Stories

Over the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Weekend, 20 Santa Clara University students took part in an inaugural Pilgrimage to Mexico City that became a meaningful experience of faith, identity, and community. In collaboration with the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, the experience invited students to step out of their usual routines and into a wider Global Jesuit Network, discovering how faith is lived and shared across cultures.

Guided by Jesuit values and the invitation to find God in all things, students learned to notice the sacred in unexpected places, from the ancient grounds of Teotihuacán to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, opening space for reflection and wonder. As one student shared, “This experience allowed me to truly understand who I pray for, where my prayers go, how my faith began and how important it is in my life.” Another reflected that the pilgrimage helped them “discover new connections with my faith, and assured me that I believe in something real and magical.”

Traveling, praying, and reflecting together helped students form a close and supportive community. Many spoke about how meaningful it was to grow alongside peers with different backgrounds and life experiences, yet feel deeply connected through shared moments of reflection. One student wrote, “To grow in my faith with peers, who may not have been through the same life experiences as I have, and connect on our faith and support one another through these deeply reflective moments was incredibly meaningful, and something I had not experienced ever in my life.”

Time spent at Universidad Iberoamericana helped students experience what it means to be part of a global Jesuit network, connected by a shared mission of faith, justice, and care for the world. That sense of connection deepened at the main event of the pilgrimage, the visit to our shrine of Guadalupe, where students walked alongside thousands of Peregrinos Guadalupanos, listening to stories of gratitude, sacrifice, and hope. One student reflected that joining the pilgrimage felt like “stepping into a powerful tradition rooted in love, sacrifice, and unity,” and like “walking alongside generations of believers who came before me, and now welcome me into this beautiful tradition.”

For many of the SCU pilgrims, especially those from Mexican and Hispanic backgrounds, the pilgrimage offered a chance to reconnect with family traditions, culture, and faith in a deeply personal way. Students described feeling seen, grounded, and connected, recognizing that their own hopes and struggles were held within a much larger community of faith. As one student shared, “This experience allowed me to re-encounter and revitalize the deepest aspects of my emotional and spiritual being through encountering God’s love and grace in a cultural context and through personal encounters with my peers and the people we met in Mexico.”

As students returned to campus, many carried with them a renewed sense of clarity, gratitude, and belonging — to their faith, to one another, and to the wider community. Their reflections affirm the importance of creating spaces where students can pause, reflect, and deepen their spiritually together. 

Maria Autrey
Associate Director, Community Engaged Student Learning