St. Ignatius of Loyola & Our Lady

Many recognize St. Ignatius for his incredible contribution to discernment of God's will and spiritual retreats, however, many do not know that he had a quite spectacular encounter with Our Lady that allowed him to become the saint that we know him to be.  

Read and meditate on what is written in his Autobiography:

"The vain thoughts were gradually lessened by means of these desires—desires that were not a little

strengthened by the following vision. While watching one night he plainly saw the image of the Blessed

Mother of God with the Infant Jesus, at the sight of which, for a considerable time, he received abundant

consolation, and felt such contrition for his past life that he thought of nothing else. From that time until

August, 1555, when this was written, he never felt the least motion of concupiscence. This privilege we may suppose from this fact to have been a divine gift, although we dare not state it, nor say anything except

confirm what has been already said. His brother and all in the house recognized from what appeared

externally how great a change had taken place in his soul."

We must understand that he had already had his initial conversion after his injury from battle and he had already begun to experience and formulate what would later become the Spiritual Exercises.  Prior to this apparition, he had entered a period of reparation for his past sins, which included fasting and scourging himself.  These would have been considered quite normal for any ascetic at the time.  What we can understand from this experience of St. Ignatius is the importance of Chastity and Our Lady's role in bringing us to that point.  The Scriptures are quite clear when the Psalms say "Who can climb the mountain of the Lord? The man with clean hands and a pure heart..." (Psalm 24)

Notice that this was not given to him simply as the result of his effort; his effort merely laid the groundwork for this incredible and free gift that was given to him by God through Our Lady.  Just as Our Lady's Immaculate Conception was the foundation for her mission in her life, so too was this gift of chastity essential for St. Ignatius establishing the Jesuits as well as giving us the Spiritual Exercises.  Is this any surprise, since our God is a God of Love and love is above all things pure and chaste.

In every major religion of the world, we see a great desire to commune with the Divine and to climb that difficult mountain.  The gift of Chastity is the most difficult obstacle for every human to overcome since it is ultimately the work of God to overcome our lusts and sinful desires.  The only thing that we can do is prepare the groundwork to receive this gift from the hands of Our Lady.

Let us imitate the example of St. Ignatius, atone for our sins and lay the groundwork for God to give us this magnificent gift of chastity through the most pure and holy hands of Our Blessed Mother.