DAILY- HOMILY

July 31, 2015 FRIDAY – ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA 

Priest and Founder of the Society of Jesus 

Solemnity, White

Dt 30:15 – 20 / 1 Tim 1: 12 – 17 / Lk 9:18 – 26

[St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556), a Basque, founded the Society of Jesus and taught the Spiritual Exercises.]

First Reading: Dt 30:15 – 20 

     See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love Yahweh, your God and follow his ways. Observe his commandments, his norms and his laws, and you will live and increase, and Yahweh will give you his blessing in the land you are going to possess. But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan. 

     Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving Yahweh, listening to his voice, and being one with him. In this is life for you and length of days in the land which Yahweh swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Second Reading: 1 Tim 1:12 – 17

     I give thanks to Christ Jesus, our Lord, who is my strength, who has considered me trustworthy and appointed me to his service, although I had been a blasphemer, a persecutor and a rabid enemy. However he took mercy on me because I did not know what I was doing when I opposed the faith; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, together with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 

     This saying is true and worthy of belief: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. Because of that I was forgiven; Christ Jesus wanted to display his utmost patience so that I might be an example for all who are to believe and obtain eternal life. To the King of ages, the only God who lives beyond every perishable and visible creation—to him be honor and glory forever. Amen!

Gospel: Lk 9:18 – 26

     One day when Jesus was praying alone, not far from his disciples, he asked them, "What do people say about me?" And they answered, "Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say that you are Elijah, and still others that you are one of the former prophets risen from the dead." Again Jesus asked them, "Who then do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Messiah of God." Then Jesus spoke to them, giving them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.

     And he added, "The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and put to death. Then after three days he will be raised to life."

     Jesus also said to all the people, "If you wish to be a follower of mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it. What does it profit you to gain the whole world while you destroy or damage yourself? If someone feels ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Glory and in the Glory of his Father with his holy angels. 

Reflection:

     After having been with his disciples for a couple of years, it was important for Jesus to ask them who he was to them. They first told him what they heard from others, that he was John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets of old. But Jesus wanted to hear what they thought, "Who then do you say I am?" Jesus was asking him what they themselves thought.

     Peter's reply was a bold proclamation of Jesus as the "Messiah of God." Subsequently Jesus predicts his passion and death, "The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and put to death. Then after three days he will be raised to life."  

     Understandably the disciples did not understand what Jesus told them. Even Peter, who had confessed him as "the Messiah of God" and would later be privileged to witness his transfiguration and had been warned about his betrayal of the Lord, could not understand how Jesus could be arrested, beaten up and put to death on the cross. Before common-folk Peter deserted and betrayed him.

     Today is the Solemnity of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest and Founder of the Society of Jesus. Like the saints of old, Ignatius was moved to desire to be of greater service to the Lord Jesus. If he would have been asked by the Lord what he was to him, he most probably would have answered, "Lord, you are everything to me, my Lord and Savior, my King and my best friend ever." 

     Ignatius learned to know and love Jesus above all in prayer and contemplation: in the context of a loving and "intimate" friendship.  Ignatius encountered Jesus who shared our humanity at his birth in Bethlehem, as Jesus grew in wisdom, age and grace before God and man in the family home and shop in Nazareth, as Jesus left Mary and home for his public life to carry out his mission, as he traversed Galilee a preaching the Good News, as he chose and taught his disciples, as he agonized in the garden and at the hands of the Roman soldiers, as he hung to his death on the cross, and as he was raised from the dead in his resurrection.

     Contemplation, prayer and friendship endeared Ignatius to the person of Jesus who as-it-were swept Ignatius off his feet and moved him to stake his whole life and being in the following and service of Jesus as his eternal King.  Ignatius wished to be wherever the Lord was. 

     The path of Ignatius is something we could learn from and aspire to: to know Jesus more closely, to love him more dearly and to follow and serve him with great love and generosity, "not just in words but in deeds."   

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     AIDZ DY

     HELEN TAN

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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