IGNATIAN INSPIRATIONS
SHEKHAR MANICKAM SJ
01. GOD IS A GENEROUS
LOVER
St Ignatius of Loyola, a mystic and the founder of
the Jesuits,
was born in Spain in the year 1491 and died in Rome
on 31st July 1556.
We learn many inspiring spiritual insights from his
personal experiences of God.
For St Ignatius, the mystic, his relationship with God
is like that of a Lover and a Beloved. .
On 20th May, 1521, at the age of thirty, Ignatius, a worldly
but a brave soldier was wounded at Pamplona in a war against the French It was during his convalescence at home in
Loyola he began his intense spiritual journey with God.
Ignatius had a profound personal experience of God’s boundless and
everlasting love for him. He experienced
God as his generous lover who loved him unconditionally and bestowed on him
numerous gifts like the entire creation, his own creation as a dwelling place
of God’s Temple, redemption and other gifts particular to himself. He pondered with deep affection how much God
loved him and had done so much for him. Here
he met his God as his faithful and generous lover and stood before Him as His
beloved in utter bewilderment, joy and wonder.
Deeply touched, moved and drenched
in God’s infinite and unconditional love for him regardless of his limitations
and sinfulness, Ignatius, quite spontaneously decided to reciprocate his love
for God. At that moment, Ignatius became
the lover and God became his Beloved. This
was how, his entire life was a dialectic process of God being first his lover and
Ignatius his beloved and Ignatius being lover and God his beloved. He would write
to describe this particular spiritual disposition of his soul as “a generous
spirit, ablaze with God” wanting to perform greater things for God. Genuine experience of God’s generous love, in
turn, makes us generous too like Ignatius, “a generous spirit, ablaze with
God”.
02. GOD IS A
FASCINATING LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
God is a fascinating lover. The way God loves us is truly
astonishing. In the life and writings of
St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and a mystic of the 16th
century, we meet God as a fascinating lover.
St Ignatius could easily listen to
the secret divine pulsating in the heartbeat of creation. The glorious beauty and the subtle and
unfathomable aspects attracted Ignatius to celebrate the liturgy of creation
leading him to experience God indwelling in all that is on the face of the
cosmos.
Ignatius, the mystic, could easily
meet God in the whole of creation. He
writes, “...consider how God dwells in creatures; in the elements, giving them
existence; in the plants, giving them life; in the animals, giving them
sensation; in human beings, giving them intelligence...” Thus, in the
deep-seated silence of his being, he could hear the footsteps of God through
the course-ways of creation. For
Ignatius, every being is the face of God.
Every being is a shrine of God.
The entire cosmos with its spectacular forms, marvelous variety and
indescribable beauty celebrates God’s presence.
The splendid universe, therefore, is the Temple of God.
Besides the presence of God,
Ignatius draws our attention to see how God is working like a labourer for the
well-being of every member of his cosmic family. It is to ponder over both the work of the
lover and the love of the worker. And at once, he is wonderstruck and is lost
in the awesome depth of God’s love for humans as manifested through his
creation. He writes, “…consider how God
labours and works for me in all the creatures on the face of the earth; that
is, he acts in the manner of one who is laboring.” This is how St Ignatius would invite us to
look at the cosmic family as God’s gift for us.
But what makes these gifts very unique, special and precious is God’s
ceaseless presence and creative action in them.
God, indeed, is a fascinating lover.
03. GOD IS A PASSIONATE LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
Humans are the beloved of God. God loves us with an exclusive love. He is a passionate lover. God loves each one of us with a personal and
unique love. Like any genuine lover God
desires that his beloved, the humans, reciprocate his love.
Loving God is to have right
relationship with the created reality and fellow humans. The faith vision of St
Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits and
a mystic of the 16th century, is to look at the whole of creation as
God’s gift for us. It is to experience
the depth of God’s love for humans as manifested through his creation. Ignatius
views the whole of creation as a means to love God.
However, here he offers a spiritual
nuance in his own following words, “…we ought to use these things to the extent
that they help us toward our end, and free ourselves from them to the extent
they hinder us from it.” This is the genius of St Ignatius. He shares with us a spiritual insight as to
how to use or relate with God’s creation.
Putting it simply, we could say, “If anyone or anything that draws us
closer to God we choose and we do not choose anyone or anything that takes us
away from God.”
In fine, Ignatius offers a gracious
principle - “Be free from all in order
to be free for God”. This is precisely to love God above all else. Be free from all in order to be free for God
is to love God passionately because He loves us passionately.
04. GOD IS A TRANSFORMING LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
Experience of God’s love brings out
a personal transformation. There is a
new orientation; a new way of life. St Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of
the Jesuits and a mystic of the 16th century. When he had a very deep, personal and unique
experience of God’s love being outpoured on him, he simply surrendered to God
in love. After having given up his
worldly ways Ignatius turned towards God with gratitude and humility because he
believed that it was God who transformed him.
