Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
As we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus favored parables—short allegories featuring people, places, and things familiar to ordinary listeners—to get his point across. These parables are centered on the Kingdom of God, in stark contrast to the Kingdom of this world.
“The Kingdom of God, even if it requires our cooperation, is firstly a gift of the Lord,” Pope Benedict XVI reminded pilgrims gathered at the Vatican. Such parables, Benedict continued, echo a famous saying from Ignatius of Loyola: “Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.”
All of our recent popes, including Augustinian Leo XIV, greatly valued the spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola, whose feast we keep today. This was particularly true for Francis, himself a Jesuit. In fact wherever the late Holy Father traveled throughout the world he discretely stayed with a Jesuit community whenever possible: one Jesuit living in community with other Jesuits.
For 33 years I labored among the sons of Ignatius. I’m often asked, “Are they as arrogant as people say?” It depends. On the Jesuit. When lived well, Ignatian spirituality has no room for arrogance.
What is the heart of Ignatian spirituality? Ignatian spirituality teaches us to discern the footprints of God in our experience — to review our lives, to sift through our memories in order to recognize the way God has been guiding us over the years.
The daily Ignatian Examen, in particular, is a wonderful means to get to the heart of everything, including what God’s will is for us in the here and now. If you are unfamiliar with the Examen, it’s worth investigating.
St. Ignatius’ Surrender (“Suscipe”) shares the greater purpose of the Examen with us:
Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace, That’s enough for me.
—Timothy J. Cronin