And I Love Her

November 17 has always had a special place in my heart since it was on November 17, 1987 when I first heard the call to religious life ... Jesuit life. The call itself was clear enough, but it was all the more amplified by the fact that November 17 is also my mom's feast day. My mom was named Elizabeth, likely after her own mother, so maybe we could call her Elizabeth II. I just called her "Mom."

She's not too big on feast days, unless it was my own. (She used to pin little shamrocks on all us kids before we'd head off to school on March 17). But I took it as a special honor to hear the call to the Society on November 17, the Feast of St. Elizabeth.

Sometimes the Lord will use small and seemingly insignificant events of our lives to communicate to us His will for us. Ignatius Loyola knew well that through feelings and motions of the soul, God was likely to communicate directly to the individual of His own love and grace. Through reflection and periodic review of our day-to-day experiences, we can come into closer communion with the Lord. Our desires more closely align themselves with His desire for us.

My mom was not too big on feast days, but she is a great one for reflection. She made a prayer space for herself next to her room, and she reads spiritual material when she can. In her own way, she likely does a brief Examen from time to time. Her mother was a great fan of the Jesuits, and my mom swears that it was only by her intercession that I too was led to follow the Lord along the path of Ignatius. AMDG.