He experienced that fullness of God’s love divinized him. For Ignatius, therefore,
God is a gentle and patient transforming lover.
Being a soldier, St Ignatius knew
fully well that our desires determine how we act. He was a fighter with focused
desires. He did experience that God
loved him totally, with his whole being. He did not have an iota of doubt even
for a moment about the fact that God loved him unreservedly and completely.
Fascinated by this matchless love-filled self-gift
of God for him, this transformed Basque soldier, in turn, was determined to
love God with his entire self. God, no
doubt, is a gentle transforming lover. God
became the focal point of his desires. Thus
Ignatius would crystallize this groaning of his soul in his well-known book
called “The Spiritual Exercises” which was approved by Pope Paul III in the
year 1548.
For example, he would ask every retreatant
to begin her or his meditation without exception with a preparatory prayer
which goes thus: “The preparatory prayer is to ask God our Lord for the grace
that all my intentions, actions, and operations may be ordered purely to the
service and praise of the Divine Majesty”.
In other words, he invites the retreatant or any seeker of God to pray
for the grace that her or his entire being, thoughts, decisions and actions be
oriented towards God. It is good to
remember here that our desires determine how we act. Hence, our ultimate desire ought to be God. Through
this short prayer, St Ignatius introduces and invites us to imbibe a way of
life. It is a way of life to love God
with our entire self. It is a way of life to love and share life with God.
05. GOD IS A NOBLE LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
We hear or read or speak about
mystics. But, Who is a mystic? A mystic is the one who always lives in the
loving presence of God. Why do the
mystics choose to live always in the loving presence of God? The mystics choose to live always in the
loving presence of God because God is a noble and intense lover. God ceaselessly draws us towards Him and we
too are ceaselessly drawn towards him.
St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder
of the Jesuits, was a mystic of the 16th century. It was Monday, may 20th, 1521.
Ignatius was fighting against the French in Pamplona, Spain. In the midst of heavy bombardment, a cannon
ball passed between both legs, shattering the right leg and badly injuring the
left leg. It was during his
convalescence at home in Loyola, in Spain, his moments of enlightenment
began.
He masterfully perceived that there were
two forces working within him. There was
God who was ceaselessly drawing him towards Himself and there was also an evil
force that was ceaselessly pulling him away from God. From this experience he
would contribute to the world what is known as “the discernment of
spirits”.
The discernment of spirits is a
spiritual art of living. Every day, we
are faced with CHOICES in life to choose between right and wrong. Quite often we struggle a lot to arrive at
the right decision. It is here the
discernment of spirits is of immense help.
The discernment of spirits is a type
of sifting through our interior experiences or movements in order to trace
their direction. If they are taking us
in the direction of God we embrace them.
we reject them if they are taking us away from God.
But how do we distinguish between
what takes us to God and what takes us away from God? Ignatius
writes, if we experience the loving presence of God, tranquility and peace; if
there is any increase in hope, faith and love, then we are on the right
direction. All of us, therefore, are
invited to be mystics whose sincere effort is to take decisions that are
aligned with that of God and live always in the loving presence of God.
06. GOD IS A COMPASSIONATE LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
In this world all of us are
pilgrims. Our life is a pilgrimage. No one is born a saint. Our spiritual journey too is a pilgrimage. God knows we are all imperfect beings. The Maker of the universe knows that we are
all made up of bones and flesh. All of
us live and will die as fallible beings. Yet…Yet God chooses to live in us and
loves us unconditionally. Therefore God
is a compassionate lover.
St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder
of the Jesuits and a mystic of the 16th century, preferred to
address himself as a pilgrim in his autobiography because he understood that
spiritual growth is an on-going purification of the self. It is a life-long journey from
self-centredness to God-centredness. We
are all the fragile developing faces of God.
Day after day we are being converted; we are being moulded. God is ever there for us with His loving
moulding hands.
Here I remember my Jesuit study
guide, a holy and a noble person late Fr Maurice Dullard telling me one day,
“Well, Shekhar, all of us will die as sinners!”
How true it is! Nevertheless,
what makes this journey so unique is that God journeys along with us as a
loving, compassionate and true friend.
What God desires in turn is the sincerity of our heart in seeking to be
with God and attempting to do His will.
All along our life journey God never
leaves us alone and particularly when we falter or lost or gone astray because
He is our compassionate lover. God
celebrates our growth. Recalling how God
was dealing with him in the early days of his conversion during his spiritual
sojourn at Manresa, in Spain, St Ignatius mentions in his autobiography, “God treated him at this time just as a
schoolmaster treats a child whom he is teaching.” Ignatius describes God as an understanding
and compassionate school master. Yes,
God directly deals with each one of us.
