Saint Ignatius of Loyola is visited by the forces of Heaven and hell!

Saint Ignatius of Loyola is visited by the forces of Heaven and hell!

Without the battles fought and won in the cave of Manresa,

Ignatius could not have begun writing his Spiritual Exercises.

Ignatius had visions of the serpent early in his spiritual life, before

he had any Heavenly ecstasies.

Day had settled into night, wiping away the slightest ray of

light entering his room at the hospital in Manresa, when Ignatius

saw a figure, glowing and almost incandescent; it boldly intruded

into his thoughts and prayers. Strain as he might, he could not

recognize the figure; it was hard to identify, it was so blurred; all he

could make out was that it dimly resembled a serpent! As he was

almost hypnotized by the sight, suddenly blinding lights shot forth

from what appeared to be many eyes on the form. Then it would

leave. The image would return over and over again; Ignatius began

to look forward to its next reappearance, feeling an unexplainable

attraction toward it. But the Lord is always balancing the odds,

always providing us with the ammunition to fight the attacks of the devil.

Ignatius would later in life write that while he was immersed

in ecstasy, God infused him with such knowledge and enlightenment

that if he were to add all he had received his entire life, it would

not equal what he had learned in that one moment. When he came

out of the ecstasy, he ran to the cross, in front of which he always

prayed, and began to share his feelings with Jesus Crucified, when

all of a sudden the glistening figure appeared! But this time, in

the True Light of the Cross, Ignatius could perceive clearly who

the vision was; it was the father of deception himself who had

been appearing to Ignatius. This vision persisted, appearing again

in Manresa and then in Rome, and then in Paris; but now Ignatius

was able to quickly discern who it was and he dispelled him, at

times attacking the vision with his bare hands and at other times

disdainfully shooing him away with his walking stick.

Ignatius, because of the spiritual work God had planned

for him to do, and the seeds of wisdom he would be called to sow,

received the same infused knowledge from the Holy Spirit which

other great Saints of his time, Spanish ones like Saints Teresa and

John of the Cross had, of the Divine Mysteries of our Faith. One

day, in the church of the Dominicans, while reciting the Little Office

of the Blessed Virgin, he had a vision of the Holy Trinity. It had

such a profound effect on him, he began to cry; from that day he

entered into such intimacy with the Triune God that later in life this

Divine Mystery would be the center of his prayer life and revelations.

Another time, he was filled with the mystery of how God created the

universe. Although he spoke of this, he, along with others who have

seen Heaven, could not put into words what it was like being in the

Kingdom and in the presence of those who dwelled therein. In this

same church, when the Host was raised in consecration, he had a

vision of the Child Jesus Who revealed how He was present in the

Sacred Host after the consecration.

He had interior visions of the God-Man Jesus, seeing Him

with the eyes of his heart, between 20-40 times. He had visions of

the Blessed Mother as well, in the same way. When hospitalized

in the Hospital of St. Lucy, he went into ecstasy for a whole week,

beginning with Saturday lasting until the following Saturday. He

lay as if dead, with the faintest heartbeat. When he came to, as if

awakening from a deep sleep, he cried out over and over again, “O

Jesus! Jesus!” This was reported by eye-witnesses who had been

at his bedside. Ignatius never spoke of what had transpired during

that ecstasy. There are those who ascertain that it was then that he

received the word to establish the “Company of Jesus,” for when

he was writing the Constitution of the Jesuits, he would say that he

was including certain passages that were given to him at Manresa.

The Jesuits say one thing is definite, Ignatius was given the idea of

the Company of Jesus while meditating on the Kingdom of Jesus

Christ.

Before leaving Manresa, Ignatius would have more serious

bouts with his health, each time almost succumbing to the angel of

death; but God was not finished using him. Ignatius, this selfless,

caring vessel of God so touched young men, they flocked to him.

But for as many as loved him and hung on his every word, there were

those who hated him and the change that was coming about among

the people; and so they began maligning not only Ignatius but all

those holy families who were befriending him. He had no recourse

but to leave Manresa. His ten month stay at Manresa over, he left

with only the patched clothes of a pauper on his back; but he was

accompanied by the love and prayers of all whom he had touched.

As he did not speak Latin, they begged him to take a companion

who could assist him in Italy. He refused saying, all he needed was

faith, hope and charity:

“If he took a companion, he would be looking to him for

food when hungry, and if he fell would look to him to lift him up,

and would thus be learning to rest in him, whereas he desired only

to love and look up to God, and put all his hope and confidence in

Him. `And the pilgrim,’ said St. Ignatius of himself, `spoke from his

heart.’”

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