Compañía Pilgrimage
How to choose one favored place or moment during our ten-day pilgrimage through Spain and Rome! Each day we encountered people and places that were magnificent and moving. But, mysteriously, one image stands out for me, small in comparison to the grandiose structures, tucked away and easy to miss in contrast to glorious nature scenes and priceless works of art. We had arrived at the building in Manresa that housed the original cave where Ignatius wrote the Exercises. In the hallway leading up to the cave hung the picture below of a kneeling Ignatius gazing on the cross, the script of the Exercises propped up against the wall of the cave. I was drawn in by his intense look of longing, his weathered face and tattered clothes, all revealing the journey, both exterior and interior, that preceded this moment when his soul gave birth to the Exercise. This image is fixed to the side of my desk at school, in my memory, and in my heart. Each day I am reminded of Ignatius’ and my own deep desire for God – and God’s endless desire for us.