Experiencing the World in an Ignatian Way

By Edmund, Lo, S.J.

(Image: Warner Bros.)

Towards the end of the film The Matrix, the main character Neo sees everything around him as computer codes. He realizes that he is situated within a computer-generated virtual reality. He begins to understand what makes the world go 'round. More importantly, not only is he seeing reality as it is; he is experiencing it. I think that this leads to an interesting question: how do we experience the reality that makes the world go 'round? It is not my intention that this be considered in an abstract way. I would first consider this from a Christian angle, and then an specifically Ignatian one.

From a Christian perspective, the answer to this question is clear: it is God who makes the world go 'round. How do we experience it? An easy answer is love. Songs have been written on this, and it has been crooned to us for many years: Love Makes the World Go 'Round. This is true in many ways, but it would be insufficient if we only understand love as the warm sentiment that makes us feel good. We often run into problems when we ask ourselves how we are to experience God who is love. I propose that the Ignatian lens comes in handy in this situation. More specifically, it is the way we first understand and then experience spiritual consolation and desolation in our lives.

Loreto-Bound: The Experience of Pilgrimage

By John D. O’Brien, S.J.

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As young people return home from an invigorating World Youth Day in Rio, and as pilgrims trod the historic path of St. James, and as student groups return from pilgrimages within Canada, these mid-summer months seem conducive to a look at the hallowed Jesuit tradition of “the pilgrimage”. What follows is an account of this author’s first Ignatian pilgrimage, an eight-day foot-journey undertaken when he was a resident student of the Casa Balthasar in Rome.

The idea of making a pilgrimage, that is, journeying to some place of spiritual significance, is commonly understood by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, but as to what may entail an ‘Ignatian pilgrimage’, would require further explanation. Such a pilgrimage is taken after the example of that perennial pilgrim, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who himself followed those first disciples of Our Lord (Mt 10:5-16, Mk 6:7-13, Lk 9:1-6), who were sent to preach without any provisions, to rely on whatever God would provide for them. Therefore it was in this ‘Ignatian’ spirit of trusting in Divine Providence, that a pair of students from the Casa Balthasar set out for eight full days without money, though with a razor and a toothbrush between them. This was also going to be an exercise in pushing the limits of one’s comfort zone.