I had a 12-week-long “Journey with Ignatius” through Zoom with the other Jesuit candidates in the Cambodian mission. The programme, produced by Boston College’s Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, showed the pilgrim journey of St Ignatius, introducing one place in his journey and a theme for us to reflect on each week. We followed the footsteps of Ignatius through Arevalo, Pamplona, Loyola, Olatz, Aranzasu, Monserrat, Manresa, Jerusalem, Barcelona, Paris, Venice, and finally, Rome.
Each week, we had prayers and sharing on the themes of formation, disruption, conversion, departure, the unexpected, solitude, vision, holiness, culture, companionship, conversation, and foundation. While reflecting on these themes, I felt a strong attraction to Ignatius who, without losing his hope, made it fearlessly through his adventurous journey, which was full of joy, difficulties, and challenges.
“Finding God in All Things!” – this summarises what I felt during the journey with Ignatius. Watching the 12 video clips, I could sense the presence of God through the whole journey of Ignatius. Specifically, on the theme of “Conversation”, I had a very strong desire to improve my capacity to communicate with my parents, family members, and friends around me.
From Ignatius, I learned that a spiritual life through prayer is a way of communicating closely with God. I also got to know that I need to reorient my life according to God’s invitation rather than to pursue my own pattern of life, while keenly paying attention to the movement of my emotions. Through the long journey of Ignatius, I realised the importance of readjusting ourselves to our current situation, guided always by the love of God. I want to learn how to perceive reality through both heart and mind, while listening to the voice of God not only in the poor and marginalised with whom I want to get close but also in all of God’s creation.
The sharing of prayers and experiences among fellow candidates gave me great joy and consolation, and spiritual nourishment. I am affirmed that all of us were born to love and to be loved, and that our life depends on God’s mercy. I found that all of us are continuously pursuing our own successes and fame in this world, and we easily lose our hope once we recognise how difficult it is to get on in this world. Through the journey with Ignatius and sharing with fellow candidates, I realised more clearly that God loves us unconditionally and that all things in our lives are gifts from God. I felt God’s invitation for each of us to help others who are in need through simple and small things, to protect our environment, and to listen to God’s voice through prayer. Thus, our life may be full of love, meaning, and beautiful smiles.
Human life depends on the breath from God, and all of us are to go back to him. The 12-week journey with Ignatius taught me clearly that God’s love has always been there in each of our life’s journey and that God is with us in every circumstance of life. I feel the invitation from God through the journey of Ignatius to have bigger hope and love, so I could give up my own interests for the sake of other people, especially the poor and marginalised, and keep going in this life’s journey with hope and patience.
Through this journey with Ignatius, God helped me to review my whole life, from my childhood until the present moment. Sometimes, my life is filled with joy, and at other times, it is filled with suffering and challenges. Though I do not yet know clearly the depth of God’s love, St Ignatius serves as a good model in my own journey of searching for God’s will and self-conversion. I am very much grateful to St Ignatius who guided me to review my own life and helped me to deepen my understanding of spiritual life and faith.
Seum Mao
Jesuit Candidate
Cambodian Mission
This article was translated from Khmer by Oh-Chang Kwon SJ. It originally appeared in the October 2021 issue of Richie’s Letters, the newsletter of the Cambodian Mission.
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