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This past summer LUMA sponsored its first international
art and spirituality pilgrimage under the leadership of Dr.
Natasha Ritsma, Curator of LUMA; Fr. Scott Hendrickson,
S.J., Loyola University professor of Spanish; and Kathleen
Beaulieu, museum board member. The trip corresponded
with the museum’s mission to explore, promote, and
understand the art and artistic expression that illuminates
enduring spiritual questions. As we traveled through Spain
engaging the art and spirituality, we also followed in the
footsteps of St. Ignatius, the founder of the Society of Jesus,
whose mission inspires Loyola University.
Our tour began inMadrid where we practiced
Visio Divina
,
divine seeing, which allows the Spirit to speak through
images. Under the guidance of Dr. Natasha Ritsma, we
visited the Reina Sofia, Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza and
Sorolla museums. We were educated on the paintings of
Goya, Bosch, El Greco, Rubens, Titian, Velazquez, Van der
Weyden, Picasso and Sorolla. Daily, our LUMA leaders
generously offered poetry, Jesuit prayers, and reflections.
We learned about Ignatian social justice in the world today
and how LUMA incorporates this in its mission.
We then journeyed to the GuggenheimMuseum in Bilbao
and tasted the food that makes the region of St. Sebastian
famous for its cuisine. Immersing ourselves in the prayers,
challenges and adventures of St. Ignatius, we traveled
through the Basque and Catalan regions of Spain stopping
in Loyola, Arantzazu, Pamplona, Xavier, Verdu, Montserrat
and Manresa. We celebrated masses in the birthplaces of
both St. Ignatius and his early companion, St. Francis Xavier,
as wells as the holy cave where Ignatius lived in Manresa.
As the sun set over the mountains of Montserrat, where
the shrine of the Black Madonna welcomes pilgrims today
as she did St. Ignatius over 500 years ago, we joined monks
at evening vesper prayers.
Our pilgrimage ended in Barcelona where St. Ignatius
begged for alms to go to the Holy Land and where his sword
is encased in the Church of the Sacred Heart. Antoni Gaudi’s
masterpiece, the Church of La Sagrada Familia, pointed us
to the evolving ways art can illuminate our spiritual and
religious journeys in the 21st century. Ignatian spirituality
celebrates finding God in all things, and our time in Spain
gave us new eyes to find the divine everywhere we visited
— and to bring it home with us.
Spain Recap
by Kathleen Beaulieu
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Images (clockwise from left): Bilbao, Pamplona, Montserrat.