Passage to Resilience
By Bob Juarez
Richard Rohr, OFM, has said that life itself initiates men. The men of Homeboy Industries perhaps know this more than many of us. As they lived their lives in the social realities into which they were born, each man learned at a very young age that life is hard, that he is not that important, that his life was not about him, that he is not in control, and that he is going to die. Because of the transformative work of Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, and the Homeboy Industries team, these men have learned to be transformed in a most remarkable way.
In May 2026, a team of Illuman brothers was asked to lead an Illuman-style, wisdom-led retreat for a 35-man cohort from Homeboy Industries. Led by Illuman weaver Jim Clarke, and accompanied by Illuman brothers Bob Juárez, Samuel Pérez, Scott Klaverkamp, Dan Harbuck, and Tom Vozzo (past CEO of Homeboy), the theme “Passage to Resilience” was profoundly unfolded in the Illuman way, building upon the transformational work of Homeboy Industries.
Building on themes of “Our Wounds: Doors to the Sacred”, developed in 2022 in Spanish by Giovanni Pérez (Illuman Weaver) and the leadership of Illuman en Español, we worked diligently to create a meaningful way for resilience to arise through the work of council, poetry, stories, and rituals that called forth this newness of life. This all unfolded at the Big Bear Retreat Center in California, on the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest.
Within this beautiful location, unknown to the retreat planners but known to the Creator, exists a “Tree of Resilience”; one that was struck by lightning and rebirthed into a larger, stronger tree. We learned of it right after Clarke told a story of resilience about our beloved Belden Lane. Upon the death of his son, while still caring for his ailing wife, Belden went out for a walk to find a tree that had recently been struck by lightning. When he found the tree, he stepped into the burnt hollow of the tree, put his hands on the burn, and wept as he felt an immediate surge of healing energy that he was able to walk away with. So, at the invitation of Bill Resnik, the camp proprietor, the entire team and cohort walked out to the Tree of Resilience, and it set the tone for a powerful Passage to Resilience by all who were there. We knew at the very start that the Creator had something very special for us to discover.
Rohr and Boyle both profess the importance of seeing the depth of a man, not just what is outwardly apparent, because we could only be observing the false self. In a recent talk given on April 21, 2026, in Anaheim, entitled “Becoming a Mighty Kindness – Surrendering to the Beauty of our Unshakable Goodness”, Boyle spoke of the impact of the work of transformation, not just for the man, but for the world. We witnessed this in the powerful cohort of transformed men on the retreat.
The retreat took all of us deeper into our transformational process. Drawing on various sources of wisdom, including the Christian Scriptures, the men were invited to cultivate this resilience, ultimately claiming their place as beloved sons of the Creator. One of the symbols used was a Cross (on the dais in the center of the photo above) that was carried by migrants on the freight train that rumbles through Mexico from the southern Mexican border to the US border. The train is called “the Beast”. The cross not only symbolizes the salvation of Christ but also an artifact of human resilience, as the migrant bearers of this cross fled the horrors of their homelands in search of safety and new life.
The retreat culminated in two actions to express their grief over the wound they seek to transform and to claim the power their transformation promises. Both actions were done in ritual, and these beautiful men powerfully embraced the challenge and the call.
