Peregrino: A Pilgrim Journey into Catholic Mexico

Intermountain Catholic

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It took some time for writer Ron Austin to make his way to Mexico, but once he arrived there, he decided to write of the country from the time before it had its own name to the essences of today’s more modern country. His book "Peregrino: A Pilgrim Journey into Catholic Mexico," is a detailed history of the country from the time of the indigenous people through the conquistadores to today.

The book won the 2011 Second Place Award in History from the Catholic Press Association.

In addition to the physical journey of the peregrino (Spanish for pilgrim), the book explores life’s internal journey through life. For Austin, the peregrino experience forced an exploration of a new relationship with Christ and in a manner that transcended his own culture and circumstance.

"Remain open to the experience of Mystery," he wrote. "The central mysteries of the Catholic faith: the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection – are distinctive to Christianity, but the experience of Mystery that is, a sense of something that is essential to our being, yet transcends our full comprehension – is common to all tradition cultures. This universe has many variants, but is often described as ‘sacred’ or ‘holy.’ Whatever the term, it persists throughout history, has a basic, if not defining the characteristic of human beings."

Austin writes of the "living history" that explores the lives and struggles of ordinary people who, for all their distinctiveness, are people like ourselves. He traces the history of the Mexican people from the prehistoric era (1200-900 B.C.) to those living today.

The trying early years of Mexican people and culture, are worth studying, for it helps the reader better understand today’s Mexicans, their style of living, and their spirituality, which makes the Mexicans so colorful and deep as they pray and teach their children the power of talking to God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Austin goes to great lengths to take the Mexican people from century to century, from tradition to tradition. One of these traditions is that of hospitality: welcoming people of all nationalities into their homes and offering them a place at their tables. The people we now call Mexican crossed the Bering Straits in 20,000 B.C., and there are still giant sculpted heads found in their temple ruins, presumably figures of priest and priest-rulers that have distinctly Asian features while the scale of the work suggests a historical parallel with ancient Egypt among the Mayans.

In a chapter titled "Spain at the Time of the Conquest," Austin gives a detailed story of the arrival of St. Teresa of Avila to the Mexican and Spanish people, and her influence on them.

I enjoyed this book, but enjoyed it more the closer it came to the modern days of Mexican history, of which I am more familiar. On my visits there I notice that almost every home or business has a crucifix above the front door.

"Peregrino: A Pilgrim Journey into Catholic Mexico," by Ron Austin, Eerdmans Press, Publishing Company, Grand Rapids. Michigan/ Cambridge, U.K., 219 pages, paperback.