April blogging #A-Z 2018- I

This post is written for the April blogging #A-Z 2018. 

I have chosen the theme Books and Authors for this year.

I -IGNATIUS LOYOLA

“Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God”

Ignatius Loyala is the founder of the Jesuits community called the Society of Jesus – was a religious  Priest with spiritual vision to help others and seek God in all things.  The book on Spiritual Exercises is a compilation of meditations, prayers and contemplative practices developed by St Ignatius Loyalla to help people deepen their relationship with God. These exercises are most commonly facilitated in long retreats of solitude and silence. The exercises are also adapted in the recent times to meet the needs of the people.

Ignatius Loyala was born in a wealthy family, the youngest of thirteen children, he lost his mother when he was seven years old and he was raised Maria de Garin, who was the wife of a blacksmith. His last name, “Loyola” was taken from the village of his birth. He was an ambitious young man who had dreams of becoming a great leader. He was educated as a knight and joined the army. Ignatius fought in several battles under the leadership of the Duke of Najera, his talents earned him promotions and soon he commanded his own troops.

While defending the town of Pamplona against French attach, Ignatius was struck by a cannonball in the legs. One leg was merely broken, but the other was badly mangled. To save his life and possible his legs, doctors performed several surgeries. There were no anesthetics during that time, each surgery was painful and his condition deteriorated.After some months he began to improve as soon as he was healthy enough to bear it, part of one leg was amputated. During this time of bodily improvement, Ignatius began to read a lot of books and most of the books were about the lives of saints and Jesus Christ. 

These stories had a profound impact on him, and he became devout. The one story in particular influenced him greatly was the Life of Christ. As he lay bedridden, Ignatius developed a desire to become the follower of Christ. Once he recovered enough he entered the Benedictine monastery, he laid down his military garments and he gave his other clothes away to a poor man.

He worked hard to maintain himself and worked around the hospital. He begged for his food, and it is said he would go into a cave and practice spiritual exercises. He spent time to pray and contemplate which in turn helped him to understand himself better.

Ignatius began recording his thoughts and experiences in a journal, which later on became new spiritual exercises for a lot of people who followed him. Those exercises have remained till date the most invaluable and widely practiced by the religious and lay people too. The primary forms of praying taught in the exercises are meditation and contemplation.

As a youngster I have gone through a short retreat based on the Ignatian spirituality – I was too young for understanding the depth of these exercises, now when I think about it I see the value added to my life, and feel grateful for the Jesuits for encouraging us to learn to meditate and contemplate about our lives and the decisions we make in our day to day life. I do not have his book – hope to get one and read it to inspire myself.

A few quotes of st Ignatius Loyola to inspire:

 “Love is shown more in deeds than in words”

“To give and not to count cost.”

“Whatever you are doing, that which makes you feel come alive… that is where God is”

Have you heard about st Ignatius Loyalla, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading this post, appreciate you for your presence here and would love to hear your comments.