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    Saint Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491 in Spain and grew up wanting to be a soldier. After being injured in battle, he underwent a conversion while recovering and reading religious texts. This led him to intensify his spiritual journey, spending time in prayer and penance. In Manresa, he experienced spiritual insights and wrote what became The Spiritual Exercises. Later, he co-founded the Society of Jesus and played a key role in the Counter-Reformation through the Jesuits. He is renowned for his spiritual writings and inspiring many to discern God's will through his methods.

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    Saint Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491 in Spain and grew up wanting to be a soldier. After being injured in battle, he underwent a conversion while recovering and reading religious texts. This led him to intensify his spiritual journey, spending time in prayer and penance. In Manresa, he experienced spiritual insights and wrote what became The Spiritual Exercises. Later, he co-founded the Society of Jesus and played a key role in the Counter-Reformation through the Jesuits. He is renowned for his spiritual writings and inspiring many to discern God's will through his methods.

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    9 views1 page

    Safari - Mar 6, 2024 at 11:39 PM

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    Seungwoo Park
    Saint Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491 in Spain and grew up wanting to be a soldier. After being injured in battle, he underwent a conversion while recovering and reading religious texts. This led him to intensify his spiritual journey, spending time in prayer and penance. In Manresa, he experienced spiritual insights and wrote what became The Spiritual Exercises. Later, he co-founded the Society of Jesus and played a key role in the Counter-Reformation through the Jesuits. He is renowned for his spiritual writings and inspiring many to discern God's will through his methods.

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    Reflections & Prayers

    My Catholic Life!
    A journey of personal conversion!

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    Saint Ignatius of Loyola

    July 31: Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest—Memorial

    1491–1556
    Patron Saint of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), Spiritual Exercises,
    soldiers, and retreats
    Canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622
    Liturgical Color: White

    Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by
    this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of the earth
    are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end
    for which he is created. From this it follows that man is to use them as
    much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so
    far as they hinder him as to it. For this it is necessary to make ourselves
    indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our
    free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not
    health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather
    than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring
    and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which
    we are created. ~Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises of
    Saint Ignatius

    Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola (Ignatius in Latin) was born at the Castle
    of Loyola in the municipality of Azpeitia, in modern-day Gipuzkoa,
    Spain. He was the youngest of thirteen children. Shortly after his birth,
    his mother died, and he was cared for by a local woman named Maria.
    When he was seven, his father died, and he was sent to live with a local
    noble family where he fulfilled the duties of a page, introducing him to
    the idea of knighthood and military service. As a result, Ignatius
    became an enthusiastic man who dreamed of being a great military
    officer. Captivated by thoughts of worldly honor and glory, he became
    a soldier around the age of seventeen. For the next twelve years he
    fought in many battles and advanced in rank. In 1521, at the age of
    thirty, Ignatius was wounded in battle and bedridden for months as his
    wounded leg healed. In his boredom, he asked for books to read. He
    had hoped to receive some books on chivalry and romance for
    entertainment, but no such books were in the house where he was
    recovering. Instead, he was given The Life of Christ by Ludolph of
    Saxony, a Carthusian monk, and Flowers of the Saints. As he read and
    re-read these two books, he began to be inspired and started to
    imagine himself living a saintly life.

    Ignatius also spent much time daydreaming about romance, chivalry,


    and other worldly endeavors. But since he was only in possession of
    these two books, his imagination would wander between the two:
    Christ and the saints, then romance and chivalry. But there was a
    difference. Ignatius noticed that even though both of these trains of
    thought excited him, the worldly thoughts eventually left him feeling
    dry and sad, whereas the thoughts about Christ and the saints left him
    inspired and enthused long after he had ended his daydream. It was
    this realization that first compelled him to intensify his conversion,
    and it was this insight that led to much of the wisdom that he would
    later leave to his followers and to the Church.

    After his recovery, Ignatius desired to make a pilgrimage to the Holy


    Land. Before embarking on that trip, he first made a journey to the
    town of Montserrat. Two powerful influences on him during that time
    were his penitential practices and his thorough confession. For
    penance, he wore clothing that was rough and uncomfortable, tied a
    cord below his knee, and only wore one shoe. He spent much time in
    prayer and spoke to our Lord and our Blessed Mother while kneeling
    and standing for long periods. While in Montserrat, he spent three
    days preparing for a general confession of the sins of his whole life.
    During his confession, Ignatius also revealed to his confessor, for the
    first time, his intention to devote his entire life to the service of God.
    After his confession, he consecrated himself to our Lord and our
    Blessed Mother, and spent the entire night in prayer. Thus, Ignatius
    had begun a very radical journey toward a life of sainthood.

