By Fr Errol Fernandez, SJ
In A Jesuit's Blog
Day 1
OPENING PRAYER: Lord, teach us to be generous.
Teach us to love you and serve you as you deserve. To give and not to count the
cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to
labour and not to look for reward, save that of knowing that we do your most
holy will.
DEEP PERSONAL LOVE FOR GOD: One quality that
characterized the life of St. Ignatius above all others was his deep personal
life for God. Ignatius was so taken up with God that he was willing to do
anything. Go anywhere, and be anyone as long as he could be at the service of
God. For him God's will was primary and took precedence over everything else.
PRAYER: Father in heaven; give us today the same
grace that Ignatius received - to know you intimately - to love you more dearly
- and to follow your will more closely. Help us to reveal you as UNCONDITIONAL
LOVE in all we say and all we do.
CONTEMPLATION IN ACTION: While Ignatius
recommends setting aside time for prayer and communion with the Lord, in his
personal life, prayer was never separated from action. There was a constant
interplay between experience, reflection, decision and action, in line with the
ideal of being a contemplative in action like Jesus himself was.
PRAYER: God our Lord, help us to realize the
importance of prayer in our lives. May prayer be our first and last recourse.
Let our prayer be such that it will strengthen us and lead us to affirmative
action. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
LISTENING TO AND WAITING FOR GOD: Though
Ignatius was in constant and close touch with God, he never presumed to tell
God what to do. Rather, like an attentive student before his Master, he was
always
listening and discerning what God wanted him to
do.
PRAYER: Lord, sometimes we get impatient and want
today's answers yesterday and tomorrow's answers today. You ask us to be patient, because our ways
are not your ways and our time is not your time. Gift us with patience and the ability to listen to your voice. This
we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER: Take Lord, receive all my
liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will. You have given them to
me, to you I return them. Give me only your love and your grace that is enough
for me
Day 2
OPENING PRAYER: Lord, teach us to be generous.
Teach us to love you and serve you as you deserve. To give and not to count the
cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to
labour and not to look for reward, save that of knowing that we do your most
holy will.
THE EUCHARIST, THE SOURCE OF LIFE : St. lgnatius
was often moved to tears when he celebrated the Eucharist as he contemplated
the great mystery of God's love. This celebration was for him the primary
source of strength. The Eucharist was not merely a ritual but a Sacrament
in and through which he experienced the tangible
love of the Trinity.
PRAYER: Triune God, Father, Son and Spirit we
pray that the unity that you share may be the same unity that we feel. Give us
all the grace to know that we are all parts of one body, the Body of Christ.
May our concern for others be genuine and our love for the poor tangible. This
we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
IN SOLIDARITY WITH
THOSE MOST IN NEED: One of the most painful experiences of this year was the
COVID-19 pandemic. While every one of us was affected in some way or other, the
poor were affected the most. They were tossed to and fro not only by the
pandemic but even by those in power. To be sure, we are all in the same storm
of the pandemic, but we are in different boats. Will we make place for the poor
in our sturdy and safe boats?
PRAYER: God of the
poor and marginalised, Mary and Joseph were refugees themselves when they
sought a place to bring their child into the world. Jesus was a ‘migrant’ who
had “nowhere to lay his head.” We pray for those in authority all over the
world that they be given the grace to open their hearts and minds to the
reality of displacement and be generous with accommodating as many as possible.
This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: "Laudato Si"
has made us aware that our mother earth is very much in need of healing. Each
one of us is as responsible as the other for the care of our world. There is
too much of waste all around us and we are as responsible for it as anyone. Let
us resolve to use less of everything. It is amazing to note that if we reflect
and try we can make-do with less than half the things that we normally use.
This is true of water, soap, paper, electrivity, food, clothes and so many
other things.
PRAYER: Father, Son and Spirit, when you first
created our world, you wanted that all creation live in harmony. Our
selfishness has resulted in abuse of our mother. Give us the grace to use what
we need as true trustees of your gift of creation. We ask this of you our
Triune God. Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER: Take Lord, receive all my
liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will. You have given them to
me, to you I return them. Give me only your love and your grace that is enough
for me
Day 3
OPENING PRAYER: Lord, teach us to be generous.
Teach us to love you and serve you as you deserve. To give and not to count the
cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to
labour and not to look for reward, save that of knowing that we do your most
holy will.
IGNATIAN INDIFFERENCE: For Ignatius,
indifference did not mean complacency or
a laid back attitude. On the contrary, it was a means to reach the higher goal
or the greater good, and so Ignatius would be indifferent to success or
failure, riches or povertu, good health or sickness in order to achieve the
greater good, which was always the greater glory of God.
PRAYER: We often get disappointed when things do
not go our way.We sometimes give in to despair and lose hope. Gift us with the
gift of Ignatian indifference so that we may be able to accept everything that
happens to us as your will in our lives. Let us learn to be content in good
times as in bad, in sickness and in nealth, all the days of our lives. Amen.
EVER SEARCHING FOR THE MAGIS: The entire Iife of
St. lgnatius was a pilgrim search for the Magis, the ever greater glory of God,
the verr-fuller service of men and womenn, the more universal good, the more
effective apostolic means. The Magis was ot simply one among others
in the list of qualities of St. Ignatius -- it permeated them all.
PRAYER: God of all creation, we often tend to
let things slide and so become complacent and self-satisfied. We give in to the
sin of mediocrity and are content with the status quo. We prefer the tried and
tested ways and are afraid to try the new. We are afraid to make changes
because of the fear of change. Give us the grace to strive always to make the
good, better; the better, better still, and the better still, still better. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Tomorrow, we will celebrate the feast of St.
Ignatius of Loyola, the Founder of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits. For the
last two days we have been praying that through his intercession we might
obtain various graces to live more fully our own lives as individuals and as a
community. Today, on the last day of the triduum, we make our own, the last
meditation of the Spiritual Exercises which is titled The Contemplation to
Obtain Love.
In this meditation we are encouraged to see and
witness God working for us and for our good, indeed for the good of all
creation. We are exhorted therefore to find God in all things and all things in
God. It is easy to see God's hand when things go the way we want them to go,
but when our plans go awry and our world in turned upside down, God is present
in that situation as well.
CLOSING PRAYER: Take Lord, receive all my
liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will. You have given them to
me, to you I return them. Give me only your love and your grace that is enough
for me
