Pilgrims of Hope: A Year of Ignatian Prayer
Pilgrims of Hope: A Year of Ignatian Prayer is an innovative programme, pioneered by the Belfast Jesuit Centre, as a preparation for living out Pope Francis’s Jubilee Year 2025.
Broadly following the text of Austen Ivereigh’s book First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis, the programme will be an introduction to Ignatian Spirituality, with the insights of Pope Francis, through his major publications.
Participants will learn the discipline, practice and experience of Ignatian prayer, which is rooted in a deep personal relationship with God, discernment, finding God in all things and active participation in the world.
Participants will commit to personal prayer and will be supported by members of the Jesuit team and by their fellow ‘pilgrims’, through mutual encouragement and spiritual conversation in small groups.
The term “Ignatian” refers to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish nobleman of the 1500s, whose personal, spiritual journey compelled him to help souls to find God in the ordinary everyday circumstances of their lives. He distilled this wisdom into the Spiritual Exercises, which have helped people to draw nearer to God for hundreds of years. He founded the Society of Jesus, or “The Jesuits”, whose members work with lay partners worldwide, for the greater glory of God. As a Jesuit himself, Pope Francis was formed in, and remains steeped in this Ignatian tradition.
If you would like to deepen your relationship with God, this programme would be the perfect place begin, or continue, your pilgrim journey.