St Ignatius of Loyola: Master of Let Go

St Ignatius of Loyola: Master of Let Go

Dr. Billy Graham writes meaningfully a story:

A little child was playing one day with a very valuable vase. He put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His father too, tried his best, but all in vain. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, "Now, my son, make one more try. Open your hand, hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing, and then pull it out."

To their astonishment the little fellow said, "O no, father. I couldn't hold my fingers out like that, because if I did I would drop my penny."

Inigo Lopez de Loyola, well known as Ignatius of Loyola, was the youngest son of a nobleman of the mountainous Basque region of northern Spain. Trained in the courtly manner of the time of King Ferdinand, he dreamed of the glories of knighthood and wore his sword and breastplate with proud arrogance.

When Ignatius was born in 1491, the Middle Ages were just ending and Europe was entering into the Renaissance period. So Ignatius was a man on the edge of two worlds.

The Europe of the late 15th Century was a world of discovery and invention. European explorers sailed west to the Americas and south to Africa, and scholars uncovered the buried civilizations of Greece and Rome. The printing press fed a new hunger for knowledge among a growing middle class. It was the end of chivalry and the rise of a new humanism. It was a time of radical change, social upheaval and war.

In an attempt in 1521 to defend the Spanish border fortress of Pamplona against the French artillery, Inigo’s right leg was shattered by a cannon ball. His French captors, impressed by Inigo’s courage, carried him on a litter across Spain to his family home at Loyola where he began a long period of convalescence.

During that time, he read a couple of several religious books, the only reading material readily available. These books and the isolation of the recovery period brought about a conversion which led to the founding of the Jesuits. Ignatius began to pray. He fasted, did penance and works of charity, dedicated himself to God and, after some troubles with the Spanish Inquisition, decided to study for the priesthood.

As a student in Paris he drew a small band of friends to himself and directed them in extended prayer and meditation according to his Spiritual Exercises. After further studies, the first Jesuits were ordained to the Catholic priesthood in Venice and offered themselves in service to Pope Paul III. In 1540, Paul III approved the Institute of the Society of Jesus.  St. Ignatius was elected Superior General and served in that post until his death in 1556 at the age of 65.

After his conversion St Ignatius was a new man with a new vision and mission. He was a man who went beyond worldly attractions. He always said to himself: The saints were of the same frame as I, then why should I not do what they have done? From that moment on what was more prominent in his character was not to please others or to satisfy himself at the expense of others. The basis of all his life was his great ambition: to please God alone. He was well aware that to please God he must say no to this worldly pleasures. Consequently Ignatius becomes master of letting go of all that is worldly.

St Ignatius was a man of great depth. He had great reflections regarding letting go of all that belonged to this world. The Spiritual Exercises is the fruit of his depth. Letting go entails pain and suffering, and requires loads of compassion. It is not a passive way of living. It is actively allowing God’s will to work in us. “For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things as much as we are able, so that we do not necessarily want health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all the rest, so that we ultimately desire and choose only what is most conducive for us to the end for which God created us.” (Sp.Ex. 23)

The followers of Saint Ignatius of Loyola have imbibed the same quality of letting go of self for the service of faith and promotion of Justice. Thus many of his followers through the centuries have won recognition by the Church for their holiness. Many Jesuits are canonized saints; still more are among those whom the Church calls Blessed. Among the Jesuit saints are Francis Borgia, Francis Xavier, and Peter Claver of Spain; Aloysius Gonzaga and Robert Bellarmine of Italy; Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, and John de Brébeuf of France; Edmund Campion of England; Paul Miki of Japan; Roque Gonzalez of Paraguay; Peter Canisius of Germany and the list can continue.

Today Jesuits have widened their horizon to include men and women who share this vision of service to faith and to the justice that faith demands. Together Jesuits and lay partners place themselves in the presence of the God who created all people and ask themselves the questions that St. Ignatius suggested to his first companions:What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ?

In the Spiritual Exercises St Ignatius teaches us how to let go of ourselves.  The prayer “Take and Receive” brings out the depth dimension of our complete surrender to God. Thereby St Ignatius proposes to go beyond ourselves and find God in everything.

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,

my memory, my understanding,

and all my will,

All that I have and possess.

You, Lord, have given all that to me.

I now give it back to you, O Lord.

All of it is yours.

Dispose of it according to your will.

Give me love of yourself

Along with your grace,

for that is enough for me. (Sp.Ex. 234)

St Ignatius of Loyola, Pray for us.