it threw us back on prayer and trust that God was with us. It was only through conquering our fears and the painful process of abandoning ourselves totally to God that we were to discover that God was indeed in all things and intimately present.
At the same time, we retraced the footsteps of St. Ignatius from his birthplace in Loyola to the place where he had profound mystical moments in Manresa. In fact, on the trail, my companion and I did the Spiritual Exercises, which really sprang to life as we lived an existence of pilgrimage, poverty, and providence.
A key part of the Spiritual Exercises is praying with the Gospel scenes to get to know Jesus. We watch and learn from him, relate to him, and come to love him. In the Gospels, Jesus is the ultimate pilgrim: always on the road, open to the Spirit, and embodying God’s compassion for those he meets. His humanity is at the fore, and Jesus lives a radical dependence on the Father through prayer and ongoing discernment.
As my companion and I traversed Spain, we came to experience this same Father of mercy and compassion. He is close, intimately involved, cares passionately, and invites us to live, like Jesus, a radical trust. It was a transforming, heart-opening experience that I think about almost daily. The person of Jesus is someone enormously attractive with whom we get drawn into relationship. He gives us enormous freedom yet invites a response, a collaboration. Who would not want to take up his cause to be an instrument of healing in a broken world?
Jesus has lived everything that we have. We share that same human existence, and Jesus, who was fully human while also fully divine, is present to us through prayer, the Scriptures, and our imaginations. What we learned on the road in Spain was that everything speaks to us of God. We are invited to walk the same road that Jesus did, not only to follow him, but to make holy our human lives. Thus, the Gospels reveal Jesus on his human journey: praying, walking, eating, engaging, and healing. This indicates how we can live and find God: carving out time for prayer, being engaged in the world, being attentive to the sufferings of others, and offering words of healing. God wants us to be part of his dream for the world, a world of peace and reconciliation, inclusion and solidarity.
How can you live more like Jesus and be open to the Spirit? Where are you being called in your life to be more compassionate and merciful?
The question, “who would not want to take up his cause to be an instrument of healing in a hurting world?”
This beautiful question aids in discerning what is ours to do. I will keep it close it me. Thank you for it.