Unfinished Path
Reflection on the life of Saint Ignatius by Adrian Dungo
“For they speak of Christ, not that they may preach Christ, but that they may reject Christ; and they speak of the law, not that they may establish the law, but that they may proclaim things contrary to it.” As unfortunate as it sounds, this quote by St. Ignatius of Loyola became more accurate as time went on. Nowadays the presentation of a faithful heart is ridiculed by the population as they go on questioning the very existence of a God. In addition to the detergent of faith brought by the pandemic, the loss and weakening of faith has become abundant, Life as a Catholic is not an easy one especially being an avid practitioner at that. Despite all these however, as the life of St. Ignatius will go on to prove, there will always be the presence of God in all these points of uncertainty.
Saint Ignatius, as the title of saint will go on to depict, lived a life in the awe and service of Christ. However, this was not always the case. Ironically, Ignatius was a rather sensual man pre awakening. As most of us are, we had taken the concept of religion in a light hearted manner multiple times in our lives. I do acknowledge the fact that God’s wisdom is beyond ours to which the mechanics of His work are in motion. However far as human knowledge can go, I believe that no one is born a saint. Born with original sin, in a chaotic world it is hard to find Christ at times. To dive deeper, it’s harder to find a clear sign of what he wants us to do.
The same thing can be said about the life of St. Ignatius. The boulder that almost killed him, who would’ve thought that would be the start of his life with God. He didn’t want to get hit with the boulder, nor did he even want to read about the lives of saints. Ultimately we see the conjoined effects of the gift of freedom in the works of God’s wisdom. St. Ignatius’ life was changed due to his will of being inspired by the books. My greatest reflection from his life was that opportunities to make yourself a better person than you were are always present, it is what you would do with them that counts.
In all honesty, I wasn’t looking forward to learning about the life of St. Ignatius. However, as I go deeper into my freshman year in Ateneo de Manila, I would try to follow in that of St. Ignatius in doing the best I can do for the glory of God. A sense of inspiration and reflection was achieved through this module. With this I am glad to say that I am on my way to fixing this unfinished path ahead of me, making the most of my opportunities given to me.
