Homily | July 31, 2026 | Saint Ignatius Of Loyola And The Desires That Last | (Episode 215)

Every saint has a turning point, a moment when life forces them to answer one question.

What do I really want?

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and we're minded that holiness doesn't begin in a monastery.

It begins with a decision, a decisive decision.

Ignatius was born in Spain in fourteen ninety one into a noble family.

He wasn't interested in becoming a saint.

In fact, if you had met the young Ignatius, you probably would have described him as ambitious, proud, and fascinated by fame.

He dreamed of becoming a great knight, wanted honor, recognition, adventure.

His heroes weren't saints, they were soldiers.

Then everything changed with one cannonball.

In fifteen twenty one, during the Battle of Pamplona, a cannonball shattered his leg.

His military career was over.

Confined to bed for months he asked for books about knights and heroic battles.

Oh there weren't any.

The only books available were the life of Christ and the life of saints.

Well, reluctantly he began to read them.

There wasn't anything else to read, and at first he read simply because he was bored.

But something happened.

He noticed that when he imagined becoming a famous knight, the excitement faded quickly.

When he imagined living like Saint Francis or Saint Dominic, the joy remained.

For the very first time in his life he realized something profound.

Not every desire comes from God.

Some desires leave us empty.

Others lead us to lasting peace.

That simple discovery became the foundation of what we today now call the spiritual exercises, one of the greatest spiritual masterpieces ever written.

Ignatius taught Christians to examine not only what they do, but what is happening inside their hearts.

Which thoughts bring me closer to Christ?

Which thoughts are the ones that pull me away from Christ?

And that changed his life.

And eventually it changed the church.

The Society of Jesus, the Jesuits had educated saints, missionaries, scientists, theologians, and countless faithful Catholics for nearly five hundred years because one wounded soldier listened and learned to listen to God.

Today's reading show us what that decision costs.

Jeremiah faithfully preaches God's word.

You see what happens.

Well, the people threaten to kill him.

Jesus returns to his hometown.

The people who knew him best reject him.

It's a sobering reminder.

Faithfulness doesn't always earn applause.

Well, sometimes it earns opposition.

Why?

Well, because the truth makes us uncomfortable.

And truth demands something of us.

People usually don't reject the messenger because they don't understand him.

They reject the messenger because they understand him all too well.

Jeremiah called people to conversion.

Jesus called people to conversion.

Neither message was popular.

Neither message changed to make people comfortable.

Saving Nation understood this.

One of his most famous prayers contains these remarkable words Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will.

Think about that.

Not just my time, not just my possessions, my entire will.

In other words, Lord, I want what you want.

That's the goal of every Christian life, not getting God to agree with my plans, but allowing my heart to become aligned with His.

Every day we're surrounded by voices telling us what should matter success, popularity, money, status, comfort, things.

Ignatius would ask a different question.

Well, which voice is leading me closer to Christ?

And that's the question worth asking every evening before going to bed.

What drew me closer to Jesus today?

What pulled me away?

What anxieties am I experiencing?

Where did I experience his peace?

Where did I settle for something else?

Where did I compromise?

Those few minutes of prayer can slowly transform a life.

And if we turn to the end of the gospel today, we're told something tragic.

Jesus didn't work his mighty deeds because of their lack of faith.

But notice something.

It wasn't that Jesus lacked power, no.

They lacked openness.

You see, God never forces his way into a closed heart.

Today Saint Ignatius invites us to open our hearts, to listen more carefully, to desire what God desires, and to remember that every saint began exactly where we are, as ordinary, everyday people who finally decided that knowing Christ was worth more than the applause of the world.

Ad majorium de glorium.

Amen.