St Ignatius of Loyola: A Charming Soul in Contemplation of God

(Mosaic on the experience of St Ignatius of Loyola at the river Cardoner by Fr Marko Rupnik, SJ)

To listen to my audio reflections please click here 

Having learnt to pray in the manner of St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), a gift to his followers, I am fascinated by the mystic saint as I try to follow him by being a member of his Order. As the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, on 31st July, which happens to be his 465th birthday into heaven, the pilgrim saint continues to inspire. I would like to place before you a few of my personal reflections in this context. 

1. Ignatius of Loyola: A man who saw all things new in Christ

Being a man of Renaissance St Ignatius of Loyola inculcated a culture that could embrace everything with passion and zeal. His experience at the sickbed did not make him lifeless or disillusioned instead he saw newness in life. It was pilgrims' way - living in "loving awe." By reading the "Life of Christ" of Ludolf of Saxony and the "Flowers of the Saints," Ignatius turned to things which, were earlier uninteresting but now engaging and special. His curiosity brought him to a new world of ideas and projects. He begins to think seriously that life is precious and valuable only if he lives such a one as those saints like St Dominic or St Francis of Assisi. This new change in his pattern of thought opens to enter into action by embracing the new reality. Even the shattered leg does not deter him from walking the unimaginable miles as well as distant paths. He walks and moves around that he did never before. Perhaps when you are broken your very brokenness puts together to walk more. Ignatius walks but with others now.

Ignatius sees Christ accompanying him very closely and intimately. He sees God as His teacher and himself as His student. His childhood dreams of honour, reputation and career are taken over by self-abnegation and complete surrender to the will of God.  The moment he realizes that he is accompanied and graced everything becomes new and special to him. The preciousness of that very thought itself brings him to Christ so closely, that he sees everything in Christ with passion, enthusiasm and resilience. His traditional Spanish-Basque faith practice moves to a personal-existential level. Ignatius becomes sensitive to inner movements and motivations through internal struggles that drive him to the verge of suicide. Through his own spiritual experiences and conversations with many people seeking advice, his life dynamics open up for following Jesus and helping others. This leads him to take up inspiring and invigorating pastoral work. 

2. Ignatius of Loyola: An irrepressible enthusiast with a heart larger than the world

Since his childhood, the little Inigo appears to us a person full of vigour and enthusiasm. Being part of the Basque aristocratic family, it was no surprise that he had all the opportunities at his disposal. The "Casa Santa" a house at Loyola, Azpeitia - Spain in which Ignatius was born and brought up says it all. Such a grand and majestic building which, housed Inigo and his family provided the best of the benefits of its time. Often it is the family and the surroundings in which you are born that make you who you are later in life. The charming and ready to venture into new avenues and opportunities seem to be the guiding principle of the Loyola family. As a young man of 16 years Inigo enters into the service of the King of Castilla, Spain as a page or scribe in Arévalo (1506-1516), then at the court of the Viceroy of Navarre (1517-1521). Ignatius never got stuck to one place. He was always on the move, seeking for greater things for himself and later for others. 

As an ambitious young man, Inigo looked at the things dreaming that he would change them with a battle. Since the battle at Pamplona in 1521 at the age of 30, the destiny of Ignatius changed from conquering worldly ambitions to conquering himself in order to serve “God our Lord” completely. Once Ignatius had conquered himself, his ambitions, self-love, self-will, self-interest, Ignatius was already at the embrace of God. With God, he would do everything including his studies of philosophy and theology in Latin in his 30's and later winning over his first companions and then founding the Society of Jesus and sending his men to various parts of the world to conquer them for Christ.  Certainly, Ignatius loved the challenges. He made use of opportunities when they came up at his doorstep. Only a man who had a heart larger than the world could think of such possibilities and actualise them so well.  

3. Ignatius of Loyola: An authentic follower of Christ Crucified to live and serve in everything.

We may meditate on Ignatius in the way he understands God and the whole of creation from the perspective of divine intervention. He made God accessible to us through his own profound experiential methods and deep theological insights. His spirituality is of laymen and women, very concrete, real and down to earth. It is finding God in the world and not in the monastery or in a cave. Some of the classical formulations of Ignatius continue to fascinate us because they are full of depth with broader ramifications. Take for example, "Finding God in everything", "Everything for the greater glory of God," "Magis" (more), "Helping the souls" even the name "Society of Jesus" itself are the expressions of the way Ignatius lived and understood God and His creation. Therefore we can rightly call him a "master of spirituality." The spiritual program of Ignatius aptly demonstrates that being a Christian means living in the way of Jesus and being on the way of Jesus. The service to one's neighbour is not just an activity among others, but the basic concern that the whole way of life had to serve. The whole order was the attempt to create a community in which individual initiatives can develop within the framework of the whole.

Ignatius evolved a distinct style of functioning and living the monastic life. For him, the whole world was a monastery. In spite of the rigorous reformation that was disintegrating the Christian world, Ignatius believed in accompanying Jesus in the tossing boat of St Peter the Apostle. He was convinced that the reform of the Church can take place only from within, out of deep piety and encounter with the person of Christ. Ignatius was not turning away from the world but turning to the world in order to win it over to God. It was not a question of taking the monk out from the world but the world from the monk. At the age of 53, Ignatius himself writes about his inner path. God becomes for him "loving awe" or "reverent love." This is nothing but the basic relationship that Ignatius has to God, to the cosmos, to the world, and to all people. The central point of reference of every spiritual life is a loving devotion, and all the polarities of one's life are simply "balanced contradictions," life-giving polarities: obedience and freedom, contemplation and action, closeness and distance, individuality and universality. Perhaps such tensions Ignatius possessed and lived - not always well balanced. We too are called to possess and live such polarities and tensions to find God in everything and everything in God.

- Olvin Veigas, SJ 
July 30, 2021