The Best and Brightest
Inspiration from Ignatius
David Fleming, S.J. interpreted the 16th century language of the Spiritual Exercises into contemporary language and restates Ignatius's imagining of the coming of Jesus and of how we are called to look at the world with the same compassion as God....
"men and women being born and being laid to rest, some getting married and others getting divorced, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the happy and the sad, so many people aimless, despairing, hateful, and killing, so many undernourished, sick and dying, so many struggling with life and blind to any meaning. With God, I can hear people laughing and crying, some shouting and screaming, some praying, others cursing."
And acting with the same intent as God....
"God knows that the time has come when the mystery of salvation, hidden from the beginning of the world, will shine into human darkness and confusion. It is as if I can hear the Divine Persons saying, "Let us work the redemption of the whole human race; let us respond to the groaning of all creation."
-St. Ignatius of Loyola
Inspiration from Oscar
Let us not be disheartened,
even when the horizon of history grows dim and closes in,
as though human realities made impossible
the accomplishment of God's plans.
God make use even of human errors,
even of human sins,
so as to make rise over the darkness what Isiah spoke of.
One day prophets will sing
not only the return from Babylon
but our full liberation.
"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
They walk in lands of shadows,
but a light has shone forth."
-St. Oscar Romero, Dec. 25, 1977