27 July 2018
Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Drawing Fruit
In an address to the 36th Jesuit General Congregation, Pope Francis notes that Ignatius of Loyola was constantly looking to “draw fruit” from the manifold concrete situations in which he found himself in order to deepen his understanding of the ways of the Lord so as to better serve God and neighbor (seehttp://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2016/october/documents/papa-francesco_20161024_visita-compagnia-gesu.html). If we were to list the ways that Ignatius draws fruit, we would be left with a catalogue; it is such a feature of his own way of proceeding that one finds examples of this throughout his life and work. We find this in the letters, where Ignatius often draws fruit from concrete circumstances and shares that fruit with others. We also find this dynamic throughout the exercises, especially in the scriptural prayers, but also in the form of little parables such as one where Ignatius invites the one making the exercises to consider the example of the three men who have the good intention of changing their life in some way, but how only one of them actually makes a difference by translating intention into action.
Ignatius did not invent this way, of course. He learns it from Jesus himself, who in Matthew 13 speaks of four different persons, only one of whom actually bears fruit by offering the seed of the Word the ground that it needs to fructify his life. Jesus tells this parable in hopes that we might ourselves draw fruit in hearing it and so resolve to do what we can to till the ground of our hearts to receive his Word properly. If we draw fruit from this gospel, as Ignatius did, then perhaps we too may bear fruit, “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”