Eastern Oklahoma Catholic July/August 2012 : Page 24
YOUR LIFE culture I T. Gennara Nobility for Christ One can only imagine the crushing pain of a cannon ball’s direct hit to the legs, but it is nothing compared to what is to follow. With no anesthe-sia, he undergoes a series of unsuccessful surgeries; first his leg is broken and reset only to leave him with a protruding bone, which is later sawed off and poorly set yet again. With one leg now shorter than the other, his limb is stretched out with weights and a slow and excruciatingly painful recov-ery takes place. Emotionally and physically, he hits rock bottom. His storybook past begins to fade and his future looks more and more grim. But one day, on the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, things begin to improve. Amidst the boredom of convalescence, he requests his favorite reading to help the time pass: Books on chivalry and romance. However, only books on the life of Christ and the saints are available, so he starts reading those instead. He is suddenly conflicted. His thoughts of women, fame and glory leave him feeling empty inside. Conversely, he finds himself feeling comforted and at peace when he reads about Jesus and the saints. A conver-sion begins to take place. The man, who was once a soldier on the battlefield, will become a soldier for Christ. He will go on to become the foremost ex-pert in spiritual direction and form the order known as the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. This amazing human being is St. Ignatius of Loyola. Like many of the saints, the life of St. Ignatius has all magine a young man of noble birth living in the early 16th century in the picturesque Basque region of northern Spain. He is entrenched in the ideals of a romanticized life of knighthood and courting the ladies. He earns the respect of his military peers for his leadership qualities and repeatedly avoids injury and death, battle after battle. Until one day, when a cannonball changes everything. Michelle DiFranco is a designer and the busy mom of two children. 24 Eastern Oklahoma Catholic / July/August 2012 / www. dioceseoftulsa .org
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