July 31st is the day the Church throughout the world recognizes and honors St. Ignatius of Loyola. It was only about ten years ago that I got to know Ignatius and the spirituality that developed out of his powerful conversion and his experiences he wrote down in a notebook, later to be known as the Spiritual Exercises. Now, I’ve adopted his spirituality as my own, and I share what I know with others, the goal being to recognize God’s presence all around us and to live our lives as faithful companions of Jesus. It’s a good way to live!
“There are very few who realize what God would make of them if they
abandoned themselves entirely to His hands, and let themselves be formed by His
grace.A thick and shapeless tree trunk would never believe
that it could become a statue, admired as a miracle of sculpture… and would
never consent to submit itself to the chisel of the sculptor who, as St.
Augustine says, sees by his genius what he can make of it.Many people who, we see, now scarcely live as Christians,
do not understand that they could become saints, if they would let themselves
be formed by the grace of God, if they did not ruin His plans by resisting the
work which He wants to do.”Ignatius of Loyola
(in a letter to Ascanio Colonna, Rome, April 25, 1543)
