Saint Ignatius Loyola: Godly Desicions

St. Ignatius Loyola Name: Institution: Course: Date: St. Ignatius Loyola St. Ignatius of Loyola had always cherished great exploits, glory and even fame seeing that he had been in the military. However, in one of his escapades he happened to have been injured which ended up shattering his career and with it his spiritual life. This was a low point in his life, but in retrospect one that would guide him into a new realm of decision making and rebuilding his spirituality (Meconi, 2014). This is also a reflection of what Christians go through as they try to make decisions that are Godly. It is a skill that can be associated with the ability to discern what is Godly and what can be considered to be evil, when it comes to very compelling life choices. The ultimate test of being a devout Christian comes with the ability to have faith even in the midst of a situation that does not seem to have any form of resolve. It is common for Christian however, to experience fear and this ends up taking over their ability to make decisions. Instead, it is important to make decisions that are much more aligned with the faith that one has in the power of the Lord. There is a line between desires and God’s calling. Most of the time, people will be drawn to act on their desires than acknowledge what God is calling them to do. In the case of Ignatius, he was struggling with the same (Figueroa, 2018). He had been avoiding to do what God was calling him to and instead sort to serve his desires in the form of glory and adventure. In essence, he was simply serving his own desires and was in fear of serving the Lord. It is interesting to note that he was fearless in battle, killing non-Christians, but was in fear of listening to the call of the Lord to serve him. He chose to be an earthly soldier rather than heed to the calls from the Lord and become a soldier serving the Lord. As he healed from the wounds that he had sustained at Pamploma while fighting the French, he weighed through the options of following his desires against following in the way of the Lord and serving Him in the ministry. It is also during this time that he was able to connect between imagination and happiness and at the same time connected fantasy to sorrow. This is a rather interesting element of revelation, in reference to the way that people interact with their environment as they try to discern what their true purpose in life is. More often than not, people will question why they exist and it is this question that Ignatius sort to answer himself. In retrospect, when one has a heart that is filled with fear, they are drawn away from God and all elements that are associated to living a healthy life. Fear is a way that the evil spirits use to intimidate the people into running away from the desires of the Lord for their lives. Fear brings the spirit of sloth in the life of a Christian and takes away the desire of communion with God. According to Ignatius, it is important for Christians to increase their faith and shun away from fear for them to realize the gifts that the Lord has placed within them and more importantly, shun away from base things. To better define what God has ...