Ignatian Spirituality #3

“16 reasons I am grateful to St. Ignatius of Loyola” Part Three

Back to the reflection by Dennis Hamm, SJ…

6. Thank you, Ignatius, for teaching us some specific ways to pray—like imaginatively entering Gospel scenes and praying through your remembered day.
7. Thank you, Ignatius, for your universal vision of the church.

We are lucky Ignatius was a Basque, which meant his mother tongue was spoken and understood by very few on planet Earth. In his circumstance, he had to become cross-cultural and relate to the world beyond his immediate boarders. Eventually that experience led him to invent that fourth vow for Jesuits, putting us at the disposal of the bishop of Rome for the service of the universal, world-wide Church—long before anyone used the word globalization.

8. Thanks, Ignatius, for making such a big deal of communication.

His idea that if you can’t talk about it, or write about it, you don’t really know it, at least in a way that does you or anyone else some good—that still makes sense. He we have 7000 of his letters. For other things, he eagerly employed the recently invented technology of moveable type. Today he would be an Internet pioneer and would surely want his schools thoroughly “wired.”

–roc,sj