Message from the Archbishop, Don Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa, for July 31, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters:
Today, July 31, we celebrate the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. The admirable legacy of Ignatius, who passed away on a day like today, in the year 1556, reminds us of a holy seeker who wanted to love and serve God in everything. After the events that completely changed his life, he began to walk the path of conversion to achieve love in all the circumstances of his life.
«500 years ago, in Pamplona, all of Ignacio’s worldly dreams were shattered in a moment. The cannonball that struck him changed the course of his life and his world.” With these words, Pope Francis joined those who participated last year in the Day of Prayer Pilgrims with Ignatiusconvened by the Society of Jesus at the beginning of the Ignatian Year that we conclude today.
Since that May 20, 2021, we have been commemorating the 500th anniversary of the conversion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. A conversion capable of renewing the faith of so many people, a dream forged in small steps where the Father has not stopped writing His mark… «God’s dream for Ignatius –said the Holy Father– was not centered on Ignatius, it was about help souls. It was a dream of redemption, a dream of going out into the whole world, accompanied by Jesus, humble and poor».
For Ignatius, love and service to God, which materializes in the daily dedication to the service of the brothers, was always present as a fundamental desire. So much so that he went so far as to say that “if our Church is not marked by care for the poor, the oppressed and the hungry, we are guilty of heresy.”
And this is how the Jesuit communities have experienced it during this Ignatian Year: giving themselves and being a Samaritan offering that carries the wounded, that heals their wounds and that takes charge out of love. All, under the model of the good Samaritan, knowing that we are in the same boat, also aware of our fragility. In the end, if we extend our gaze to the whole of our history and throughout the world, we discover that we are all or have been like these characters in the parable: “We all have something of the wounded, something of a robber, something of those who pass by and some of the good samaritan» (Fratelli tutti69).
The world needs to see prophets in the disciples of Jesus, apostles of flesh and blood who, as the Holy Father has said on more than one occasion, “follow the Weekly Letter – Bishop Mario Iceta July 31, 2022 logic of faith and not of the miracle”, who put their hearts at the service of all, “without privileges or exclusions”.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola fervently wanted the Jesuits to hit the road and seek God in every detail. He wanted witnesses of authentic love and not spectators of a nameless cause, apostles dedicated body and soul and not guests stranded in some lost home, pilgrims of every letter of the Gospel and not walkers of any place with no destination.
This Ignatian Jubilee Year has been an impulse to embrace the supreme law of fraternal love, in pursuit of a Church that “is a house with open doors”, because “it is a mother” (Fratelli tutti, 269). Truly, “for those who love, nothing is too difficult, especially when it is done for love of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Saint Ignatius wrote. A message that the Virgin Mary guarded in the depths of her being. For the founder of the Jesuits, his love for her was an essential part of his spirituality. She resorted to her holy hands at all times and, when danger lurked in her steps, she posed before her feet all her tiredness to let herself be done again.
May Saint Ignatius continue to be a port of hope where we can go, every day and when it is most difficult for us to continue, to say – as he taught us – «in everything to love and serve». With great affection, I ask God to bless you.
+ Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa Archbishop of Burgos
With Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in everything to love and serve