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St Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556)

St Ignatius Loyola could be described as “God’s adventurer.” As a young man he was an avid reader of the tales of chivalry, popular at the time. He dreamed of being a hero and performing great feats for a noble lady. When he was wounded at Pamplona and was convalescing, he naturally looked for his favourite romances to pass the time. Instead he was presented with the Life of Christ and Lives of the Saints. Gradually he began to want to be a hero for Christ, like St Dominic and St Francis. His king was now Jesus and his lady  Mary. It is very interesting that at all the critical points of his life, the Mother of God played an important role: it is as though she helped Ignatius find his creative, feminine side.

The journey for Ignatius was long and arduous. He spent months at Manresa in prayer, subjecting himself to severe penance. He was coming to face himself, but the fruit of that suffering was the wonderful work of the Spiritual Exercises, a great gift to the church, whereby not only his followers but ordinary men and women can find a deeper meaning in their lives by meditating on the life of Christ.

He longed to go to the Holy Land, which he did, but his wish to work there was thwarted. Later he realised that to win souls for Christ he needed to be educated, and he went back to school to learn basic Latin. At the university of Paris he obtained a degree in theology and gathered around him his first companions. We can see clearly the gentle prodding of the Spirit when - though Ignatius still wanted to serve in the Holy Land - he found himself being moved towards Rome. At the church of La Storta, just outside Rome, he had a vision of Christ carrying his cross, who told him, “I will be favourable to you in Rome.”

This was later confirmed by the Pope, who told Ignatius that there was more than enough work to do in that city. Paul III gave great support to Ignatius and in 1540 he signed the bull instituting the Society of Jesus. Ignatius was elected its first General and spent the rest of his life governing the Society and putting its structures into place. A man who had been a boy when Ignatius visited his home town of Azpetia and taught there briefly, said proudly at the canonization enquiry that he had learnt everything he knew about his religion from Padre Ignacio. Through the work of his Society, very many people might say the same thing. The words in his Spiritual Exercises are a daily challenge and thought for prayer.

“What have I done for Christ?

“What am I doing for Christ?

“What will I do for Christ?”
   
St Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.