Let us place ourselves before our loving God and pray the official Ignatian Year prayer together.
Loving God,
We come before You asking for Your special grace as we go through the year dedicated to the memory of the conversion of Saint Ignatius.
We remember the battle of Pamplona, the bravery of Ignatius, his recklessness, his ability to relate to his comrades. We remember his wound; his broken dreams; his apparent failure; the vulnerability of his health; his return to Loyola and the long days of soul searching to try to find his way in life, finally surrendering his life to You as he listened to Your voice speaking to him through his reading, his dreams, his prayers and his imagination. We remember his journey to Manresa; his inner struggles; his desire to reach out to others, helping souls to discover the consolation of Your Risen Son. We ask, Lord, that You renew, also today, Ignatius’ spirit in us.
May we grow closer to his total trust in the Holy Spirit, following Him faithfully, neither running ahead or falling behind. May we make our own his ability to discern, his courage, his vulnerability, his search for companionship; his openness to young people and his desire to share with them his wisdom. May we learn from his fearlessness in going forward even if it meant, sometimes, making mistakes. Grant, Lord, that we may be on fire with his apostolic zeal and full of love for this beautiful but broken world.
Help us, Lord to set aside our narrow views, our preconceptions of ourselves, of each other, of our world and to see everything with new eyes. Help us to live ever more deeply the Ignatian charism of seeing all things new in Christ, of seeing Your grace at work, even in darkness and suffering. May this Ignatian Year help us to know Jesus poor and humble, to love Him more dearly, and follow Him more closely.
We ask the intercession of Our Lady of the Way. May she help us journey with Your Son, Jesus, putting our hand in His, stepping out, every day, into the world with a sense of adventure, of love and hope.
Amen.
|
|
