On July 31, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus otherwise known as the Jesuits.
St. Ignatius’ inspiration to cast aside a life of privilege and to take up a life of generous service for “the greater glory of God” has guided Saint Louis University since the first Jesuits began as teachers and administrators of the St. Louis College in 1829.
During his life, St. Ignatius and his Jesuit companions helped to lead the renewal of the Church, promoted the sharing of the Gospel with others near and far, established the foundation for what is today the largest system of private education in the world and exhorted Jesuits as well as nobles and common folk to care for and advocate for the poor and the marginalized. His Spiritual Exercises have given us a powerful method of prayer that leads a retreatant to prayerfully consider one’s relationship with God and one’s place in the beauty of God’s creation. The Spiritual Exercises reflected St. Ignatius profound experience of God and his great desire to discern what God desired of him. As Pope Francis observed in 2017, “Like Saint Ignatius of Loyola, let us be won over by the Lord Jesus and, led by Him, place ourselves at the service of others.”
Let us all remember that whatever we do, even in the simplest of things- is for the greater glory of God!
Comments