A Jesuit Feast

It’s a story of God’s wonderful work in his creation.It’s the tale of a man, running after the worldly glory, turning into a soldier of Christ.It’s a life that dared to be different;Dared to swim against the currents of the time to defend the mother church.

July 31, brings celebration among Jesuits, all over the world, for, it’s the feast day of their founder, St Ignatius.

He was born in 1491, in a minor noble family, in Spain. He was the youngest of the thirteen children. He lost his mother at the early age. Right from his childhood days, he dreamt of becoming a great soldier. Having taken as a page in the court of Spain, at the age of 16, he already started living his dream and soon he was appointed for a night. Eventually, he found himself as an officer, leading a wing of the Spanish army. Young Ignigo (It was frequently represented in medieval documents as Ignatius (Spanish "Ignacio"), had two goals -the first- to be the greatest soldier, and the second to win over the princess.

War broke out between French and the Spanish army, in Pamplona. The French army, greatly outnumbered the Spanish army. The commander of the Spanish, decided to surrender. But Inigo convinced him that they must fight it out, till their last breath. Destiny had it’s say on Ignatius. A cannon ball, struck Inigo’s one leg and broke the other. Having fallen helplessly, in the battle field. That was a great fall, for the worldly Inigo fell that very day. The French troops, admiring his courage carried him back to recuperate at his home Loyola, in a hospice.

Lying alone on the bed and having no entertainment, he asked the nurse, for some heroic books, for reading. All that the nurse could provide were 2 books. ‘The Life of Saints’ and ‘The Life of Christ’. With the mere look of the books itself, he had aversion on them, for Inigo never liked, spiritual talk. To his fate, with nothing else available to read, he started to read those books with great pain. Yes, those books had their say on his entire life. The man who ran behind the worldly fame, asked himself, ‘If Francis could become a saint, why can’t I ? If Dominic could become a saint, why can’t I ?’ Several visions and divine interventions formed him into a great spiritual master.

Those were the days of Martin Luther, attacking the church, with his accusations. Thousands followed the reformers, leaving the Catholic Church. It is at this point, Ignatius, rose to be a counter reformer, to stand by the Catholic Church. But he knew, he needs to be intellectually competent, to counter the heresies. Thus, he sat with the children in the classrooms of Alcala and Salamanca and at the University of Paris. Fasting and mortification, preaching and serving, contemplation and action had become the integral part of his life. It is in Paris, that he met, Francis Xavier, holding the ambition to be one of the greatest Professors, in the world. The words, ‘If you win the whole world, and lose your soul, Francis, what will you gain?’. We know. The rest of Xavier’s life is history.

Ignatius, together with his 8 companions, decided to take three religious vows, of Poverty, Chastity and the pilgrimage to holy land, and then to spend rest of their life there. Later they decided to form themselves as a religious order,- Society of Jesus, whose members are known as Jesuits.

Finally, Ignatius breathed his last on July 31, 1556.

Personality Traits:

Simple and mortified life.
Deep love and affection to his fellow companions;
Enthusiastic and a hard core optimist.
Never give up attitude,
Creativity in works,
Doing everything for God’s glory.
Systematic way of going about.

Writings of St Ignatius:

The Spiritual Exercises.
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus.
And 6813 letters he wrote during his life time.
Spiritual Diary

Some Key Jesuit terms:

MAGIS – Doing better than the best.
A.M.D.G – All for the greater glory of God.
Finding God in all things.
Contemplation in Action.
Forming Men and Women for Others.

Core Jesuit values:

Option for the poor.
Promotion of Justice.
Liberation through Education.

Jesuit’s today:

The members of the Society of Jesus are known as Jesuits. We are quite aware of St Aloysius College, Mangalore, St Joseph’s College, Bangalore, Loyola Chennai, St Xavier’s Mumbai and many other colleges are among the top colleges in the country. These are Jesuits Colleges. Jesuit education focuses on forming men and women for others and creating visionaries of tomorrow. Jesuits, work in Education, Parishes, as Lawyers, as Journalists, as Missionaries, as social activists, as media personnel, as spiritual masters etc. Today, there are around 18,000 Jesuits, working all over the world. Ignatian life and values, is the bone marrow of every Jesuit, who undergo long years of study and formation.

Pope Paul VI, in his exhortation to the Jesuits said, “Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and extreme fields, at the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been and there is confrontation between the burning exigencies of man and the perennial message of the Gospel, here also there have been, and there are, Jesuits.”  (Address to the 32nd General Congregation of Jesuits, 3rd December 1974).

Pope Benedict XVI, when addressing the Jesuit leaders in Rome said “The Church needs you, relies on you and continues to turn to you with trust, particularly to reach those physical and spiritual places which others do not reach or have difficulty in reaching.” (Address to the 35th General Congregation of Jesuits, February 21st, 2008)

In Conclusion:

Ignatius always called his followers to read the signs of the time and respond to them creatively. Creativity is a typical Jesuit hallmark. And he wanted Jesuits to be Contemplatives in action- having actively involved in the world, not of the world. To put it together, Life of St Ignatius and his teaching are a call to live a life which is fully human and fully alive.

May the life of St Ignatius, inspire us to be men of Excellence and men of values, to create a just and a humane society.