    After his short stay in Montserrat, Ignatius journeyed to the town of


    Manresa and stayed there from March 25, 1522, until mid-February
    1523. His months in Manresa were months of deep conversion. He
    spent many long hours in prayer, attended daily Mass, engaged in
    severe penances, sought out spiritual counsel, and studied the Gospels.
    He spent much time in silence and solitude, especially in a cave that he
    frequented. Ignatius neglected his physical appearance and sought
    only to beautify his soul.

    This period of interior formation had a profound impact on Ignatius,


    and he began to experience deep spiritual insights and consolations
    from God. However, soon after these consolations arrived, he also
    began to experience severe interior trials that left him agitated and
    struggling. These struggles began when he sensed the evil one saying to
    him that he could never keep up this life of vigor, zeal, and penance.
    The evil one tried to lead him to doubt and despair, but Ignatius
    ultimately discerned the voice of the evil one and rebuked his lies,
    reminding the evil spirit that he could offer him nothing of value. In
    the end, these trials were a gift in that they allowed Ignatius to grow
    deeper and deeper in his resolve to seek out and follow the will of God
    for his life while rejecting the lies of the evil one.

    At this time, Ignatius also suffered severe scruples. He regularly


    recollected various sins he had committed that he feared he had never
    confessed. This struggle with scrupulosity caused much interior
    suffering. In fact, at one point, the scruples were so severe that he
    briefly considered suicide. In the end, God broke Ignatius free to be
    able to discern that his irrational thinking was not from God but from
    the evil one. Once he understood this, Ignatius rebuked and rejected
    these scrupulous and erroneous thoughts, and God freed him from this
    burden.

    While in Manresa, Ignatius continued to engage in severe fasts (at one


    point neither eating nor drinking for seven days), scourged himself
    three times daily, and spent seven hours a day in prayer. Our Blessed
    Mother and Jesus regularly communicated with him, revealing deep
    spiritual truths to his soul. It was in Manresa that Ignatius began to
    write what has become one of the great spiritual classics in the Church:
    The Spiritual Exercises.

    The Spiritual Exercises are not so much a book as they are a guide for a
    structured thirty-day retreat. The ideal way to accomplish this is for
    the individual to enter into silence and solitude for thirty days under
    the direction of a well-trained spiritual director who is able to lead the
    individual through the structure set forth by Saint Ignatius. This
    structure provides directions for what the retreatant should do each
    day, under the guidance of the spiritual director, as well as rules by
    which a director leads the directee toward discernment of God’s will.

    After this period of prayer and the completion of the first draft of his
    exercises, Ignatius spent the next several years studying at Barcelona,
    Alcalá, and Salamanca where he also began promoting his new ideas.
    His writings, however, were scrutinized by the Spanish Inquisition,
    and he was briefly imprisoned a few times before being cleared of the
    charge of heresy. Afterward, he moved to Paris to obtain a master’s
    degree in theology, and it was there that he met Francis Xavier and
    Peter Faber, both of whom would later become saints.

    In 1537, Ignatius and his companions moved to Venice and were


    ordained priests. Then in 1540, Ignatius, Francis, and Peter co-
    founded what would become the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits. The
    following year, Ignatius was elected the first superior, a role he would
    hold until his death. Over the next two decades, the Jesuits grew to an
    estimated 1,000 members, served in about thirty-five schools they
    founded, and became missionaries to non-Christian territories. Over
    the next century, the Jesuits played a significant role in the Catholic
    Counter-Reformation, becoming staunch defenders of orthodoxy and
    the pope.

    Saint Ignatius of Loyola is one of the most inspirational figures in the


    history of the Church. He left behind a spiritual classic in The Spiritual
    Exercises, helped found the Jesuits who became one of the most
    consequential religious orders in the Church, and left behind other
    writings, including an estimated 7,000 letters filled with his wisdom.
    As we honor Saint Ignatius, ponder his initial conversion that led to so
    much good fruit. He noticed that God’s will produced a joy and peace
    that remained, versus worldly excitement that quickly passed and
    resulted in dryness. That insight has led countless people to discern
    God’s will for their lives through the use of Ignatius’ method. Ponder
    God’s will for your life today. As you do, learn from Saint Ignatius and
    seek that path which leads to great joy and ongoing spiritual peace and
    consolation.

    Saint Ignatius of Loyola, your wounded leg enabled God to speak to


    you while you suffered and recovered. You listened and discerned God
    calling you to a life of selfless service. Please pray for me, that I will
    remain attentive to God’s voice and know how to discern His will.
    Like you, I pray that I will give myself over exclusively to the service
    of God for his glory and the salvation of souls. Saint Ignatius of
    Loyola, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

    Taken in part from Probing the Depths, Part One, Chapter One found
    at www.mycatholic.life/Ignatius

    A great book to help you pray and discern according to the


    methods of Saint Ignatius:

    Probing the Depths:


    Ignatian Lessons and Meditations
    Arranged According to the Liturgical Year

    Further Reading:

    Catholic Saints Info

    Butler’s Lives of the Saints

    Catholic Encyclopedia

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