The earliest biographers make statements which obtain a new significance when compared with these early documents. Polanco, a contemporary, puts it thus : "The life he then led was far from being spiritual. Like other young men living at court or intent on a soldier's career, he was distinctly free in making love to women, and was devoted to sports and sword-play over points of honor."Such failings are common enough in gilded youth in every age, but especially at the beginning of the sixteenth century. That was not a generation hardened in vice ; yet it cannot, alas! be called pure. And the chief centers of decadence were the circles amid which Inigo lived.
From the first chapter of the book entitled, St. Ignatius of Loyola: Imitator of Christ By Fr. John Hungerford Pollen, S.J. published in 1922, read the quote (here).
7 comments:
The Devil and Divine Providence
"To be an apostle means to be a channel of grace to bring sinners back to God’s friendship through their faith in Jesus Christ. Over the centuries, the most zealous apostles have been converted sinners. To name just three: St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Ignatius. Paul had been the hater of Christians and had them murdered for claiming that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Augustine was a genius whose lechery took years to wake up to the fact that he, Augustine, had a free will with which to control his sexual passions. Ignatius was a selfish soldier who had an illegitimate child and was reeking of pride when the Lord wounded him in battle and forced him to spend months in a hospital bed.
Certainly the devil had not planned for Paul, Augustine and Ignatius to become giants of zeal for the conversion of sinners. But the devil is part of the providence of God. Those seduced by Satan to become leading sinners, once converted, become leading converters of those estranged from God’s love.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great tells us that, “No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than zeal for souls.” Converted sinners, once ensnared by the devil, will stop at nothing to give themselves, heart and soul, time and effort, even life and death, to share with others the joy of being reunited with their loving God".
John Hardon SJ
Quotes from CHairman Hardon's Little Red Book.
@anon 930
Why the hate?
It's not hate.
Maria is arrogant in her hijacking of the comments sections of this & other websites. She should develop her own Fr. Hardon tribute website.
The quotes she provides are lengthy and often tangential at best to the issue at hand. After reading this slosh for a couple of years I can honestly state that Fr. H. isn't a compelling religious figure.
Might I suggest that it is not Fr. Hardon with whom you have difficulty, but rather his support for the unadulterated truth of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church? ;)
You may suggest it, but it isn't true.
Maria -- I think peoples' frustration with your posts is that blog comment sections are intended to be just that: comments on the blog post. Instead, you cut and past texts from Father Hardon. Sometimes, these texts have little or nothing to do with the original post. When people ask you about it, your typical, knee-jerk reaction is 'why the hate?' I doubt very much anyone 'hates' Father Hardon. Instead, I would ask: don't YOU have any opinions on the blog posts? Or do you simply channel them through the late Father Hardon.
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