July 31st is the feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and while many are familiar with the Jesuit Order he founded, few appreciate the life he led and even fewer try to imitate his example. Yet when we look at his life, especially his conversion, we find a simple way that everyone can easily imitate.
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To learn this simple way, let us examine the story of his conversion.
For much of his early life, Saint Ignatius was enraptured by the fantastical tales of knights and ladies. He would often dwell upon these stories and place himself in them. He recounted later that he often,
“…pictured to himself what he should do in honor of an illustrious lady, how he should journey to the city where she was, in what words he would address her, and what bright and pleasant sayings he would make use of, what manner of warlike exploits he should perform to please her.”
These tales fueled his life for some time and influenced how he looked at the world. It was a life divorced from Christ and one taken up in many vain pursuits for power and glory.
It took a battlefield injury to put everything back in perspective. While recuperating in his bed, he desired to read more stories of knightly chivalry. Providentially there were no such books around. This forced him to read two books that deeply shaped him and transformed him into another person.
Here is his account of the event,
“As Ignatius had a love for fiction, when he found himself out of danger he asked for some romances to pass away the time. In that house there was no book of the kind. They gave him, instead, “The Life of Christ,” by Rudolph, the Carthusian, and another book called the “Flowers of the Saints,” both in Spanish. By frequent reading of these books he began to get some love for spiritual things. This reading led his mind to meditate on holy things, yet sometimes it wandered to thoughts which he had been accustomed to dwell upon before.
While perusing the life of Our Lord and the saints, he began to reflect, saying to himself: “What if I should do what St. Francis did?” “What if I should act like St. Dominic?” He pondered over these things in his mind, and kept continually proposing to himself serious and difficult things. He seemed to feel a certain readiness for doing them, with no other reason except this thought: “St. Dominic did this; I, too, will do it.” “St. Francis did this; therefore I will do it.” These heroic resolutions remained for a time, and then other vain and worldly thoughts followed. This succession of thoughts occupied him for a long while, those about God alternating with those about the world. But in these thoughts there was this difference. When he thought of worldly things it gave him great pleasure, but afterward he found himself dry and sad. But when he thought of journeying to Jerusalem, and of living only on herbs, and practising austerities, he found pleasure not only while thinking of them, but also when he had ceased.
This difference he did not notice or value, until one day the eyes of his soul were opened and he began to inquire the reason of the difference. He learned by experience that one train of thought left him sad, the other joyful. This was his first reasoning on spiritual matters. Afterward, when he began the Spiritual Exercises, he was enlightened, and understood what he afterward taught his children about the discernment of spirits. When gradually he recognized the different spirits by which he was moved, one, the spirit of God, the other, the devil, and when he had gained no little spiritual light from the reading of pious books, he began to think more seriously of his past life, and how much penance he should do to expiate his past sins. Amid these thoughts the holy wish to imitate saintly men came to his mind; his resolve was not more definite than to promise with the help of divine grace that what they had done he also would do.” (The Autobiography of Saint Ignatius)
Saint Ignatius was forced to read the lives of the Saints and by the end of reading them, he deeply desired to imitate them. He asked himself, “What if I should do what St. Francis did?” “What if I should act like St. Dominic?” These questions are ones that we too often neglect. We think to ourselves, “I could never be like St. Francis,” or “St. Dominic was a saint, I could never be a saint.”
We also tend to lower our goal, being satisfied with Purgatory instead of aiming for Heaven. Too often I hear the refrain, “I hope to get into Purgatory. I could never go straight to Heaven.” By doing so, we set the bar low and pray that when we die we are good enough to pass the gates of Purgatory. This is a very faulty way to look at eternal life.
If we aim at Purgatory and fail, the only other place to go is Hell. If we aim at Heaven and fall short, we are saved by God’s Divine Mercy and are purified in Purgatory.
So in the end, let us learn from Saint Ignatius of Loyola and read the lives of the Saints. And let us not only read their holy and inspiring lives, but let us try to imitate them.
We need more heroic men and women in our world today. It doesn’t take much to change the world. Just look at Saint Francis and Saint Ignatius. Both men renounced the world and lived in poverty, yet their religious orders were the first to bring the Gospel to many parts of the world and brought numerous souls to Christ. Those were just two individuals who inspired and continue to inspire millions of people.
Aim high and be a Saint. The world needs you.