Give Me Your Love and Your Grace

Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

In honour of his life and the gift of his way of spirituality – we end the day with his prayer:

“O my God, teach me to be generous
to serve you as you deserve to be served
to give without counting the cost
to fight without fear of being wounded
to work without seeking rest
and to labour without expecting any reward
but the knowledge that I am doing your holy will. Amen” 

This prayer is a goal that we should all strive toward.

It is all about doing. Ignatius understood the call to follow Jesus and imitate his way. In a day in age when we are fixated on discussions about what we believe, let us remember a saint whose life and witness was a reminder to do the work of Jesus – be generous, serve, give, fight, work, labour… let us be the church by doing the will of Jesus of Nazareth.

Hear also these words of the great saint:

“God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God’s purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.  All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.  As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.” 

It is good to be reminded that we are called to be a people of love and service and to come to understand that love and service are embodied in what we do and not what we say.

“Love is shown more in deeds than in words.”  – St. Ignatius of Loyola

Let us look for places to be the Love that God has called us to be.