NOVENA TO ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA - DAY SEVEN -JULY 28, 2013 - IGNATIAN INDIFFERENCE

One understanding of the word “indifference” is absence of interest or attention. However, this is surely not what Ignatian indifference means. For Ignatius, indifference was a means to reach the higher goal of the greater good, and so Ignatius would be indifferent to success or failure, riches or poverty, good health or sickness in order to achieve the greater good, which was always the greater glory of God.

Often in our lives we are disappointed when things do not go the way we would like them to go, when things do not happen the way we want them to happen. It is specially at times like these and with the grace of God at all times in our lives, that we need to develop an attitude of Ignatian indifference, which does not mean complacency, but a total acceptance of the outcome of any situation knowing full well that it fits in perfectly with God’s plan for us. This attitude must so permeate our being that we are able to say with St. Paul – “I have learned to be content in whatever situation I am… I can do all things in him who strengthens me”.

Through the intercession of St. Ignatius we pray for the grace to do our best at every moment of every day and rest in the knowledge that God will do the rest.

God our loving Father, you always know what is best for us, and so we ask that through the intercession of St. Ignatius of Loyola, we may receive the grace to be able to accept with serenity your plan for us, especially at those times when we cannot fully understand why things happen the way they do. We ask this through Christ our Lord.