By Ron Rebore, Ph.D.
As I walked along the Urola River in the small town of Azpeitia, in the Basque Country of northern Spain, smelling the damp mountain air of the evening and looking at the trout darting in the current from one rock to the next, it hit me that we had finally made it. There was a sense of relief and accomplishment in being with a group of Ignatian educators on a trip that was originally planned for the summer of 2020.
Here we were, four years later, in the birthplace of St. Ignatius of Loyola along the same river that he walked more than 500 years ago. Here we were, staying next to Loyola Castle, where he convalesced after being hit by a cannonball at the Battle of Pamplona. Here we encountered groups of pilgrims from the United States doing the same thing that we were doing: following the path of St. Ignatius’ life. Our pilgrimage would take us from his hometown of Azpeitia to Montserrat, where he laid his sword at the foot of the altar of the Black Madonna; to Manresa, where he crafted the Spiritual Exercises; to Barcelona, where he preached and begged for survival; and to Rome, where he and his companions formed the Society of Jesus, celebrated their first Mass and orchestrated the works of the Society.
Our group comprised teachers, staff, administrators and spouses from high schools and a middle school in the Jesuits USA Central and Southern (UCS) Province. Father Gary Menard, SJ, was our spiritual leader. He celebrated Mass for our group in the Conversion Chapel at Loyola Castle, the Black Madonna Chapel at Montserrat Abbey, the cave in Manresa where St. Ignatius conceived the Spiritual Exercises, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and the Basilica of St. Mary Major and St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Rome.
In Spain, we also visited the Basilica Santuario de Loyola, St. Sebastian Church, where Ignatius was baptized, the hospital where Ignatius ministered to the sick, the Shrine of Our Lady of Olatz, where Ignatius prayed in the hills above his town and the Castle of Xavier in Navarre. In Italy, we visited the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, where Ignatius and the first Jesuits pronounced their vows in 1540, and La Storta, the town outside Rome where Ignatius prayed in 1540 on his way to meet with the Pope.
As we visited these and many other historical sites in Spain and Italy, every pilgrim experienced poignant moments.
For me, I was struck by how remarkable it was to be in the same room where St. Ignatius lay in bed for a year, reading about the lives of Jesus and the saints, and changing the allegiance he’d given as a soldier to the Spanish crown to a new life as a soldier for Christ.
I wondered, as our group celebrated Mass in his room, whether he could have ever conceived that his conversion and work would have such a dramatic influence on the Christian world and beyond. I reflected on how his life’s work affected my own faith, my vocation, my life.
Who would I be and what would I be doing if St. Ignatius and his companions never existed?
In our schools, we teach about finding God in all things, cura personalis, the First Principle and Foundation, the Prayer for Generosity, being men and women with and for others and much more. These are familiar concepts. But being physically in the church and celebrating Mass where St. Ignatius and former Superior General Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, are buried, or praying in the room where he died, or seeing his death mask at the Jesuit Curia in Rome – these experiences spark the imagination and bring abstract concepts to life.
I believe this pilgrimage brought Ignatian spirituality alive and led to new insights about the foundations of Jesuit education for all of us. But equally important was our time together, building relationships and journeying together on planes, buses and cars from Chicago to Rome and back. We Ignatian educators are fortunate to have the Jesuit Schools Network to provide leadership training, cohort gatherings and colloquiums. We in the UCS Province are blessed to have the resources to host programs such as the New Ignatian Educator retreats, Leaders in the Middle conferences, High School Leadership Group meetings and other opportunities. Our schools do a wonderful job of offering programs in spiritual growth aligned with the first Universal Apostolic Preference of showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment. All these opportunities offer educators spaces to build relationships with one another.
As our group of pilgrims journeyed in the footsteps of St. Ignatius, we prayed, ate, drank, laughed and shared our life stories, creating wonderful memories. When our journey ended, several participants asked if we could continue to meet as a group for prayer and companionship.
I am grateful for the participants who wanted to take their spirituality to the next level and the schools and the province who supported our pilgrims.
Dr. Ron Rebore is the provincial assistant for secondary and pre-secondary education for the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province.
Featured Image: Montserrat at dawn. Photo by Will Linhares.