Indeed Ignatius does step into our times through the availability of his spirituality in various publications, in his Spiritual Exercises, in Ignatian movements and groups e.g C.L.C and through our contact with his present day companions, the Jesuits. We, in our own parish, are privileged in this regard.

His Spiritual Exercises emerged from his experiences of God during his enforced convalescent period at Loyola and his retreat at Manresa. These experiences transformed Ignatius’s life. What God had done for Ignatius, he could make accessible to everyone by offering his Spiritual Exercises, thus helping people to a right relationship with God for whose praise, reverence and service they were created and to discover what God wants in their lives.

Here we touch on what we may call the great passion of his life, i.e seeking and finding the will of God. In this he resembled his beloved Lord whose whole life’s passion was to glorify his Father on the earth and to do the work his Father had sent him to do.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the Exercises centre mainly on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus so that one may come to know him, love him and follow him who is the Way that leads to the Father.

In order to continue to be with Jesus in this way, we need some means of discerning how we are responding to God in all our daily activities. The tool Ignatius offers us is the Examen. In this time of prayer, we begin by thanking God for all his goodness to us, especially for his gifts today. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we reflect on our response to God’s movements in our lives expressing sorrow for any failure to respond in love, handing all over to the Lord and entrusting the morrow to him. This exercise enables us to find God in the ordinariness of our daily lives.

Thus Ignatian Spirituality offers us a way to be aware of God’s call at the heart of our being, to respond in love and joy, living our lives to the full in loving service of God and of others.