The Ignatian Journey
He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself, or he loses his labor.
—Saint Ignatius of Loyola
A view of the Camino de Santiago, not far from Pamplona, Spain
Have you ever experienced one of those life-altering moments? A moment where, even if you couldn’t articulate how, you knew it was going to change everything.
A chance meeting.
A courageous decision.
Saying “Yes.” Or perhaps “No.”
An unveiling where suddenly you saw things for what they were, not for what you wanted them to be.
A painful end to a relationship.
Finally, finally, finally, finding rock bottom.
Getting smashed in the leg by a cannonball.
Wait, what?
The cannonball came out of left field. Or maybe it was right. I’m sure it didn’t matter much to Iñigo Lopez de Loyola at the time. Iñigo, who would later become Saint Ignatius, had aspirations, hopes, dreams. He was pursuing them on the battlefield of Pamplona when the cannonball hit, rendering him bedridden for an entire year. That cannonball turned his life upside down and back around and ultimately brought Him before the face of Jesus, the most unexpected encounter of all.
Saint Ignatius dedicated his life to Christian service, founding the Society of Jesus in 1534 in Paris in the crypt of a small chapel under the shadow of where the great Sacred Heart Cathedral stands today. I once climbed the 300 steps to the top of the dome of the Sacré-Cœur and, leaning over the edge to see beyond the elongated necks of the gargoyles, looked down onto the courtyard with three crosses that stand where Saint Ignatius would have stood.
Ignatius devoted himself to developing the Spiritual Exercises, a series of meditations, prayers, and other contemplative practices meant to guide one deeper into relationship with God and with others. The process is something like a call and response, inviting you to notice and respond, first, to God’s invitation into His love and mercy and, then, consider how He has created you uniquely to live out your calling in the world. It is a retreating inward to the soul’s depths in order to venture back out again into a life of purposeful service.
We all hit seasons of life when we question what we were made for. How did I get here? What am I doing and why? Like Ignatius, we are forced to let go of childhood dreams and walk a new, undefined path. Sometimes we don’t realize until much later that we’ve been wandering in the wilderness. It takes time and intentional effort to make sense of our stories, to understand where we’ve come from. We need to be still to hear the voice of Jesus calling us out of the wilderness to the place “I will show you.”
The Ignatian journey is about understanding your story under God’s loving gaze. It’s about discovering who God made you to be, learning to live from your deepest longings, and cultivating inner freedom to live fully into your calling as a co-laborer in the glorious kingdom of Christ.
Ignatius was a broken man—literally—in 1521 after that cannonball tore through him. A little over a quarter of a century later, he wrote the Suspice or “Take Lord, Receive” which is included in the Spiritual Exercises.
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
—Saint Ignatius
If you’re reading this and thinking, “I want that!” then I invite you to join the next Ignatian cohort that will begin in September.
You can read more about it on my website and reach out to schedule a personal consultation. melissajantz.com
Testimonial
I joined Ignatian because I wanted a spiritual overhaul in my life. I longed for God, and Ignatian gave me the tools to cultivate a passion for our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the exercises that impacted me was studying Jesus' ministry on earth. As I read through the assigned passages for the week, I immersed myself in His life of service and obedience to the Father. The result led me craving for spiritual freedom that could only be found in letting go of myself and giving God my all.
During the Ignatian course, I realized one of the reasons I felt spiritually desolate was because I had isolated myself from the church. I prioritized being a first-time mom and having a new job over letting others into my life. In response to the work He had started, I found myself longing for fellowship and therefore began seeking deeper relationships with others again.
Ignatian required much work on my part, but it was work that produced valuable fruit.
—C.C.
