Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The Vision of La Storta" from "A Fire that Kindles Other Fires" - Decree 2 of the Society of Jesus' General Congregation 35:

Saint Ignatius had the most significant experience for the founding of the Society in the little chapel of La Storta on his way to Rome. In this mystical grace he saw clearly "that the Father placed him with Christ, his Son," as the same Ignatius had asked insistently of Mary. At La Storta, the Father placed him with His Son carrying His Cross, and Jesus accepted him saying: "I wish you to serve us." 

Ignatius felt himself confirmed personally, and felt the group confirmed, in the plan moving their hearts to place themselves at the service of the Vicar of Christ on earth. "Ignatius told me that God the Father imprinted these words on his heart: 'Ego ero vobis Romae propitius.'" But this affirmation did not make Ignatius dream of easy paths, since he told his companions that they would encounter "many contradictions" in Rome, and perhaps even be crucified. 

It is from Ignatius's encounter with the Lord at La Storta that the future life of service and mission of the companions emerges in its characteristic contours: following Christ bearing his Cross; fidelity to the Church and to the Vicar of Christ on earth; and living as friends of - and thus in - the Lord in one single apostolic body.


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