Sunday, July 31, 2011

Tears Of Joy And Consolation

St. Ignatius had a great devotion to the Blessed Trinity. Every day he prayed to each of the three Persons and to the whole Trinity. While thus praying to the Blessed Trinity, the thought came of how to offer fourfold prayers to the Divinity. This thought, however, caused him little or no trouble. Once, while reciting on the steps of the monastery the little hours in honor of the Blessed Virgin, his vision carried him beyond the earth. He seemed to behold the Blessed Trinity in the form of a lyre or harp; this vision affected him so much that he could not refrain from tears and sighs. 
On the same day he accompanied the procession from the church, but even up to the time of dinner he could not withhold his tears, and after dinner his joy and consolation were so great that he could speak of no subject except the Blessed Trinity. 
In these conversations he made use of many different comparisons to illustrate his thoughts. Such an impression was made on him on that occasion that during his after life, whenever he prayed to the Blessed Trinity, he experienced great devotion.
Link (here) to read the biography St. Ignatius

3 comments:

Maria said...

The following is from the life of Saint Ignatius:

"He sometimes cried so much at Mass that he could not go on, nor even talk for some time, and he was afraid that his gift of tears might cause him the loss of his eyesight. Gonclaves de Camara said, " When he did not weep three times during Mass, he considered himself deprived of consolation."

See Woodstock Theological Society for a Letter written on the Gift of Tears to Fr. Nicholas Goudanus

"... I will tell you, reverend father, what I really think. And that is that, even if it were in my power to allow this gift of tears to some, I would not give it, because it would be no help to their charity, and would be harmful both to their heads and their health and, consequently, stand in the way of every act of charity. Do not lose heart, then, because of this absence of external tears, but keep your will strong and energetic, and manifest it in your actions. This will be sufficient for your own personal perfection, the help of others, and the service of God. Remember that the good angels do what they can to preserve men from sin and obtain God's honor. But they do not lose courage when men fail. Our Father has much praise for those of Ours who in this sense imitate the example of the angels".

woodstock.georgetown.edu/ignatius/letter28.htm

Happy Feast Day, St. Ignatius.

Maria said...

Correction: Woodstock Theological Center. Apologies.

Anonymous said...

pagerank seo sem backlinks backlinks tool