Memorial Mass for St. Ignatius of Loyola - Homily
(Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, S.J., delivered this homily at the Memorial Mass for St. Ignatius of Loyola on July 31, 2025, at the Our Lady of Belen Chapel.)
Today, we celebrate the solemnity of St. Ignatius of Loyola. If you look at the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, today is really not a solemnity or feast day… it is simply a memorial. That means that while for all of us here who place today right alongside Easter Sunday, for the rest of the Church, it is simpler. They put together a couple of special prayers that you find in the back of the missal to remember this one of many saints who grace the history of the Church.
One good thing, at least the liturgical calendar says it is an obligatory memorial. That means all priests who celebrate Mass today have to use the prayers for St. Ignatius. This, of course, includes all those pastors in the parishes of Miami with parochial schools who would rather skip it.
Now, the fact it’s an obligatory memorial and not simply an optional one is for good reason.
While all saints had a great impact in their neck of the woods, the achievements of our saint were exceptionally great and unquestionably universal.
Besides founding a religious congregation that still exists today and gave us legendary figures such as Francis Xavier, the great missionary to India and Japan, Fr. Athanasius Kircher, inventor of the first projector, and, more recently, Pope Francis, just to name three, he also formulated a set of rules for religious life that have not only guided the Society of Jesus for centuries, but have also been adopted by various other religious congregations.
Many may not know that Ignatius left behind the largest collection of letters written by any person in human history. No one dished out more advice to kings and queens, gave more orders to missionaries and superiors, and sent out more blessings to the sick and dying via letters than St. Ignatius.
Ignatius took on the administration of schools and universities that still exist today and have only increased in number, he established hospitals and centers of charitable work, he ignited a fire that fuels the desire to work for social justice and promote peace around the world. As a matter of fact, some of the most influential and powerful people throughout the history of mankind were educated, formed, and inspired by St. Ignatius and Jesuit institutions.
Yet, of all his accomplishments, none are as important or significant as the Spiritual Exercises. That, hands down, is the greatest gift our founder left us and probably the reason why his memorial is obligatory and not merely optional.
Anyone who has had the opportunity to go through the experience of the Exercises can tell you that while the pen that was taken to paper was held in the hand of the man from Loyola, there is no question the true author was God Himself. The insight into the human spirit and psyche, the profoundness, flow, and beauty of these exercises could come only from the Holy Spirit. I dare say, the same Holy Spirit that guided the minds and hearts of the gospel writers, guided the mind and heart of Ignatius.
If the Church, and dare I say, the world is obligated to celebrate this day, let us not forget that what we truly celebrate is the gift of the Spiritual Exercises.
Ignatius was a soldier-turned-saint whose conversion did not begin with thunder or vision but with a broken leg and a restless heart. He wanted glory on the battlefield, but instead got a limp and a long and arduous recovery. But in that time of stillness, God broke in.
It was during that quiet, painful season in his life that Ignatius first began to see what true discipleship meant. He discovered what today’s Gospel puts before us with full force: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother… even his own life, he cannot be my disciple… Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
Jesus is not asking for half-hearted allegiance. He doesn’t ask to be numbered as just one more thing in our lives. Jesus is not recruiting fans. He is calling disciples, people willing to reorder their entire lives around Him. Jesus is asking that every relationship in our lives, every decision we make, every word we utter, every action we take, and every dollar we spend be grounded exclusively in him. My brothers and sisters, that call is radical. And Ignatius, as he grew in wisdom and holiness, came to understand just how radical it is.
In the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius gives us one of the most powerful meditations to help us respond to that Gospel call: he called it the Contemplation of the Two Standards. In it, he invites us to imagine two camps. On one side stands the banner or standard of Christ; on the other, the banner or standard of the Evil One. Each standard is a way of living, a way of organizing one’s desires, choices, and loyalties.
It is important to note here, Ignatius does not present the meditation so that we can decide under which standard we want to be. He takes for granted that no one in their right mind opts for the standard of Satan. No, he presents the meditation so that we become aware of the tactics of the devil, understand his playbook and how through deceit and chaos, he lures us from under the standard of Christ and leads us right into his camp.
This reminds me of a famous story:
When Don Shula was head coach of the Baltimore Colts, he was reportedly involved in a clever scheme. Shula "accidentally" dropped a fake playbook in a place where he knew an opposing team player or staff member would find it. The playbook was intentionally filled with misleading plays and formations—designed to trick the opposing coaches into preparing for the wrong strategies.
According to the story, the opposing team adjusted their game plan based on this phony information, only to be caught completely off guard during the actual game, which the Colts won decisively.
In this mediation, Ignatius reveals Satan’s playbook. He says, under the Standard of the Enemy, the enemy of our human nature, the devil uses a three-step strategy:
1. Riches,
2. which lead to honor,
3. which leads to pride—and ultimately to ruin.
It’s a familiar script: accumulate more, be praised for it, believe you are self-sufficient, and forget God entirely.
But under the Standard of Christ, the path is reversed:
1. Christ invites us to embrace poverty,
2. which leads to insults and humiliation,
3. which leads to humility—and ultimately, to salvation.
Now let’s be honest—this is not a marketing pitch we would choose. Who would freely choose poverty, humiliation, and lowliness? And yet, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Whoever does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
This is not simply about material poverty. It’s about freedom. The freedom to love Christ above all things. The freedom to choose the right banner. The freedom to walk away from the illusions of success that fade, and walk toward the eternal Kingdom that lasts.
Ignatius understood this. In fact, he had once chased after the very things that the evil standard offered: riches, fame, courtly love, and the glory of the battlefield. But in God’s mercy, he was stopped. And when he learned to listen deeply to the movements of his soul, he discovered that consolation always came when he moved toward Christ, even if it meant sacrifice. And desolation always followed when he moved toward self-glory.
That is why discernment became such a central theme in his spirituality. And that is why this memorial today is not just about celebrating a founder or a saint of the past. It’s about choosing our standard today.
Because every day, every moment, we live between these two banners. The world will invite us to choose status, security, and self-importance. Christ will invite us to choose vulnerability, humility, and love.
And let us be clear: this is not a one-time decision. It is a lifelong battle. As Jesus says in Luke, “Which of you wishing to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost?” Discipleship costs everything—but it gains everything in return.
So, on this feast of St. Ignatius, let’s ask ourselves honestly:
· Under which banner do I choose to live my life?
· What are the riches, the honors, the comforts I desperately cling to?
· What poverty, what humility, what cross might Christ be asking me to embrace?
Let us remember that the true disciple, as Ignatius knew so well, is not the one who wins battles by force, but the one who wins hearts by love. The one who stands, even if alone, under the banner of Christ, carrying the cross, with joy.
Click here to see the photo album from the Mass.
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.