Compañía Pilgrimage
De peregrinaje
I write this reflection from Spain, from Granada. It’s my latest stop on the Camino de San Ignacio. Mary and I are living on the Cuesta de Alhabaca in the Albaicín quarter. The slope is steep enough to inspire all the up and down metaphors an aging academic could ever want. We find ourselves here because of the pilgrimage I experienced a little more than five years ago thanks to the last of Boston College’s many gifts to me over more than forty years on the faculty. With fellow members of the BC community, I followed Ignatius’s journey from Loyola to Rome.
The pilgrimage of the Camino de San Ignacio dropped me off at the end of the road for my professional career, left me reflecting on where to go next. Once back home the conversation continued with Mary, my media naranja of more than 50 years. Together we decided on a common commitment to learning Spanish, and our ongoing efforts since have brought us three times to Costa Rica and now twice to Spain. We are slowly getting used again to the familiar forms after the Costa Rican universal “usted”, and, natch, to dropping our “s”.
A week ago today we were in Málaga, and Saturday night found us at the Plaza de San Ignacio. The gospel was the familiar story of the Pharisee and the Publican rendered less familiar, with new places to grab. Our priest centered his homily on how each of us are mixtures of both, the Pharisee as well as the Publican. The sermon prompted me to give thanks again to those who have best incarnated exemplary ways to journey through life. I prayed especially for the two priests I had served when they were directors of A&S Honors, and for the colleague who had served me when I was director. He died this year soon after completing the Camino with the latest group of BC pilgrims. I try to carry the three of them with me wherever I go.