The Solemnity of St Ignatius of Loyola: July 31, 2024
Readings: Jer 20: 7-9; 1 Cor 10:31-11; Lk14:25-33
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| St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) |
(The following homily is preached by Fr Arun Kumar SJ at SJBHS, Bangalore)
In the Gospel of the day, we see that Jesus is going to face Martyrdom in Jerusalem. So, Jesus wants his followers to leave behind everything and everyone entirely and commit themselves totally to Jesus. A large crowd followed him. But he wasn’t happy with the number. As educationist I’m sure for us the numbers are important in terms of number of admissions, scoring of marks, number of ranks ete… that is part of our educational system. Here Jesus is emphasising more on the quality of members than the quantity of followers. Hence those who commit themselves to Jesus have to make sure that their commitment is all consuming with devotion to Jesus’ mission. Therefore, he wants only those who are committed with all their soul, with all their strength, with all their heart and with all their mind. To meet the demands of his discipleship, he puts 3 conditions. These 3 requirements to follow Jesus are:
- Renounce family ties.
- Take up the Cross
- Forsake fully the possessions or property
Aren’t there apt even today? Look at our lives. Look at our country and our world. Today the power, sex and money govern the world. one feels that, people are born to make money, have pleasure and get into power by hook and crook. That’s what we see all around be it in newspaper or on TV channels. Human minds and hearts are corrupted to the core. Despite technological and scientific advancement, social evils such as inequality and injustice of all forms, political evils such as oppression and exploitation and economic evils such as corruption, greed and cheating haven’t come down but soaring to the skies.
Given this context of ours in this 21st century, Jesus’ demands to follow the Him, make tremendous sense to make this world a better place to live, specially to make our one and only life meaningful and worth living rather than struggling and suffering the predominant and prevailing evils of our day. These 3 demands help us to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Imagine, if there were no missionaries, priests and nuns who renounced their lives keeping in mind the demands of Jesus, we wouldn’t have had all these educational institutions, social centres and health care ministries.
Dear Friends-staff and students, there is no duty higher than commitment to Jesus and to being his disciple. You can do this both as married person and especially as a priest and nun.
The specialities of these 3 demands of Jesus are:
1. Renouncing family: Jesus said those who leave the family will find 100-fold fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. In my 16 and half years as a priest, I can vouch for this both in India and elsewhere. On the other hand, if we are stuck with our families, its difficult to consider others as our brothers and sisters.
2. Cross: you go to any church or chapel, you will find the crucifix, right at the centre. The only gift that we Jesuits get on our day of commitment or vows day is crucifix and when we die, that same cross is placed on our hands and taken out just before the burial. Besides, each of us as soon as we get up in the morning: we put the sign of the cross.
In the name of the Father: we say God the father, bless my head/thinking (on the forehead)
And of the Son: we say Jesus bless my heart and feelings (on the chest)
And of the Holy Spirit: Holy spirit bless my actions (on the shoulders)
Late Fr Tony D’Mello would say emphatically: Have a long loving lingering look at Jesus on the cross but most importantly, look at him, looking at you. This encounter, this daily practice dear friends can change you forever, transform you for better.
3. Possessions: we come to this world with nothing and when we die, we can’t carry anything. Yet we live as if we are permanent citizens of this earth. No, we are temporary pilgrims. Hence, we need to share with those who are least, the lost and the last of the society whichever faith and geography they may belong. The rich young man goes away sad, because for him possessions were most important than Jesus. Jesus has to be our true possessions and in and through him I’m sure we will find everything we need to make our Christian life worth living.
A disciple is defined by his or her relationship to Jesus. St Ignatius whose feast we celebrate today speaks of intimate knowledge of Jesus which is nothing but a close communion and intimate union with Jesus. Ignatius insisted on deep friendship with Jesus so that he may KNOW the lord clearly, LOVE the lord dearly and FOLLOW the lord closely. Unless someone knows the other, loves the other, cannot follow and commitment oneself. Being a parish priest for 5 years, I’ve blessed many weddings. I do know the same people who vowed before the alter till death do us apart, we will remain united have drifted away and divorced. The couple who couldn’t be separated even for an hour just do not want to see each other anymore. Therefore knowing, loving and following the Lord is so essential.
In the first reading, we heard about the fire burning in the bone marrow. St Ignatius in the year 1544 says that one day he had such overwhelming feeling, a burning zeal towards Jesus that, he felt as if the word JESUS was engraved on his heart. No wonder in many of his writings (he wrote more than 7000 letters -dipping each time besides constitutions, spiritual exercises) he would put IHS- Jesus the saviour of humankind. Ignatius’ zeal for the Lord was so much, that he asks, what have done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? And What will do for Christ? Only a person who has experienced Jesus can ask these questions.
The close union with God, made Ignatius a man ahead of his times. He told them that the interior law of love and charity was enough and that they need not be dictated by rules and regulations, customs and traditions, taboos and prohibitions.
Gonzales da Camara in his personal diary writes:” Whenever I went to the room of Ignatius to settle some matters with him, I found his face aglow. It was so shining that I often stood there stunned and in wonder” That was a sign of his deep personal union with God even in the midst of heavy work and busy schedule. And it is this that gave Ignatius real power to enthuse and attract some of the greatest men of his time to the Society. Ignatius prayed unceasingly and sincerely, and all his writings are fruit of his prayer and personal relationship with the Lord. If we Jesuits have failed or failing, I think it is prayer. Evil hits us at the weakest point. Giving up sincere and personal prayer can be fatal to us or to any Catholics.
Ribadaneira, his very first biographer vouched for all this. But the same Ribadaneira writes: “The chief means used by Ignatius to instill solid spiritual values in his men was winning them over by the most exquisite marks of affection born of fatherly tenderness.” Again, “Really no mother, however loving, could show her children as much concern, care and tenderness as our Father showed towards his sons, especially those who were ill or spiritually weak”. Others too, including Nadal, Laynez and Polanco say that Ignatius was habitually kind and tender. His sternness was very rare. Lancicius calls it “motherly affection”. Gonzales says: “His affection was that of a mother. He wanted Society’s Superiors to be likewise. When a rector of the Roman College was found to be so (which means motherly), Ignatius kept him on for life”. Here is a invitation to each one of us to be motherly fathers and fatherly mothers in St Joseph’s Institutions. How motherly are we in our teaching? In our administration? In our relationships with our family members?
In his dealings with his companions Ignatius shows great affection. Ignatius’ writing to Francis Xavier: “Wholly yours without ever being able to forget you”. And Francis Xavier replies: “Father of my own soul, I read your letter again and again on my knees and tears flowed freely down my cheeks. I remembered your great goodness and affection towards me and how much you helped me. I kissed your signature again and again. I cut it off and have kept it in my pocket close to my heart.”
Through the intercession of St Ignatius may each of us be affective and ultimately motherly fathers and fatherly mothers and those of you students, be brotherly sisters and sisterly brothers. Amen.
Fr Arun Kumar SJ (You can reach kjarunsj@gmail.com)
July 31, 2024
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