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Ignatian Year Prayers

Dear Lord,

We know that we will have cannonballs to face in our lives.

Unexpected events that may leave us shattered.

In those times, we pray that you draw even nearer to us.

Lend us the vision to see these circumstances as a way to grow closer to you.

Lead us from lost job to revitalized career.

Let our failed dreams uncover strength and resilience.

Channel the sorrow of tragedy into action for good.

When cannonballs hit, we will lean on your grace.

We will embrace your invitation to let ourselves be guided.

We will find purpose in what you have planned for us.

In times of darkness, show us the ways we can make things better.

Lord, help our cannonball moments transform us,

so that through us, the world — and everyone in it — can be transformed.

Amen

Visit the Faith at Marquette site for an index of Prayers from the Ignatian Tradition.

Schneider window

The image shown in the stained-glass window of the Donald J. Schneider Chapel in the Dr. E. J. O'Brien Jesuit Residence on Marquette's campus depicts a crucial moment. It's the moment when St. Ignatius of Loyola received from God the most profound enlightenment while praying by the river Cardoner near the village of Manresa, Spain, in 1522. Ignatius later described how his enlightenment was “so strong that all things seemed new to him. … [Indeed] the many things he had learned throughout his 62 years, taken together … would not amount to what he had received on that single occasion.” See more from the Digital Pilgrimage of Marquette's Sacred Spaces.

Ignatian Year

Be transformed.

Sometimes life fires an event at us that hits like a cannonball. We feel hopeless. Like the legs beneath us have been shattered — and nothing is left to hold us up.

What if, in these desolate times, we called to the light instead of staying in darkness? What if we understood it as our opportunity for a new direction? As our call to take personal responsibility and make things better?

A lost job becomes a revitalized career. A failed dream results in newfound strength and resilience. The sorrow of tragedy is channeled into positive action. A global pandemic creates a world where simple human connection has profound meaning.

When cannonballs hit, we can lean on the grace of God. We can embrace God’s invitation to let ourselves be guided. We can be reborn in the aftermath, find purpose in what comes next and harness our cannonballs into a force for good.

None of us can change what happens to us. But we can choose to let our cannonball moments change us for the better. We can let them transform us, and through us, our world — and everyone in it — can be transformed.

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