Thursday 31 July 2008

St Ignatius of Loyola.


Just a short post to mark today's feast day. I have spent this day before in Pluscarden Abbey, Farm Street, a small village in Germany in a vineyard behind an old Abbey and guiding a quiet day in a beautiful old Church. Today I am cleaning my house and trying to write an essay about St Benedict's Rule before the hordes descend this weekend for the Church BBQ and scrubbing my outdoor grill. Later I will visit a few people in hospital and have dinner with my parents at their house. It is odd how days stick in your head, I suppose as a child of Ignatius or at least of the Jesuits and as an occasional guider of Ignatian retreats this day is etched on my brain, at least this prayer is and it comes to me at the most apposite moments....
Dear Lord,
Teach me to be generous,
Teach me to serve you as you deserve to be served,
To give and not to count the cost,
To fight and not to heed the wounds,
To toil and not to seek for rest,
To labour and to ask for no reward,
Save that of knowing that I do your most holy will.