It is our firm faith that God, in spite of our weaknesses, leads every
one of us individually and uniquely because He is a compassionate lover.
07. GOD IS A SELFLESS LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
The seekers of God need to be
extremely aware of an impending danger in our spiritual journey. Our enthusiasm to reciprocate our love for
God who loves us selflessly, may subtly lead us to indulge in self-glory if we
are not aware of. Instead of worshipping
God we may gradually land up in worshipping our ego. Quite often it can happen that what we want
to do for God may not be necessarily what God wants us to do for him.
St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder
of the Jesuits and a mystic of the 16th century writes in his book The Spiritual Exercises: “Everyone
ought to reflect that in all spiritual matters, the more one divests oneself of
self-love, self-will, and self-interests, the more progress one will make.”
Divesting of self-love and spiritual
progress are interrelated. Our attempts
to make ourselves holy or doing service for God on our own efforts may be a
futile exercise. How hard we may try, we
cannot make it happen. Spiritual growth
necessarily demands shedding of our ego.
Ignatius, after his conversion,
overindulged himself in performing so many the so-called spiritual activities
like excessive fasting, penances, too many hours of prayer etc. The result was that he was ruining his health
and was suffering from scruples that tormented him mercilessly. It was only when he, in his powerlessness,
cried out in pain saying, “Help me, Lord” he felt the need of God. Till this moment Ignatius was in charge of
himself but now he surrendered himself to God.
It was only after this surrender his spiritual progress took an
extraordinary turn because from then on God took charge of Ignatius.
Letting God take charge of myself
implies discerning at every moment of my life as to what God wants me to do
here and now. This is called discerning
love.
God’s initiating, sustaining and perfecting
Grace is always active in us. God is a
selfless lover. True love is selfless like that of God. Discerning to do God’s will is nothing but
loving God selflessly because what I want to do for God may not be necessarily
what God wants me to do for Him. In the
name of God we may do so many things.
But does God really want those things?
08. GOD IS A DYNAMIC LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
God is a dynamic lover. God is not static. He is God of here and now. St
Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and a mystic of the 16th
century, was praying earnestly to be accepted by God as His companion to serve
Him in the world. Ignatius understood his life as a collaborative venture
between God and humans. He views humans
as instruments joined with God because being in union with God is also working
for God.
St Ignatius writes, “Love ought to manifest itself more by deeds
than by words.” He looks at the universe as God’s gift in which He is
continuously at work. God’s love is manifested
by deeds than by words. He personally
experienced how God had been showering blessings upon blessings upon him. Thus, in his personal life God’s love is
manifested by deeds than by words. In utter
gratitude, Ignatius turned to God to thank Him.
We notice that his thanks-giving to God became thanks-living.
Ignatius prayed earnestly to be
accepted by God as His companion to serve Him in the world in order to show his
love for God in deeds than by words. His
life became a prayer. Prayer is union
with God. Union with God means living in
the loving presence of God. God is
concerned about the here and now situation in the world because he is dynamic
and creative.
Therefore living in the loving
presence of God also means working for God as instruments joined with God especially
to alleviate forces that are opposed to divine values within ourselves and in
the world. That is prayer even in action
because union with God is also working for God. This is how our life becomes a
constant offering to God. This is how
our life is a collaborative venture between God and humans with a noble purpose
of establishing God’s Family on earth.
09. GOD IS A UNIFYING LOVER
Fr Shekhar Manickam SJ
God, the universe and every human
person are inseparable. They are
inter-fused. They are inter-connected. All that is there is from God. God is present in everything and everything
is in God. Oneness is what characterizes
the divine sphere. Reality is one because
God is a unifying lover. Genuine God
experience leads to this oneness.
St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder
of the Jesuits and a mystic of the 16th century, writes about this
oneness, “Consider how all good things
and gifts descend from above; for example, my limited power from the Supreme
and Infinite Power above; and so of justice, goodness, piety, mercy and so
forth – just as the rays come down from the sun, or rains from their source.”
As the rays are in the sun and the sun
is in the rays, God is present in everything and everything is in God. God is a
unifying lover.
Experience of God as a unifying
lover leads to a more universal worldview.
Ignatius writes, “The more
universal the good, the more divine it is.” [622 d]. Only a person who has
gone through true God experience could write like this. Genuine God experience makes a person
transcend borders, divisions, factions, discrimination, nationalities and the
person has a sense of belonging to the whole cosmos. She or he stands enveloped by the entire
cosmic family. She or he becomes a
citizen of the world; a citizen of the cosmos – a cosmozen. Therefore, fanaticism
of any kind does not find place in any genuine God-experience. God is a unifying lover. We are invited to share in the unifying
mission of God. Genuine God experience,
therefore, leads us to work for universal peace. Loving all.
Peace for all.
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