I once went eyeball to eyeball with Ignatius of Loyola. Or, to be more precise, with a lifesize statue of him in his bedroom in the Gesu in Rome. We are the same height - 5' 2" (1.59m): for us here in Europe that's short for a woman and definitely short for a man. It means that - were Ignatius alive now - he would be dwarfed by many current Jesuits. But only physically dwarfed: whatever he may have lacked in inches he more than made up for in zeal, holiness and wholehearted commitment. If height were measured in burning passion alone he would definitely be a giant!
The Society of the Sacred Heart is part of the extended - and extensive - Ignatian family, and Sunday 31st is Ignatius's feastday. It is also the third anniversary of the day I moved to my current community. At the time I was using a calendar of Society quotes, and the one for that day was memorable for being especially appropriate for where I was in my journey. It's also appropriate now for celebrating the man who - among so many other achivements - bequeathed us the Anima Christi...
Like Thomas, you have been invited by the Risen Jesus to believe, to put your finger into the mark of the nails, put your hand into Jesus's side, find a welcome, a home, a permanent shelter in those very wounds, now glorious.
(Clare Pratt, Superior General, 2004)
I'm sure Ignatius will forgive me if this post - like us! - is short, but I'm about to go away, and so I'm busy with last-minute stuff. I'm going to a congregational meeting in Spain - which means I'll be in his homeland for his feast. Our meeting theme is accompanying young people, and Sunday's theme will be... discernment (of course!)
Happy feast to anyone and everyone who's part of the Ignatian family!
The Society of the Sacred Heart is part of the extended - and extensive - Ignatian family, and Sunday 31st is Ignatius's feastday. It is also the third anniversary of the day I moved to my current community. At the time I was using a calendar of Society quotes, and the one for that day was memorable for being especially appropriate for where I was in my journey. It's also appropriate now for celebrating the man who - among so many other achivements - bequeathed us the Anima Christi...
Like Thomas, you have been invited by the Risen Jesus to believe, to put your finger into the mark of the nails, put your hand into Jesus's side, find a welcome, a home, a permanent shelter in those very wounds, now glorious. (Clare Pratt, Superior General, 2004)
I'm sure Ignatius will forgive me if this post - like us! - is short, but I'm about to go away, and so I'm busy with last-minute stuff. I'm going to a congregational meeting in Spain - which means I'll be in his homeland for his feast. Our meeting theme is accompanying young people, and Sunday's theme will be... discernment (of course!)
Happy feast to anyone and everyone who's part of the Ignatian family!
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