Magis is a pastoral experience of Ignatian programs and events in the days leading up to World Youth Day for pilgrims from Jesuit institutions from across the globe. The motto for this year’s Magis is “with Christ at the heart of the world”  and will be held in locations across Spain and Portugal .

Young people and their Jesuit chaperones have made their way to northern part of Spain – to the Basque country where the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola, was born – in order to participate in the Magis gathering. For them, it sometimes means being out of their comfort zone, traveling in a foreign country and not always bunking down in the most luxurious of accommodations but the reward is being together with others who also have a keen desire to do more in the name of Christ.

You, too, can follow along with the pilgrims and experience Magis with them during these three weeks of Magis and World Youth Day in Spain by visiting www.jesuit.org/WYD.

In this video below, Jesuit Father Will Prospero offers some tips to the Magis pilgrims and provides a grounding in the spirituality of pilgrimage, drawing from the experiences of St. Ignatius. Fr. Prospero’s presentation was given last year during an Apostleship of Prayer‘s “Hearts on Fire” retreat at St. Mary’s University Parish in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Yet, while many of those pilgrims are still a few weeks away from boarding planes or taking trains to Madrid, an initiative known as MAGIS will be sending students all over Spain and Portugal to participate experiences in preparation for World Youth Day.

This intitiative was started in 1997 (World Youth Day Paris). In 2005 in Cologne, it was called MAGIS for the first time. In 2008 it was celebrated in Sydney and in 2011 it will be celebrated in Madrid in the days leading up to World Youth Day. The motto for this MAGIS is “with Christ at the heart of the world.” The Society of Jesus, along with other religious institutions and laypeople throughout the world who follow Ignatian Spirituality, have invited pilgrims to find Christ at the center of their lives.

Throughout the past year and a half of planning, ideas have become realities and all that is left to do are the finishing touches.

After the initial selection, more than 400 volunteers began working in teams to go about organizing the potential experiences, working on content and logistics, and finalizing plans. There are six types of experiences: Pilgrimage, Social Service, Art and Creativity, Faith and Culture, Spirituality, and Ecology.

Recently released, MAGIS has posted a list of the experience locations and what work will be completed at each; these include visiting Fatima, volunteering in a prison, accompanying marginalized families, serving pilgrims at Lourdes and restoring a hermitage. For the full list, click here.

To learn more about MAGIS, visit follow them on Twitter or visit their website.