It took a cannonball to the leg to bring Inigo of Loyola to God.
We know Inigo as St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit order of Priests, but before he was a Saint, before he was even a Priest, he was a soldier eager for recognition.
We just celebrated Pentecost in the church, and we often refer to it as "the Birthday of the Church". It's a celebration, a joyful time of holy hubbub. Or that's how we seem to depict it. The sermon on Sunday focused on the intersection of mission and mysticism. We were asked to recall moments where we felt close to God, like holding a new baby, or being on a nature walk, or seeing God in the people around us.
When I read the account of Pentecost in the Book of Acts though, I feel that there is some discontinuity between the Biblical account of this event and how we talk about it in the church. I think if I had been in the room with the disciples, hearing the violent wind, seeing the tongues of fire, the solid wall of noise as everybody talked at once, I would have been afraid. The NRSV translation says that the disciples were amazed (ἐξίσταντο) and perplexed ( διηποροῦντο). Were they amazed, or were they falling to their knees in fear (existanto literally means "removed from a standing position)? Were they perplexed, or were they feeling trapped (the components of diaporonto mean "thoroughly no way out")? Then Peter begins to speak, quoting a terrifying prophesy from Joel about the last days in which the sun disappears and the moon turns to blood. If this was a lighthearted party, he just spoiled the mood. But it don't think it was a joyful party.
When I read the account of Pentecost in the Book of Acts though, I feel that there is some discontinuity between the Biblical account of this event and how we talk about it in the church. I think if I had been in the room with the disciples, hearing the violent wind, seeing the tongues of fire, the solid wall of noise as everybody talked at once, I would have been afraid. The NRSV translation says that the disciples were amazed (ἐξίσταντο) and perplexed ( διηποροῦντο). Were they amazed, or were they falling to their knees in fear (existanto literally means "removed from a standing position)? Were they perplexed, or were they feeling trapped (the components of diaporonto mean "thoroughly no way out")? Then Peter begins to speak, quoting a terrifying prophesy from Joel about the last days in which the sun disappears and the moon turns to blood. If this was a lighthearted party, he just spoiled the mood. But it don't think it was a joyful party.
The day after Pentecost this year was the 492nd anniversary of that cannonball in Pamplona that shattered St. Ignatius' leg. Sometimes God doesn't enter your life like a blossoming flower or a gentle summer's breeze. Sometimes God is found in a violent wind, a terrible loss. Sometimes God is found at rock bottom, in the moment when you fall to your knees and can't see any way out. Ignatius found God during his slow recovery from his injury while reading the Vita Christi. Whatever the disciples experienced at Pentecost, whether fear or joy, they received what they needed from the Holy Spirit to continue on in their journey as followers of Christ.
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