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"Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20)

On Patience in Practicing Poverty: To the Members of the Society in Europe, Rome, December 24, 1552


Though this letter of Ignatius is brief, nevertheless, it is full of affection as he exhorts his sons to embrace the grace of poverty. To help them accept it with greater readiness and cheerfulness, Ignatius reminds the Jesuits of their brothers in India. The letter was written in Italian [Ep. 4:564-565].


The peace of Christ.

From various letters we learn that God our Lord is visiting your reverences with the effects of holy poverty, that is, the inconveniences that come from being deprived of certain temporal goods which are necessary for health and the body's well-being. It is no small grace that the Divine Goodness deigns to bestow on us in allowing us actually to taste that which we should always desire if we are to walk in the footsteps of our guide Jesus Christ, and in conformity with the vow taken in accordance with the Institute of our holy order.

Truly, I do not know if there is any place in the Society where the members do not have a share in this grace, though one place might feel it more than another. Suppose we compare ourselves with our brothers in India, who, while involved in such corporal and spiritual labors, are so ill provided with food that in some places they do not even have bread, to say nothing of wine for drinking. There they have to get along with a bit of rice and water, or something similar, and as little nourishing. They are ill clothed and have a minimum of bodily comfort. If we compare ourselves with them, I do not think that our suffering is excessively hard. We can also imagine that we are in our own India, which is to be found everywhere. If he who ordinarily provides us with our necessities fails, we can then resort to a holy mendicancy, by which means we can supply our needs. All things considered, if God our Lord wishes that we too have something to suffer, see that nothing is lacking the sick; those in good health will have a better opportunity to exercise patience. May our Lord Jesus Christ, who has made patience so lovable by His teaching and example, give it to us, and may He grant us His love and a relish for His service in preference to everything else.

From Rome, December 24, 1552.
I. In July 1521, a 30-year-old Basque knight, named Iñigo was brought home to recuperate after his cannonball experience in the battle of Pamplona—his watershed moment. The wounds on his lower limbs led to the first long lockdown in his life, about nine months, during which he read a life of Christ and a book on the lives of the saints, the only reading matter the Loyola castle afforded. He also killed time by recalling tales of martial valor and by day-dreaming about a great lady who captured his heart. Later when he was out of mortal danger, his attention was centered on the saints. This profoundly moved and attracted him that soon after he had barely recovered he resolved to do something about his many sins. To fulfill this he must embark on a journey towards conversion. He followed the holy austerities of the saints, eg Francis of Assisi, Onuphrius of Egypt and Dominic, that God sent as his first spiritual guides in his lifelong task towards holiness.
II. "That mission has its fullest meaning in Christ, and can only be understood through him. At its core, holiness is experiencing in union with Christ, the mysteries of his life… The contemplation of these mysteries, as St Ignatius of Loyola pointed out, leads us to incarnate them in our choices and attitudes" (Gaudete et Exsultate—Rejoice and Be Glad 20).

St Ignatius of Loyola by Peter Paul Rubens c. 1622
III. "This spiritual poverty is closely linked to what St Ignatius of Loyola calls 'holy indifference', which brings us to a radiant interior freedom: 'We need to train ourselves to be indifferent to our attitude to all created things, in all that is permitted to our free will and not forbidden’ so that on our part, we do not set our hearts on good health rather than bad, riches rather than poverty, honour rather than dishonour, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all the rest" (Gaudete et Exsultate—Rejoice and Be Glad 69).