The Call of Easter to the followers of Ignatius

By D. Antony Inigo, SJ

How could we, the sons and daughters of St. Ignatius, look at Easter and understand its message for us today?

St. Ignatius of Loyola talks about the Resurrection in the fourth week of the Spiritual Exercises. He instructs the retreatants to reduce the penances, to change the prayer timings. He wants them to feel and experience the paschal joy of the risen Lord. The important image and function of the Risen Lord in the Spiritual Exercises is that of the Consoler. He brings solace and peace. This grace dispels the darkness of fear and confusion. It brings immense joy, awe and wonder at this marvel.

Apparition to Mother: St Ignatius exhorts the retreatants to contemplate the apparition of the Risen Lord to his mother. This is not reported in any of the four Gospels. In appearing to his mother Jesus acknowledges her perfect discipleship. It was hard for her to surrender to an unknown plan of God that unfolded day by day, moment by moment in ways that were hard to understand. It was indeed agonizing for her to lose the special gift of divine-human Son to that plan. Therefore she deserves this consoling meeting between her and her beloved son. She was the first to know of the incarnation through the annunciation. She brought him up till he left for his public ministry from her home. Now she becomes the first one to know the resurrection.

It is important to recognize the role of a mother and its importance. The awareness of the big sacrifices that mothers make is a grace and gift. The Lord, through this gesture, sets us an example. This meeting that fills Mary’s heart with strength and joy enables her to accompany the disciples. They were in disbelief. From these men of doubt, fear and guilt was born another mother to us, the Mother Church.

The important image and function of the Risen Lord in the Spiritual Exercises is that of the Consoler. He brings solace and peace.

Mother Church from unbelieving disciples: The unbelief of the disciples is caused by many factors like fear, anger and guilt: fear of the future, anger against the perpetrators of unjustifiable violence, guilt that they abandoned the Lord during his sufferings. This unbelief made them numb to the greatest of all the miracles – the resurrection. Their eyes were closed. They could not hear the message of the Lord reported by those whom he met and sent. They were frozen in their unbelief.

The Lord appears to them, wishes them peace, speaks to them, shows them the marks of the nails on his hands, eats with them, breathes on them the Holy Spirit, till they are convinced he is alive, that their Master is truly the Messiah whom God has raised.  They are strengthened and consoled. They are commissioned to ‘go and proclaim the good news to the whole world’. With the power of resurrection they withstood and overcame the powerful who opposed it.

Later when the disciples were admonished by the high priests and Jewish authorities for proclaiming the Risen Lord, they stood firm and fortified to face them. Those who controlled the Jewish religion could not control the disciples, after they knew that their Master has transcended death.

New People: The resurrection injected in the disciples a new energy. It made them go beyond their educational and sociological background and religious boundaries. The more we contemplate this event that is both history and mystery, the more hopeful and joyful we will become.  When the disciples had to face suffering they must have consoled one another with the message of the resurrection.

This is what we need today for all those who have faced pain, suffering, humiliation, isolation, organized and structural violence. Those who still live in darkness need this message of hope, so that they continue to work against the forces of darkness, hoping in the dawn that is about to break.

Many Mothers: Besides our biological mother, we have Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, there is the Mother Church, which is on its way to becoming a synodal Church. We have also our mother Society, and mother Earth. This connectivity to all these mothers gives us strength and comfort. In our mission journey these mothers accompany us. They form us, send us and sustain us through thick and thin. We are called to share with them the joy and fruitfulness in our mission.

This is what we need today for all those who have faced pain, suffering, humiliation, isolation, organized and structural violence. Those who still live in darkness need this message of hope, so that they continue to work against the forces of darkness, hoping in the dawn that is about to break.

Every member of the Society and the Church in some way accompanies us in our path towards resurrection. The members of these big families accompany us faithfully and generously without counting the cost.

These are like the women who went to the tomb in the early hours of the Easter Sunday. They did this in spite of the gloom and pain of Good Friday. They proactively engaged themselves with the question, ‘What next? What shall I do next?’

Thomas, however, was not satisfied by just reports. He sought the experience of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. Jesus was gracious to respond and offer him the experience he sought. God directly deals with the devout soul. All the explanations of the guide do not satisfy people like Thomas as much as personal reflection and prayer when they themselves get to see him. Everyone has to experience the resurrection.

Peace and unity: Ignatius and the first companions reached out to the medically abandoned and socially driven out to the peripheries. By this they showed that resurrection is possible even for those abandoned by the society.

Ignatius and his friends tried to bring about peace and unity wherever they worked. It is our mission today to work for reconciliation, justice and peace. Today we are called to fight the false propaganda of the unscrupulous that projects religious differences as threats. We have to confront the outbreak of fanaticism and fundamentalism, communalism, casteism or linguistic chauvinism.

This presupposes a psychological resurrection. Only economic wellbeing is projected as growth. But an integral development includes improvement in all spheres of life of a person and the civic society. At times we too fall for the notion that those with a lot of money and influence, those who are successful in business are the ones who are blessed. We are called to use our educational institutions to shape men and women for others, those who would accept people of other religions and castes as their equals. We, Jesuits, and our collaborators are called to lead our people to experience this resurrection.

Caring for our Common Home: Easter, the festival of life, invites usto respect and care for all forms of life. The risen Lord invites us to deepen our relationship not merely with the Creator but all the creatures, all that God created even before creating humans. Blessing above all other blessings is the creation.

We must be able to sense God’s presence in the heavens and the earth, in every human, animal and bird, in mighty mountains and the lowly grass. Inspired by Ignatius, we must ask for the grace to see the glory of God revealed in everything in this vast universe.

Although in the course of history the relationship between nature and humans has been ruptured,  the Lord of life calls us to a renewed commitment towards nature – to stop all that hurts and wounds nature and to do all that preserves and conserves nature.

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