At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:
learn from Mo. Ignacia’s death the meaningfulness of a life fully lived for God.
accept the reality of death.
pray constantly for a happy death.
Faith: Strong faith in God
“But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me (Ps.13:5-6)”
Death is the most certain reality yet remains uncertain. On the one hand, it is the most certain reality in a sense that dying is part and parcel of our finiteness as human beings. Whether we like it or not, we will all die. And no matter how we try to run away from this reality, death will surely chase us when it is already our time to die. Hence, death is certain because it is something that nobody can escape. On the other hand, death will always remain to be uncertain because we do not know when it will be, where it will be, and how it will be for we cannot control what lies ahead of us. However, the challenge in life is not so much about the quantity of years in living it, but it is more on the quality of life that we live. As St. Therese of Lisieux says, “spend your heaven while living here on earth.”
Mother Ignacia lived a life worth living because she was always looking into the purpose of her life. She lived a life of continuous discernment. Her decisions were made in constant openness to God’s will which eventually touches the lives of her people.
In Christianity, death is viewed as not the end of everything, but the beginning of life in eternity with God. As the scripture says, “Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8 NRSV).” This bible text essentially points out that the christian who dies in Christ Jesus will gain eternal life with Him in heaven for Jesus is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (