July 31
St. Ignatius Loyola
Preparation. - “This saint despised the life of the world and reached the kingdom of heaven,” says the Breviary. We shall consider, first, the miracle of grace which converted him, and secondly, the spirit of prayer, self-denial and zeal with which he was distinguished after his conversion. Our resolution will consist in henceforth seeking, after his example, solely the glory of God in all our actions, as St. Paul directs: “Do ye all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10. 31).
I. Conversion Of St. Ignatius
Born in Spain of noble parents, Ignatius Loyola was at first filled with the spirit of the world. But having been wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he had to undergo an operation which obliged him to remain inactive for a long time. Weary of a forced leisure and having no other book to while away his time, he began reading the life of our Lord and the lives of the saints. Gradually a heavenly light enabled him to see the danger of his worldly and sensual life and the folly of his vanity and ambition. Faithful to grace, he saw into the deceits of the world promising happiness to its votaries, and resolved to do penance. He would rise secretly during the night and prostrate himself on the floor, bewailing his sins and imploring the mercy of Jesus and Mary.
These first fruits of his repentance were not without their reward. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him, holding the divine Child in her arms, and loaded him with most precious favors. In the first place, a heavenly unction rendered the pleasures of sense insipid to him, and so sanctified his heart as to wean it wholly from earthly desires and affections. Secondly, a perfect purity freed his mind from all images of sensual pleasures, and his flesh from the revolts of concupiscence. Thus does grace operate, when we surrender ourselves wholly to its operation.
Should we not be consummate saints, had we always faithfully corresponded with the calls of God and the attractions of His love? How many times does He not inspire us to humble ourselves, to practice mortification, to pray without ceasing, and we resist His voice! Let us beware lest He cease speaking to us. Wherefore let us henceforth be guided by His light and give up our own notions; let us in all things follow His direction, and not our taste, our natural activity, our whims and caprice, and whatever flatters our senses and passions.
O Jesus, whose name was ever in the heart and on the lips of St. Ignatius, inspire me with the desire of becoming a docile instrument to Thy love and thy will. Wherefore, purify my soul of every failing, of all self-attachment and selfishness, of all desire of esteem and earthly gratification. Grant that all my glory and happiness may consist in glorifying and pleasing Thee in all my actions and conduct. “Do ye all for the glory of God.”
II. Virtues Of St. Ignatius After His Conversion
It was chiefly his spirit of prayer that sanctified him. When at Manresa he spent daily seven hours in mental prayer on his knees and motionless in the church. He thereby drew down from heaven such vivid lights concerning the greatest mysteries of religion, that he said he would have shed his blood in their defense, even if they were not found in the Gospel. He there received heavenly communication which he would never disclose to any one.
Whence did he obtain the gift of such a sublime prayer? Undoubtedly from his generosity in overcoming himself, in giving up all pleasures, in subduing his body with extraordinary austerities, in humbling his soul before God and men, in esteeming himself the least of all and rejoicing at the being despised for Christ’s sake. Sorely tried by interior sufferings, spiritual aridity and scruples, he never gave up prayer, nor allowed any diminution of his fervor in God’s service.
Wherefore how great was his desire of saving souls, a desire which his fervent meditations had enkindled in his heart! In order to assist his neighbor, he wrote the admirable book of the “Spiritual Exercises,” a book so often and so greatly eulogized by the Sovereign Pontiffs. He then, at the age of thirty-three years, undertook the study of the profane and sacred sciences. Inflamed ever more and more with the charity of the saints, he wished to perpetuate the effects of his zeal until the end of the world, by founding the illustrious Society of Jesus, which has procured, and still procures so much glory to God and to His Church throughout the whole universe. Who will not admire especially the purity of his zeal? “I would prefer,” he was wont to say, “to remain on earth, uncertain of my salvation, than to go at once to heaven, if I could thereby convert one soul.” O truly generous heart, which recalls to us the heart of the apostle of the Gentiles, longing to be anathema for his brethren, and that of the great thaumaturgus of Gaul, St. Martin, ready to die for the salvation of his neighbor, and even that of the Head of the predestined, who “was made a curse for us.”
O Jesus, who will impart to me such noble and disinterested sentiments? Alas! instead of adopting them, I listen to my sloth, which refuses to undergo any discomfort, and to my selfishness, which refers every thing to itself. Deign to rid me of such fatal tendencies, and therefore, in the first place, inspire me with the most tender compassion for poor sinners, and secondly, enable me to labor for their conversion, not only by my prayers, but also by becoming more and more little in my own estimation, and more careful to mortify myself. Make me until death fond of silence, recollection and mental prayer; and may I always be ready to deny myself and devote myself to the salvation of my neighbor.
