October 28, Day 23 In this place

 Words for the day: In this sacred place! Montserrat is truly a holy, sacred and awe inspiring place,

In the last week of this Ignatius Spirituality journey! The focus is on resurrection and LIGHT!  

So, here is St Ignatius at Montserrat. He made the journey here, from Loyola, because he wanted to have a new life, closer to God.  So, it was here, that he gave up his sword, and placed it before Mary.  It was here that he gave up his life as a nobleman and soldier.  It was here that he committed himself to God.  And it is here, that we are asked to lay down something, physical or spiritual, at the feet of Mary.  

             Abbot Cisneros lived from 1455-1510. 

St Ignatius was only at Montserrat for 3 days, because that was the limited time pilgrims could stay.  But during those 3 days, he studied the spirituality of Abbot Cisneros,

“As one of the early Spanish mystics, he was a pioneer in the use of meditative techniques, having been influenced both by the methodical prayers of the Devotio Moderna group, and the writings of Louis Barbo.^[2][3]

His book Ejercitatorio de la vida espiritual, i.e. "exercises for the spiritual life" was published at Montserrat in 1500 and was an important book on formal prayer and Christian meditation which influenced Saint Ignatius of Loyola, becoming one of the primary sources for his Spiritual exercises.^{[2][3][4]” Wikepedia}  

                Here is the Basilica of Montserrat 🇲🇸, 

The Benedictine monastery of Montserrat was founded almost a thousand years ago, in the 11th century, by the abbot Oliba, by the side of the shrine of Santa Maria (9th century). Nothing remains of this small church, although some features of the Romanesque church built in the 12th century can be seen.

Here is the only remaining Romanesque part of the church.  The Benedictine Monastery only allowed pilgrims to stay for 3

days.  It was during these 3 days that Ignatius gave up his sword and lifestyle and began forming the spiritual exercises.

Here is original entrance to the church.  The church was small and ended at the 2nd arch.

                   A beautiful and powerful image 

We placed something we wanted to give up in a bag and the bag was placed at the feet of the beautiful       Black Madonna.  We had a private viewing this evening

“ The sanctuary of the Virgin Mary of Montserrat, has its historical origins in the hermitage of Santa Maria, which Count Guifré el Pelós gave to the Monastery of Ripoll in the year 888.

The Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) led once again to the abandonment of the monastery. However, the Government of Catalonia managed to save Montserrat from being sacked and destroyed.”

Today, Montserrat has been modernised to continue attending to the needs to pilgrims one thousand years after it was originally founded.”

I had no idea how brutal the Spanish Civil War was.  Many shrines, statues, and treasures were hidden in Catalonia during this time when so many of the churches were destroyed!  The Nationalists won this war, which led to the defeat of Catalonia and the socialist ideology in governance of Spain. Franco was a military general for the Nationalists and ruled with an iron fist until his death in 1975.  

“The governance of Catalonia was deeply rooted in the ideas of anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-communism, making Catalonia the largest territory in history to have been so governed. Both of these ideologies draw heavily on the ideas of Peter Kropotkin and his book The Conquest of Bread, which lays out a future where the workers form trade unions and take over the management of industry so that companies and businesses are directly controlled by the workers.

What a concept! Having unions and workers control their own destiny.  Isn’t that what Jesus wanted? A just, equal, and fair society.  Instead of our current capitalistic America, where “ Federal Reserve data indicates that as of Q4 2021, the top 1% of households in the United States held 32.3% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.6%.” So that doesn’t make for a caring society

It is difficult to rise in society when you are saddled with debt,  Our daughter is a testament to that, taking 16 years to pay off her student debt.  Yet, we have republican states suing the federal government for trying to provide $10-20,000 in relief for those who simply wanted to improve their lives with education.  Meanwhile, the average pay for a college president is $316K

Yet, the salary of the president of the United States is $400,000! When did this crazy out of balance salaries begin? And when do we say NO, particularly to state funded institutions.  In most states, it’s the football coach he’s who earn the highest salaries, sometimes exceeding a million$, with all the perks!  So, Jesus and Ignatius are both rolling in their graves (or up above the world so high) over this injustice!

So, we visited this sanctuary last evening. What is interesting in Spain, is the devotion to Mary. She is central on the alter in many churches. And very few have the image of Christ crucified on the cross!  They seem to lean toward a risen. Christ, which makes sense to me.  

Here is a profound image of the risen Christ!  All you see are his hands and his feet. Although there is the Face of Jesus at the top; all that is revealed here the shining SON/SUN! You can almost envision the resurrection in this image!

Well our final long walk tomorrow, 24km. So time for

Shut eye! What did I place at Mary’s feet?  I asked to give up control, to let go and let God!  

                     Jeez Louise