The Feast of St Ignatius Loyola | Monday 31 July 2023
Happy feast of St Ignatius Loyola!
St Ignatius was the founder of the spirituality that inspires Pray As You Go.
We are always hoping to create the best prayer experience for you. Therefore, we are currently conducting a survey and we would love for you to help by letting us know your thoughts.
You can find this on our website at www.pray-as-you-go.org, or you can find the link in our app.
As you turn your attention to prayer now, become aware of God’s presence with you and you might like to begin by joining in with these words from St Ignatius himself, taken from the Suscipe:
You have given all to me,
To You, Lord, I return it.
Everything is Yours,
Do with it what you will
Give me only your love and your grace,
That is enough for me.
Amen.
Today is Monday the 31st of July, the feast of St Ignatius Loyola, in the 17th week of Ordinary Time.
Juliano Ravanello sings, Adoro Te Devote:
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Adoro te devote, latens Deitas
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit
Quia te contemplans totum deficit
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Fílius
Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius
In cruce latebat sola Deitas
At hic latet simul et humanitas
Ambo tamen credens atque confitens
Peto quod petivit latro pœnitens
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor
Deum tamen meum te confiteor
Fac me tibi semper magis credere
In te spem habere, te diligere
O memoriale mortis Domini!
Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini!
Præsta meæ menti de te vivere
Et te illi semper dulce sapere
Pie pellicane, Jesu Domine
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine
Cujus una stilla salvum faceret
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere
Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio
Oro fiat illud, quod tam sitio
Ut, te revelata cernens facie
Visu sim beatus tuæ gloriæ. Amen
Today’s reading is from the Prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 20:7-9
O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
St. Ignatius, whose feast we celebrate today, stresses the importance of desire in prayer. The prophet Jeremiah feels compelled to speak in God’s name. What desires and feelings are you aware of in your relationship with God? Are you able to share these feelings with God, or does something prevent you from doing so?
Jeremiah prophesied in a time of huge political and social upheaval, but society’s rulers didn’t welcome his message. Sharing your faith or naming society’s ills in God’s name may be an unpopular move. How does your life of faith invite you to respond to the cry of our suffering world?
As you hear the reading repeated, allow any words or phrases that catch your attention to stay in your heart, allowing the words to resonate. Why do those words draw you specially?
As you allow today’s powerful reading to take hold, what do you find yourself wanting to say to God? Speak from your heart as God’s word invites you.
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.
Happy feast of St Ignatius Loyola!
St Ignatius was the founder of the spirituality that inspires Pray As You Go.
We are always hoping to create the best prayer experience for you. Therefore, we are currently conducting a survey and we would love for you to help by letting us know your thoughts.
You can find this on our website at www.pray-as-you-go.org, or you can find the link in our app.