St. Ignatius did not join the Jesuits right out of high school. And he did not put it off until he finished college.  Nor did he wait to enter religious life until he had traveled the world, fallen in love, and been involved in armed combat; though he did all those things before being struck down by a cannonball, being found by God, and giving it all up for Jesus. Ignatius had never planned on going into religious life at all, but rather, he was converted from one life into another one.  A radical failure was necessary to get him to pay attention to God in his everyday life.  God is not above using whatever it takes to bring a person to fullness.

Even though Ignatius was the first Jesuit, he was voted least likely to become a priest; too old, too uneducated and often just too damn crazy to fit the bill. So Ignatius of Loyola was perfect material for transformation.  And this is where God came in; this is where God always comes in.  Ignatius did not have a set plan to follow Christ rather, he responded to God’s surprise attack. Though it was hardly a fair fight as God had Ignatius completely outmanned.

God was <i>in</i> the cannonball that smashed into Ignatius, God was in the French soldiers who carried him home and God was <i>in</i> the books he read and the daydreams he dreamed.  God was there when Ignatius was no more than an undersized soldier, past his prime with a gimpy leg and an outsized ego.  God, the creator of the universe, waited on Ignatius to figure it out. God waited for him to examine his life, add up the pieces, learn how to listen and limp out into the world in search of wholeness.

God waits for all of us to figure it out. Sometimes he sends a cannonball for those among us too slow to get the message. Sometimes he speaks to us through friends and family, and always God is working in the events of our emotional lives drawing us to him.  Every disaster in our lives is a call to conversion or to deeper conversion.  When a relationship falls apart, a job disappears, or the money dries up, God is always there.

God is also always with us when we find a small burst of joy from an unexpected quarter or long months of dark dullness in our dream job.  God is there waiting for us to put the pieces together, to begin to understand that following Christ is following our bliss, following Christ is a journey further into a shared humanity always ripe with deep joy in service.

So what are you waiting for today?  Cannonball?