Today, July 31st, is the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, one of my favorite saints and a true hero to me. I didn’t know much about him growing up, and in fact, only came to dig deep into his story in my early forties. While he was alive, he was a force of nature and the spirituality which flowed out of his powerful conversion and later his Spiritual Exercises literally changed the world. He’s still having an impact today, not only in my life, but in the lives of millions of others.
I’m always struck by the fact that the saints recognized in the Catholic Church are celebrated, not on the date of their birth, as is normative in most cultures, but on the day the person died, born into Eternal Life.
You can find more about Ignatius on many other posts on this site or do a google search. You will find volumes.
Join me in praying this Ignatian prayer, so challenging but also very freeing:
The Suscipe Prayer
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will – all that I have and call my own.
You have gift it all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.
