|
There once was a soldier, proud, ambitious, and vain. He had set his heart on military glory. In mid-career he was hit in the leg with a cannonball, and the recovery process took many months. His vanity was so great and his will so strong, that when he found that the bone in his leg had been poorly set and that he would have to walk with a limp, he demanded that the doctors break the leg and re-set it (this was in the days before anesthesia). The long months of inactivity forced him, man of action that he was, to read. The only books available were the Bible and the Lives of the Saints. Upon reading them a great change occurred. He was captured by a vision of true glory, and was filled with remorse at the life he had so far led. He determined to start anew, to become a true soldier in the true battle and to put aside his own glory for the glory of God. His name was Inigo, from the Basque country of northern Spain. We call him Ignatius of Loyola.
Ignatius dreamed of forming a battalion
of men who would be motivated by this one desire: to see God's
glory advanced. He sought out the most talented men he
could find, and put them through a long and rigorous
training. He then cast them out upon the world.
Their exploits make some of the most exciting reading in the
annals of history. They can be found crossing seas,
penetrating jungles, disputing with scholars in universities,
counseling kings, educating the young, breaking new ground in
science, rebuilding Catholic culture. They may have been
the most talented and highly trained group of men ever called
together for a single purpose. They changed
history. Theirenemies, who were many, derisively called them Jesuits. They took the name as their own. They remain the largest religious order in the Church.
St. Ignatius was more than just a great captain. He was a charming man who was beloved as a father by his brothers. He was known to have a happy heart that nothing could dismay. At times, when one of his brothers was sick or discouraged, he would perform Basque dances to cheer him up. Once he was speaking about Christ with a friend who had lost interest in his faith. The friend was a great billiard player, so Ignatius put him a challenge: let them play billiards, and the winner could command the loser for a month. Ignatius won the billiard match and sent the man on one of his thirty-day retreats. The fellow lost his billiard match, but he gained a kingdom; his life was completely changed.
St. Ignatius was also a mystic, whose Spiritual Exercises became the great manual of prayer for the whole Church. He never lost his passion, nor his high sense of honor; but all was turned to the one great end he put before him and before those who followed him: let all be thought, said, and done, only for the greater glory of God:
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
St. Ignatius, Happy Feast Day (belated: Thursday, July 31)! May your spirit revivify your followers and your prayers help us all to pursue the glory of God.
|
|
