The Feast of St Ignatius Loyola | Sunday 31 July 2022

Today is Sunday the 31st July, the feast of St Ignatius Loyola.

The Community of Taizé sing Christe Lux Mundi: ‘O Christ, light of the world, whoever follows you will have the light of life.’

Christe, lux mundi,
qui sequitur te,
habebit lumen vitae,
lumen vitae


Today’s reading is from the gospel of Luke.

Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Today is the feast day of St Ignatius of Loyola. He was made a Saint exactly 400 years ago. Famously he was faced with a simple choice: to live a shallow, vain, self-centred life aiming at worldly success and glory, or, to follow Jesus and beg the person he was created to be. Both options would involve some carrying of a cross. Ignatius came to realise that his deeper joy was in the latter choice, and he gladly chose that joy, and the cross that came with it.

As you live your vocation, what cross are you glad to accept? What do you want to say to Jesus about it?


Listen again to Jesus here, speaking with hyperbole about hating father and mother! What’s he really saying about choosing the greater good?

Is there something in your life, a possession, an attachment that gets in the way of following Jesus more joyfully? Talk to him about it and ask for his help.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.