Perhaps They Will Listen and Turn Back

Readings 073126 

He wanted to be a hero—  

a soldier admired by men,  

a figure women noticed,  

a life built on glory and applause.  

But the battlefield broke him.  

Dreams scattered like dust in the wind.  

Still, the hunger for greatness burned,  

he devoured every tale of knights and honor  

until even those stories fell silent.  

Then grace slipped in quietly—  

a book about the saints,  

heroes of a different kind,  

fighters for the Kingdom of Heaven.  

And, Ignatius turned his gaze  

from the crown of men  

to the crown of Christ.  

But the path was hard.  

Older now, slower to learn,  

he turned to prayer,  

to contemplation,  

to the whisper of God  

in the quiet of his heart.  

He shared what he found—  

the spiritual exercises—  

teaching others to listen  

for the truth that speaks within.  

No one expected  

this broken soldier  

to become a saint,  

a champion of heaven.  

But God delights  

in raising up the unlikely.  

And in Nazareth,  

they said of Jesus,  

“Isn’t he the carpenter’s son?  

Isn’t his mother Mary?”  

They could not see  

that divine power hides  

in ordinary lives.  

Jesus said,  

“A prophet is not without honor 

except in his native place

and in his own house.”  

So today—  

perhaps we will listen,  

perhaps we will turn back.  

And let grace find us  

in our wounds,  

in our disappointments,  

in the places others overlook.  

Lives shaped  

not by glory,  

not by applause,  

but by surrender—  

and by love.  

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, 

Open our hearts 

to Your quiet truth.  

Turn us back from every path 

that dims Your light.  

Let grace rise 

in the places we hide.  

Shape our desires 

toward surrender and love.  

Make us faithful 

to Your whisper today.

Amen  

St. Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.