Seeking the Kingdom of Heaven First: A Case of St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. Ignatius of Loyola learned to seek the Kingdom in a very hard way. Had he not hit by a cannon ball and gotten his leg shattered at a war between Spain and France over the Kingdom of Navarre in 1521, Ignatius would have never been awaken to Jesus' call to seek the Kingdom of Heavens first. 

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We are inherently seekers. We constantly seek what we need in order to sustain life. Food, water, and shelter are very basic needs.  However, what makes the human species stand out as homo sapiens above all other animal species is that we seek something beyond food, water, and shelter.  To some, this may mean to pursue gold, silver, jewelries, or simply to amass personal wealth and assets.  But to us, Christians, who follow Christ as our Lord, the most important object of our pursuit in our life on earth is the Kingdom of Heaven, where the Father is, along with His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). So, Jesus has given an advice:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, were moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For were your treasure is, there also will your heart be.   Matthew 6:19-21

 Pursuing the Kingdom means to work toward storing heavenly treasures. And it is where our hearts should be.

Jesus addressed this principle of seeking the Kingdom as our priority also in these parables in pair: The Parable of the Treasure in the Field (Matthew 13:44) and the Parable of the Pearl (Matthew 13:45-46). 

 The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.  Matthew 13:44-46

Through these parables, Jesus has challenged us to be like the person, who sold everything in his or her possession to purchase the land where he or she found the treasure, and to be like the merchant, who sold everything he had in order to buy the precious pearl of his desire – not to buy a land where treasure is buried or to buy a pearl but to pursue the Kingdom.

 St. Ignatius of Loyola understood this and followed this teaching of Jesus as he recovered from the near-mortal injury from the Battle of Pamplona, 1521, though he had pursued earthly glory in military heroism as a respected Spanish military officer. What was shattered by a cannon ball shot by the French Army was not only Ignatius’ leg but really his ambitious pursuit of self-glorification in military career. By that extent of his battle injury, Ignatius could have been dead.  It was rather a miracle that he not only survived but recovered from the injury. But, the recovery process had refined him, cleansing what had tempted him to pursue earthly power and fame in military career for the Spanish Empire and gradually guiding him to this teaching of Christ to pursue the Kingdom.

So, Ignatius gave up everything he had from his rather noble family in Loyola and left his family castle in 1522 to embark on his pursuit of the Kingdom. He became a mendicant with no home, having sold his prized sword, too. He moved from place to place in Spain while struggling greatly in his pursuit of the Kingdom. Coming to the Benedictine shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, Ignatius made a confession and surrendered his prized sword to Our Lady by leaving it at the shrine’s alter. Then, he gave all his fine clothe to the poor and he himself wore simple clothe. This marked Ignatius’ pledge of his life to Christ and the Kingdom, which Christ had proclaimed. So, he moved on as his pursuit of the Kingdom continued.  

 After Montserrat, Ignatius came to Manresa. And, this was where his pursuit of the Kingdom was challenged so greatly, making him even clinically depressed. He must have felt lost in his pursuit of the Kingdom as it did not come easily. So, he withdrew himself to a cave, where he spent nearly 10 months for intense prayer. But, he was not lost. Rather, this was a critical phase of his spiritual growth and transformation in his earnest pursuit of the Kingdom.  And it also reminds us that seeking the Kingdom may take a significant amount of toll on us. Certainly, a pursuit of the Kingdom means to enter through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13). In fact, Ignatius managed to keep depression from having him lost by keeping his journal, paying attention to how God’s forces move through the Holy Spirit and how devil’s forces move through evil spirit in him and all other things. And, this journal eventually became his Spiritual Exercises.  Through the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius found a new direction to the Kingdom and came out of the cave refreshed.

Yet, Ignatius’ journey to seek the Kingdom threw more challenges.

Though his pursuit of the Kingdom took him to Jerusalem, he was sent back by the Franciscans. Obviously, he was deemed unfit to be in the Holy Land by them. Upon his returned to Spain, he was jailed for preaching without credential as he had no formal schooling to preach. So, he swallowed his pride to put up with youngsters to begin his formal schooling to earn necessary credential, and he was already 33. This pursuit of credential eventually took him to the University of Paris, where not only he earned a master’s degree but also he met with two other critical founding members of the Jesuits: Peter Farber and Francis Xavier. While Peter was determined to be a priest, Francis had an earthly ambition to become a rich merchant trader as the Spanish Empire continued to expand through conquest and colonization. However, it was Ignatius, who convinced Francis to turn his earthly pursuit into a pursuit of the Kingdom, by citing Luke 9:25, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit oneself ?” And it is reflected in Spiritual Exercises, 91 – 100, calling those who pursue earthly kingdoms to heed the call of Christ for his Kingdom. As a result, Francis’ ambition turned away from a prospect of pursuing earthly rich but to the Kingdom, together with Ignatius and Peter. Out of these three University of Parish students, the Jesuits were formed for the greater glory of God: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

 Following Christ’s teaching to pursue the Kingdom makes us sapiens (wise).  Being sapiens means being capable of discernment – sapio. Thus, by seeking the Kingdom above all things at all cost makes us authentically homo sapiens, fully equipped with the abilities to discern. And, to attain this ability of discernment, we may need our own Manresa Cave experience to be challenged so that we become capable of discerning the movements of God’s force from the movements of devil’s force. And, discernment means wisdom. In fact, the ability to discern was what Solomon asked God to be His servant (1 Kings 3:5-15).

 To pursue the Kingdom of Heaven as our priority, we also seek the wisdom (sapientia/sophia) to discern (sapio) so that devil cannot distract us from our path of seeking the Kingdom. This wisdom is the heavenly treasure (Matthew 6:20), also addressed in the metaphors of the treasure (Matthew 13:44) and the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46).

 We can learn about how we attain necessary wisdom in our pursuit of the Kingdom from the example of St. Ignatius of Loyola. As we embark on the Spiritual Exercises, we can certainly find ourselves on the same path that St. Ignatius took in pursuing the Kingdom.  We will find then the gap between our hearts’ desires and the will of God for each of us become narrower and narrower as these will eventually become one. And, when they become one, the Kingdom on our pursuit is more tangible, while we store more wisdom as our heavenly treasures, with our ability to discern sharpened.