Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, priest
(Matthew 13:47-53)
A second century theologian named Marcion taught that Christianity has no need of the Old Testament. Rather, he proposed that St. Paul’s letters along with his own version of the gospel were enough to relate the message of salvation. Although he attracted a considerable following, Marcion was eventually excommunicated. But his ideas have endured. Today some Christians have little use for the story of Israel or mistakenly claim that the God revealed in the Old Testament (whom they mistakenly consider driven by justice) is fundamentally different the God of the New Testament (whom they rightfully associate with love).
In today’s gospel Jesus relates a parable that refutes Marcion and subsequent subscribers to the idea that the Old Testament is excisable. He compares a worthy scribe or, we might say, theologian to a homeowner with a large storeroom. Just as the homeowner brings out both old and new items from his storeroom to accommodate the household so the theologian uses both the New and the Old Testament to describe the Kingdom of heaven. We should note the order the homeowner employs – the new comes first and then the old. Jesus means to say that his teaching, what we find in the New Testament, has a priority over the still indispensable revelation in the Old Testament.
Today we celebrate St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. He too resembles a homeowner using both new and old. He lived in the sixteenth century, a time of challenge for the Church. Protestantism was taking root then throughout northern Europe and the recent discovery of new lands made evangelization a primary concern. Ignatius drew upon new ideas to form his Jesuits without foregoing tradition. He maintained that Jesuits were to incarnate the ideal of “contemplation in action” – active in engaging the new challenges and contemplative in appreciating the Christian legacy.
Showing posts with label St. Ignatius of Loyola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Ignatius of Loyola. Show all posts
Homilette for Tuesday, July 31, 2207
Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola
(Exodus 33-34)
What kind of person can maintain herself or himself forty days without food or drink? We would say a strong-willed man or woman, someone who is tough, probably a person who no longer lives for himself or herself but one given in love for another whom he or she wishes to please with fullness of heart. As the reading from Exodus indicates, such a person was Moses, a Jew by birth, a noble by adoption, God’s prophet by divine election. Such a one is also Ignatius of Loyola who died on this date 451 years ago.
Like Moses before the burning bush Ignatius had a vision of God when he was a young man. He never revealed exactly what took place but said that he learned more from the vision than he did the rest of his life! It evidently taught him “to see God in all things” which became the inspiration of the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits), the religious order he founded. Ignatius wanted to spend his life in the Holy Land following the paths of Moses and, of course, of Jesus. But his holy land became a small apartment in Rome from which he directed the development of the Society into the foremost defenders of the Catholic faith.
Few or possibly none of us have the tenacity and, indeed, the love of God that characterize Moses and Ignatius. Yet, our lot is not simply to stand in awe at their accomplishments. Rather, ours is to practice discipline like they did. Discipline is a fundamental part of our discipleship of Christ. There may be no need, desire, or use in fasting forty days. However, going without a meal on a regular basis and abstaining from alcohol and coffee at an appointed should result in a clearer vision of God in the things He has created.
(Exodus 33-34)
What kind of person can maintain herself or himself forty days without food or drink? We would say a strong-willed man or woman, someone who is tough, probably a person who no longer lives for himself or herself but one given in love for another whom he or she wishes to please with fullness of heart. As the reading from Exodus indicates, such a person was Moses, a Jew by birth, a noble by adoption, God’s prophet by divine election. Such a one is also Ignatius of Loyola who died on this date 451 years ago.
Like Moses before the burning bush Ignatius had a vision of God when he was a young man. He never revealed exactly what took place but said that he learned more from the vision than he did the rest of his life! It evidently taught him “to see God in all things” which became the inspiration of the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits), the religious order he founded. Ignatius wanted to spend his life in the Holy Land following the paths of Moses and, of course, of Jesus. But his holy land became a small apartment in Rome from which he directed the development of the Society into the foremost defenders of the Catholic faith.
Few or possibly none of us have the tenacity and, indeed, the love of God that characterize Moses and Ignatius. Yet, our lot is not simply to stand in awe at their accomplishments. Rather, ours is to practice discipline like they did. Discipline is a fundamental part of our discipleship of Christ. There may be no need, desire, or use in fasting forty days. However, going without a meal on a regular basis and abstaining from alcohol and coffee at an appointed should result in a clearer vision of God in the things He has created.
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