Companions on the journey

Jesuits and their colleagues who are leaving for a 9-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land next Monday had a Mass in Gardiner St on Sunday 21 June in preparation. Donal Neary SJ presided. He told the group about St Ignatius’ passion for the land of Jesus ‘birth, and he spoke of  how walking in the footsteps of his Lord led the saint to see the importance of imagination in Christian prayer. Hence Ignatian contemplation encourages people  to place themselves imaginatively, in prayer, in various scenes of Christ’s life. Donal quoted from Brian Grogan SJ’s recent biography of St Ignatius: “The longed-for Jersualem pilgrimage…was an effort to grasp Christ, who although no longer present in physical form in the places associated with his historical presence, became more ardently experienced each day within the heart of the pilgrim”.