Alone On Pilgrimage

One friend of mine once pointed out that in our life there are many stages. Every stage of life is blessed with different group people and different events. When we progress to the next stage of life, the group of people or happenings that we are going to encounter will change. We simply can not cling on to people or event meant for the previous stage of life when we are in another. As I stepped out of the campus into the working world, things changed and the people that I mix with changed as well. Things are never the same again.

When Ignatius made up his mind to make a pilgrimage to the holy land, he too has to embrace changes, changes that can be odious. He has to let go; he has to leave his family and friends behind in search of his true calling.

There are times we come together to pray, mediate and share as a community; there are also time for us to be in silence and solitude, to deal with ourselves, our own problems and discover our “purpose”. There are also times whereby we have to act on our own in our journey of life, alone with God.

It reminded me of the widow with seven husbands. Whose wife is the widow?

Likewise, people come in and out of my life; things change. Where do I belong? Who am I belonged to?

[Reflection on Autobiography of St. Ignatius, Para. 13]