‘We go seeking a city that we shall never find.’ This line from John Masefield’s poem ‘The Seekers’ might suggest a despairing cry on an impossible quest. Yet the poem as a whole speaks rather of an inspiring ideal, the dream of the City of God, that draws the eponymous seekers onwards despite all the hardships they encounter. Many of the contributors to this issue of The Way consider the journeys of those similarly drawn onwards, by choice or by necessity, whether on pilgrimage or in seeking a better and fuller life.
Sacha Bermudez-Goldman, ‘The Gift of a Stranger: Forcibly Displaced People and the Gift of Hope’, 7–20
Hope is, according to St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, one of the abiding virtues. Yet in the face of the challenges of human suffering, it may be difficult to sustain a hope-filled attitude. Here Sacha Bermudez-Goldman outlines a spirituality of hope drawn from the experience of those forcibly displaced from their homes and homelands.
Damian Howard, ‘Saving Liberalism from Itself’, 21–27
Last October Pope Francis wrote a major letter, Fratelli tutti, as a further contribution to Catholic social teaching. In an article reprinted from the British Jesuits’ online journal, Thinking Faith, Damian Howard offers an initial response to the new social and political challenges addressed by the Pope, in the spirit of the saint, Francis, whose name he chose.
Eric Jensen, ‘To Care for the Garden: From a Pandemic to an Ecological Election’, 28–38
One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to make many people more aware of the natural world and the place of humanity within it. Starting with the Genesis creation story, of man and woman placed by God in a garden, Eric Jensen considers how the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises can be adapted to encourage and sustain a deeper ecological concern.
Kevin Leidich, ‘Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled’, 39–46
In his ministry as recorded in the Gospels, Jesus does not hide from his closest followers the fact that they will face troubled times in their attempts to live out his message. In this article Kevin Leidich draws on the thought of the late Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco to present seven strategies that Christians might employ in facing such times.
Robert E. Doud, ‘The Trinity the Virtues and More’, 47–56
It is often said that Trinity Sunday is the most difficult feast of the Church’s year for preachers. A regular contributor to The Way, Bob Doud, has spent a lifetime thinking about the implications of this area of Christian doctrine. In dialogue with Karl Rahner, whose thought inspires him, Doud considers something of what it means to profess a Trinitarian faith.
P. Y. Kiprop-Mbaaga, ‘Vocations Animation as Witnessing’, 57–67
P. Y. Kiprop-Mbaaga is a diocesan priest who works as spiritual director in a seminary in Kenya, and has been part of a ‘vocations’ animation’ team, helping young people to discern where God is calling them in their lives. He explains here the thinking that underpins this work, emphasizing the need of those charged with it to offer witness from their own experience.
George B. Wilson, ‘Pilgrim People: A Disturbing Image’, 69–77
When considering the nature of the Church, the Second Vatican Council favoured the image of a ‘pilgrim people’, very different from the previous model of a ‘perfect society’. While approving of this change of outlook, George Wilson argues that its implications have still to be fully appreciated. What does it mean to belong to a group that is forever ‘on The Way’?
Ian Coleman, ‘Locked-Down Prayer’, 79–88
The current pandemic has introduced us all to the language of ‘lockdown’, and necessitated finding new patterns of living and working. For a person of faith, this is likely to challenge existing habits of prayer as well. Ian Coleman describes how he has r
Brendan Cook, ‘A Story of Our Time: A Psycho-Spiritual Interpretation of the Prodigal Son Parable.’, 89–99
One of the reasons that the parables of Jesus have proved so enduringly popular is that they can be endlessly reinterpreted in the light of the concerns and patterns of thought of every age. Here Brendan Cook offers a reading of the parable of the Prodigal Son shaped by the findings of contemporary psycho-spiritual storytelling.
Susan S. Phillips, ‘Walking the Spiritual Exercises: Praying with Scripture on the Pilgrim Trail’, 100–110
Two spiritual disciplines which have become very widely practised over the last half-century are the Ignatian Exercises and pilgrimage, in particular along the Camino trails in northern Spain that lead to Santiago de Compostela. Susan S. Philips describes a recent group experience that proved fruitful in uniting these two practices.