[Salvation]

Sunday – Third Week of Lent

The Fig Tree

We are all going to die.

It might happen through cruelty (like those Galileans killed by Pilate.) or by accident (like those people in Jerusalem killed when a tower fell upon them.) But inevitably, we’re all going to die one way or another, and in the perspective of the long sweep of history, we’re going to died relatively soon.

Lent is a good time to think through like that.

We are each created by God and put here on earth for a purpose. We may not know, this side of the grave, what our purpose is. But if we do our best, in the circumstances of our own life, to live as Jesus taught us to live, we still accomplish our purpose. In the eyes of the world, what we do may not seem all that important. It won’t make me famous. But there is no greater, more important accomplishment than simply to do what it is God put us here to do.

But we don’t always take this seriously. We don’t think we’re that important or that good. But the fact is each one of us is put here by God to accomplish something that no one else is given to accomplish. And we do that simply by doing our best to live the Gospel in the situations of our own life.

Am I doing it? Am I living the Gospel and thus having the effects that god wanted me to have on this earth?

If not, I’ve still got some time given to me by the gardener, Jesus.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

[Salvation]

March 12, 2007

St. Ignatius of Loyola

During Lent of 1539, a former soldier named Ignatius of Loyola was about to embark on a path that would change his life.

After many years of studying in Paris (one of his roommates was Francis Xavier) Ignatius and several of his fellow students had come to Rome to place themselves at the Pope’ disposal to do God’s will.

Now, they had to make some decisions about their future. After many weeks of prayer and discussion, they decided to form a religious community.

It became known as the Company of Jesus, or Societatis Jesu. Eventually they became known as the Jesuits.

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While a soldier, Ignatius was severely wounded. One day, during his long recovery, he was unable to find light reading. Instead, he picked up some books on the life of Christ and several saints. He noticed that after such reading, he felt at peace. The experience eventually led to his conversion and helped him develop what is today known as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Exercises, which acknowledges the action of the Holy Spirit in one’s life, have become the foundation for many retreats. They are a form of reflection and meditation that guides one in discerning God’s will.

* * * * * *

St. Ignatius was canonized on this day in 1622.