Media Release
Bengaluru, Jul 31: The Catholic Church honours St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the congregation of Society of Jesus, commonly known as Jesuits on July 31. He is identified in Dr Billy Graham's meaningful story - One day a little child playing with a very valuable vase put his hand into it, but could not retract it. His father too, tried his best, but all in vain. They thought of breaking the vase when the father said, "Now, my son, make one more attempt. Open out your hand, hold your fingers out straight as you see me do and then pull your hand out." To their astonishment the little boy said, "Oh no, father. I cannot hold my fingers out like that, because if I do so I will drop my penny."
St Ignatius Loyola is seen as a master who has taught us different techniques of leaving those coins in us and choosing only that which is more conducive to the end for which we are created. 'For this, it is necessary for us to make ourselves indifferent to all created things as much as we are able to, so that we do not necessarily desire health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long life rather than a short one and so in all the rest, so that we ultimately desire and choose only what is most conducive for us to the end for which God created us'. (Sp Ex 23)
St Ignatius Loyola was born in 1491 in Spain. As a young man, Ignatius Loyola was inflamed by the ideals of courtly love and knighthood and dreamed of doing great deeds, but in 1521 Ignatius was gravely wounded in a battle with the French. While recuperating, Ignatius Loyola experienced a conversion. Reading the lives of Jesus and the saints made Ignatius happy and aroused desires to do great things. Ignatius realized that these feelings were clues to God’s direction for him.
Over the years, Ignatius became an expert in the art of spiritual direction. He gathered his insights, prayers and suggestions in his book the 'Spiritual Exercises', one of the most influential books on spiritual life ever written. With a small group of friends, Ignatius Loyola founded the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits. Ignatius conceived the Jesuits as 'contemplatives in action'. He died on July 31, 1556.
After his conversion St Ignatius was a new man with a new vision and mission. He was a man who went beyond worldly attractions. He always said to himself: the saints were of the same frame as I, then why should I not do what they have done? From that moment on, what was more prominent in his character was not to please others or to satisfy himself at the expense of others. The basis of all his life was his great ambition: to please God alone. He was well aware that to please God he must therefore leave all those coins such as name, fame, glory, honour, pleasure, prestige and many more. Consequently Ignatius became a master of giving up all that is temporary.
Letting go entails pain and suffering and requires loads of compassion. It is not a passive way of living. It is actively allowing God’s will to work in us. The followers of Saint Ignatius of Loyola have imbibed the same quality of letting go of self for the service of faith and promotion of justice. Thus many of his followers through the centuries have won recognition by the church for their holiness. Many Jesuits are canonized saints; still more are among those whom the church calls blessed. Among the Jesuit saints are Francis Borgia, Francis Xavier and Peter Claver of Spain; Aloysius Gonzaga and Robert Bellarmine of Italy; Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil and John de Brébeuf of France; Edmund Campion of England; Paul Miki of Japan; Roque Gonzalez of Paraguay; Peter Canisius of Germany and the list continues.
Today, Jesuits have widened their horizon to include men and women who share this vision of service to faith and to the justice that faith demands. Together Jesuits and lay partners place themselves in the presence of God who created all people and ask themselves the questions that St Ignatius suggested to his first companions- 'What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ?'
The prayer 'Take and Receive' brings out the depth of our complete surrender to God. Thereby, St Ignatius proposes to go beyond ourselves and find God in everything.
'Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and all my will, all that I have and possess. You Lord, have given all that to me. I now give it back to you, O Lord. All of it is yours. Dispose of it according to your will. Give me love of yourself along with your grace, for that is enough for me. (Sp Ex 234)