Camino Mozarabe from Malaga: The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola on the Camino.

Blessed sacrament side chapel, Church of San Sebastian, Antequera, Malaga.

My little house was full of cement dust while a fantastic pair of local builders insulated the roof and tidied up the walls.  I was sleeping comfortably on the floor at night, so I thought I may as well go walking.  The whole of Northern Spain was deep in snow, so I headed south to Malaga where there is now a well-signed Camino to Santiago with a good infrastructure and a downloadable guide in English. [ guia-eng pdf 5mb].

The Exercises which went into my rucksack.

I filled my rucksack and looked for a small book. What I took was a copy of The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola.  In my 9 days of walking, I followed the first week of these Exercises in which I was well aided in the meditation on Hell by the mediaeval imagery in the Church in Antequera.

Ignatius suggests we use all five senses to imagine the torments of Hell. Note the Popes and the Kings.

 Using the Spiritual Exercises on the Camino.

There were no other pilgrims on this Camino, so it was good for solitude.

Usually people follow the Exercises in a retreat centre but I have used them on three of my Caminos.  The structure of the Exercises is based on four groups of meditations each of which, in the full exercises, is more or less a week long, about 30 days in all.  I have not done the whole whack on any one Camino.  The second week is on the life of Jesus so when I have walked with a Gospel, I have been in second week mode.  The third week is on the Passion of Jesus which has fallen neatly into my lenten walks.  The Ruta de la Lana (2013) was about Joy, Resurrection and Love so week 4.

The first week of the Spiritual Exercises.

What is Man compared with all of this?

This time I felt called to revisit the First week.  I had done a full 30-day retreat at the age of 18 which was a bit like watching an adult movie as a child when all the kissing and love scenes bored me totally: all I wanted was to get on with the real action.  Eight years ago I came across the notes I had made on this retreat in 1967 and together with a growing desire to live more contemplatively, I spent several months on a bit of land I have here in Spain, following the Exercises right through again.  Many things changed in my life after that.  The first week is really about making a commitment to change our lives.

The deep desire to be fully alive.

For me, when I notice the first blossoms, it is a sign that I, too, am awakening again.

I have found this winter hard.  Physically, with arthritic pains and a heart which reflects my inner conflicts with arrhythmias and because, last year I had struggled with decisions and indecisiveness and difficulty with prayer.  For anyone who wants to rebalance their life, put the everyday concerns into perspective and rekindle the desire for life lived to its fullest in health and love, then the Exercises of Ignatius, in the first week shift us into gear. After this short part of a Camino – 9 days – I returned home much better physically and the results of the week began to enter into me profoundly.

The language of the Exercises is, today, a great turn-off for any normal person.  The time in which they were written was when Europe was going through what the Arab world is enduring today – and Ignatius was a fundamentalist fanatic.  The work of the Exercises is not, however, done by Ignatius nor even by ourselves.  If we translate them well and enter into their heart, we focus on the important in life and learn how to pray in a way which transforms us.  In the end, God leads us, gently and surely towards Himself, his presence within us and in all things.

God in all things.

A very steep descent into Antequera left me more crippled than usual for two days

The Exercises are not about living in a world apart from the normal everyday world we strive to make good, successful and happy for ourselves.  For Ignatius, God is in everything and maybe the first Exercise many of us need to do is shed whatever notions of God we already have and let Him/Her show us a glimpse of who He/She/It is.  My own experience of God comes from real events in my life and sometimes from prayer which is all about being constantly awake, alert to recognise His presence and work when we can – and in all things.  The Exercises are a wooing.

Which Camino for the Exercises?

Mountain tops, traditional places for meeting God.

At first I chose my Caminos for solitude: Levante, Ruta de La Lana, La Costa in winter.  I now don’t think it matters, having walked the Francés last year where I found the interaction with other pilgrims wonderful, adding another dimension to my prayer on the Camino.  There is a place for solitude ( see “The Solace of fierce landscapes” Belden Lane) and I probably needed a good dose of it.  One of the greatest gifts of the spiritual life is the loss of fear and being physically alone in remote places, especially at night is often a good measure of this loss of fear.

First encounter with the Spiritual Exercises?

I realise that some readers will be quite unfamiliar with the Exercises and this post is not designed to explain them.  It will make more sense to those who are already familiar with them.  You will find lots of information on them via Google.  In Europe, St Bueno’s Retreat Centre, offers guided retreats to all-comers and also links to other centres.

One step at a time.

I don’t know about having a guide for the Exercises on the Camino.  I wonder how it might work.  Normally you would only need to meet up together for 30 minutes to an hour each day, maybe a bit more at the beginning.  But you would have to walk the same distances each day.  It could even be done, I suppose in groups.  Even on the busy caminos it is possible to take several hours walking alone, especially very early and in the afternoon.

Also I imagine that speedy walking wouldn’t help that much, nor camino tourism.  It would be important to remain focussed contemplatively but it is possible to do this and still be part of the camino community.

If any reader fancies trying out The Exercises on the Camino I am willing to accompany you (or several). I’m not fussy about which Camino or when, for the most part.  The offer is free and we don’t have to stay in the same hotel or albergue: I simply won’t be in the Parador with you.  You can get in contact with me at pilgrim@the-raft-of-corks.com.

[While I am a Catholic this offer is for everyone with or without a faith.]

I think these may be alders. I loved their greying hair winter texture