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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.
