We end this Jubilee Year with good news: the Provincial Father of the Society of Jesus in Spain, Antonio J. España sj, has proclaimed a periodic jubilee celebration of the Ignatian Way every 7 years.
This new pilgrimage way that began its journey at the end of 2010 has celebrated its second Jubilee Year in 2022, in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the first pilgrim who opened the Way, Íñigo de Loyola.
Now comes a moment of maturation that occurs with this proclamation today, December 31, 2022. This Ignatian Way is consolidated for future generations with a periodic Jubilee celebration. This is how the pilgrim flame will stay lit in the future.
The number seven has a lot of significance from many points of view, but perhaps we can simply stay with the biblical account of Genesis 1, in which God is shown creating for 6 days and resting (jubilee) on the seventh day.
This invitation to Jubilee every seven years is open to all people, institutions and communities, both from civil society and from the Catholic world and beyond. Following the universal spirit that moved San Ignacio de Loyola, everyone is invited, according to their desires and possibilities.
The Society of Jesus in Spain will promote this periodicity from its own identity, with the hope that many others wish to get involved and celebrate with joy the transformation that Saint Ignatius of Loyola began in the 16th century and that today we recover for the 21st century, in a new way, with this pilgrimage proposal.
The words of the Provincial Father:
Thus, by the authority granted by Fr. General, I order that a YEAR OF JUBILEE COMMEMORATION OF THE IGNATIAN WAY be celebrated EVERY SEVEN YEARS FROM 2022, both in the two Sanctuaries of Loyola and Manresa, as well as along the Ignatian Camino. My invitation to this regular celebration is extended to all those institutions and people who feel called to do so.
See you on the Ignatian Way, if not before… at least in 2029!
Read the proclamation of the Provincial Father here (in Spanish)
