ഇന്നത്തെ വായനകള് TODAYS READINGS 31 July, 2014 Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Reading 1 JER 18:1-6 This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:Rise up, be off to the potter’s house;there I will give you my message.I went down to the... Responsorial Psalm PS 146:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6AB R. (5a) Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.or:R. Alleluia.Praise the LORD, O my soul;I will praise the LORD all my... Todays Gospel Reflection in audio Gospel MT 13:47-53 Jesus said to the disciples:“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,which collects fish of every kind.When it is... TODAYS SAINT Ignatius of Loyola The story of Ignatius of Loyola is one of the marvelous epics of our times – how a young, ambitious knight-at-arms was wounded in battle, how he gave himself completely to the service of God, and how the company he founded changed the modern world for four hundred years after... to Ignatius of Loyola The story of Ignatius of Loyola is one of the marvelous epics of our times – how a young, ambitious knight-at-arms was wounded in battle, how he gave himself completely to the service of God, and how the company he founded changed the modern world for four hundred years after his death. Inigo (that was his name before his conversion) was a soldier by training, and at the age of 32, was seriously wounded in battle, thus crushing all his hopes for advancement in court. But this injury became the turning point in his life. He underwent a deep spiritual experience, which led him to see how foolish and vain he had been. Henceforth he resolved to serve the one “Eternal King and Universal Lord, and the Church his Bride.” Ignatius began to attract like-minded persons to himself, men and women, guiding them in the “spiritual exercises” to give themselves more generously to God, as he Ignatius had. Soon a small group of earnest young scholars with him at their head, were ordained priests, and offered themselves obediently to the Pope to go wherever he sent them. The Europe of Ignatius’s day, the 16th century, was torn apart by the Reformation. Catholics and Protestants fought each other over points of doctrine. The Church of Rome was disgraced by the ignorance and the corruption of her clergy. In such tempestuous times, the ‘Jesus Company’, as these new priests called themselves – soon to be known by the shorter name, “Jesuits” — came as a gale of fresh air. They distinguished themselves by their preaching, their writings and their spiritual counseling. They lived austerely, unlike the clergy of their day. They took up all kinds of ministries – some of them were theologians at the Council of Trent; most of them flourished as pastors and preachers; they opened ‘seminaries’ to train young men to the priesthood, and from there, began a school system which spread across Europe and the world. One of Ignatius’s close friends, Francis Xavier, went to the East as a missionary – to India, first, and then to Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Japan. Others followed, not just to the East, but to South America and Africa, wherever, in a word, God’s service demanded their presence. The world had never seen anything like this before, men utterly dedicated to “the greater glory of God”, who had disciplined themselves through the “spiritual exercises” of their founder, Ignatius of Loyola. This little handbook, The Spiritual Exercises, is a primer to making the right choices in life, to understanding the ways of the Spirit, and to closer union with God. Ignatius Loyola, it has often been said, taught the modern Church to pray.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 18:48:17 +0000
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