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Appleton, WI

July 31: Day by Day with Father Bill

MEMORIAL OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, PRIEST AND FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

Father Arturo Sosa, a Venezuelan, serves as the Superior General of the Society of Jesus and as the Successor of its Founder, Saint Father Ignatius of Loyola. I am very impressed with the ministry of the Jesuits throughout the world and follow Fr Sosa closely. I believe that it is the religious communities of men and women – the Jesuits, the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Benedictines, the Redemptorists, the Missionary Sisters and Brothers of Charity, and whomever else I may be inadvertently missing – that challenge all of us to live more faithfully the Gospel values of Jesus. These holy women and men are showing us the way of love with Jesus, through Jesus, and in Jesus!

In Father Sosa’s message for the Feast of Saint Ignatius, he writes:

“To young people I say: We want to accompany you. We want to learn from you. Each one of you is unique, born with a special purpose. Ignatius struggled to discover the meaning of his life. In him you can find inspiration as you struggle to make your life meaningful and as you ask how you can contribute to building a better world, where the dignity of people is respected and where you live in a joy-filled harmony with nature. I express our desire to accompany you through what we do and most especially through who we are – people willing to share our time, our dreams and our hopes.”

As the Family of Saint Mary Parish, we would want, as well, to assure all young people that this is our heartfelt promise to you!

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, beg Jesus to place in our hearts a desire to be in an intimate friendship with Him, “that enables us to love and follow more closely [Him] who continues to call us, especially through the poorest and most marginalized, through the cry of the earth, through all that is vulnerable.”

Father Bill +