Jonathan Galvas
This summer was a time of profound spiritual growth, filled with many once-in-a-lifetime events that have deeply impacted my faith.
As part of Sacred Heart’s priestly formation program, I was blessed to join my classmates and two priests on a pilgrimage across Europe. We traced the paths of many significant saints, including St. Teresa of Avila, St. John Vianney, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Our journey included visits to Marian apparition sites including Fatima, Lourdes, and Zaragoza, dating back to 40 A.D. We also explored early Christian historical sites such as Toledo, Spain; and Cluny, France; deepening our understanding of the universal Church. Our pilgrimage culminated in Italy, where we visited Assisi, Rome, and the Vatican, where we attended a papal Mass and a Wednesday audience with Pope Leo XIV, who in his fatherly candor even signed a baseball for us!
As I reflected on the many blessings God has given me this summer, to my initial surprise, I realized that the most profound spiritual gift received was not something extraordinary; instead, it was a deeper appreciation for the ordinary.
The idea of being content with the ordinary is countercultural today and is a standard of living that I would have — until recently — outright rejected. Before attending seminary, I assumed only an extraordinary lifestyle would fulfill my heart's desires. But continually climbing the endless mountains of materialism in hopes of finding lasting joy became exhausting. The temporary rewards quickly diminished, leaving me feeling physically depleted and spiritually adrift. It was only by God's divine mercy that I was able to properly refine my priorities. This summer, Jesus continued to reveal the beauty and grace found in ordinary moments of life, showing that it is precisely in the ordinary where He dwells. Jesus’s presence in the ordinary was revealed most notably this summer in the sacraments, His saints, and in the silence.
God teaches us through Scripture to recognize the extraordinary within the ordinary. A significant example of this is Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist. On pilgrimage, we experienced this divine grace daily at Mass and during Eucharistic adoration, and we were privileged to witness a Eucharistic miracle in O’Cebreiro, Spain, dating back to the year 1300. During the consecration at Mass, the Host transformed into Flesh, and the wine became Blood that dripped upon the corporal. This miraculous event, which restored the faith of a skeptical priest, serves as a powerful reminder that God, who chose to live humbly as a carpenter for most of His life, still dwells among us in the form of ordinary bread.
In addition to encountering Jesus more intimately in the sacraments, we witnessed the significant impact that saints have had on the Church throughout history. I came to appreciate the simplicity of their lives before they became saints, which highlights the transformative and supernatural grace of God.
St. James the Greater, whose tomb we visited at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, was once an ordinary fisherman. However, with God’s grace and Mary’s encouragement, he played a vital role in evangelizing Spain. In Assisi, we saw how St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi chose to forsake affluent opportunities to lead lives of poverty. They dedicated themselves to rebuilding God’s Church by founding religious orders that continue to draw grace from heaven today. Blessed Carlo Acutis, an average millennial student who enjoyed video games, used modern technology to promote awareness of extraordinary Eucharistic miracles, such as the one in O’Cebreiro. St. Bernadette in her humility said that the Blessed Mother picked her because she was the most ignorant one: “Had she found someone more ignorant than me she would certainly have chosen her.” In Montserrat, St. Ignatius exchanged a life of honor for a rigorous spiritual life after laying down his sword at the feet of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an event that led him to a desolate cave, where, by God’s grace, he composed the Spiritual Exercises. The lives of these saints give testimony that it is in the ordinary that God’s transformative grace dwells.
This is not to suggest that individuals who lead outwardly exciting lives are not called to holiness. As Lumen Gentium teaches, everyone is called to holiness, regardless of their state in life. The saints remind us that we have the necessary grace right now to become the saints God is calling us to be and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus above all else. According to St. Ignatius, the purpose of man is to praise, reverence, and serve God, thereby saving his soul. Everything that is created is a gift meant to support this goal. Therefore, anything that distracts or hinders one from fulfilling this purpose should either be removed or approached with a sense of indifference. This simplicity reflects the lives of the saints and exemplifies how all Christians are called to live.
Shortly after returning from pilgrimage, I had the opportunity to pray through the same Spiritual Exercises St. Ignatius composed in a quiet cave 500 years earlier. It was during this retreat that God revealed to me that it’s in the silence He speaks. With God’s grace and the desire to embrace the simplicity of the saints, I was able to remove anything — both spiritually and physically — that stood between me and God. By quieting my heart and my surroundings, I felt God’s presence and heard His voice in ways I had never experienced before. In today’s fast-paced culture, slowing down can seem like an impossible task amid the relentless busyness, noise, and distractions of the world. However, it was by asking for the grace to let go of everything that habitually competed for my attention and by entering into the beauty of God’s creation that my soul found rest in the Father’s love.
I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have participated in this pilgrimage and retreat. Thanks to the Knights of Columbus and all the generous donors, I have developed a deeper appreciation for the virtue of humility. I pray that God internalizes the graces I received this summer deep within my heart so they continue to bear fruit in the future. I am thankful for Sacred Heart for forming priests who, like the saints, seek to share hearts with Jesus and be transformed by His love in the ordinary moments of life.
Jonathan Galvas is a seminarian studying for the Diocese of Lansing in his second year, configuration stage. Along with his classmates, Galvas participated in a summer Desert Formation pilgrimage experience in Europe.