We mark the Ignatian year by bringing in memory the painful experience of Inigo’s injury at the battle of Pamplona. The cannonball that broke his leg and changed his beloved posture set in motion various changes. It shattered his dreams of being a knight and of life in the kingly court. While his dreams and ambitions were shattered, the injury and the subsequent process of recuperation brought Inigo to a great personal conversion and a renewal of his worldview. The injury was painful; the short terms effects were disheartening, but the long-term effects set the world on fire. As we continue to draw spiritual benefits from this experience, we are invited to be attentive to our cannonball moments.
What are our painful experiences as individuals? an Institution? Or the Society or the Nation or the Continent or the World? I take particular attention to an individual’s painful, disheartening, or hurtful, or such experiences. These tend to bring an individual to a stop. Inigo stopped in his pursuits of the knightly ambitions. Sadly, the experiences may also bring a termination of noble ambitions such as an abandonment of one’s vocation. Or quitting from one’s decent endeavours. This Ignatian year invites us to discern the choices and decisions we take following our cannonball moments.
Ever had a disheartening or hurtful experience? How did it influence your worldview? How can we grow in embracing our cannonball moments? Inigo’s moments shattered the obstacles that stood between him and true freedom ushering him into the way of Jesus. May all our cannonball moments bring us to greater union with the Spirit of God, to a personal conversion, and to a deepened relationship with God to see all things new in Christ.
By Victor Mureithi SJ