Prayerful Thought from St Ignatius

Do not let the short period of time that you have left pass you by without fruit. In our final moments, you may find, when you would give all that you have and all that the world is worth to have an hour in which to be sorry for your sins and to do some good, that that hour may not be given you if now, in the time allotted you through God's wisdom, you refuse to take advantage of it and help yourself.

[Monumenta Ignatiana: Epistolae et Instructiones 9:310]

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

Your first and greatest asset will be to distrust yourself and have a great and magnanimous trust in God. Join to this an ardent desire, enkindled and sustained by obedience and charity, to attain the end proposed. Such a desire will keep the end always before your mind, and make you also commend it to God in your sacrifices and prayers and to make diligent use of all other suitable means.

The second means is a good life, and therefore an exemplary life. You should shun, not only evil but the very semblance of evil, and show yourselves as patterns of modesty, charity, and all other virtues.

Give proof that you are not seeking your own interests, but those of Jesus Christ [Phil. 2:21], that is, His glory and the good of souls.


LETTER OF ST IGNATIUS TO THE FATHERS DEPARTING FOR GERMANY
Sept. 24, 1549

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of your presence, your love, and your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to you, we shall see your hand, your purpose, your will through all things.

Attributed to Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

Although we are obliged to avoid all that is evil, still we must be especially on our guard against that to which our nature is most inclined, for it is precisely from that source that our ruin will come if we do not exercise vigilant care over ourselves

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly.

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint.

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

In our dealings with others, we ought to speak little but listen much, and when we do speak our few words should be spoken as if the whole world were listening and not just one individual.

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

To make progress in the practice of virtue, it is of great advantage to have a friend, whom you yourself have chosen, to advise you of your faults.

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

Realize that illness and other temporal setbacks often come to us from the hand of God our Lord, and are sent to help us know ourselves better, to free ourselves of the love of created things, and to reflect on the brevity of this life and, thus, to prepare ourselves for the life which is without end.

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

If we desire to live in honor and to be esteemed by our neighbors, then we shall never be solidly rooted in God our Lord, and it will be impossible for us to remain undisturbed when insults come our way.

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

The moment you decided to use all your strength in praising, honoring, and serving God our Lord, that was the moment you entered battle with the world, raised your standards against it, and made yourself ready to reject all that is exalted by embracing all that is lowly. At the same time you resolved to accept with indifference positions high or low, honor or dishonor, riches or poverty, to be loved or hated, to be appreciated or scorned—in short, the world's glory or the injuries it could inflict upon you.

Prayerful thought from St. Ignatius of Loyola

I can love a person in this life only insofar as he tries to advance in the praise and service of God our Lord; for the man who loves anything for itself and not for the sake of God, does not love God with his whole heart.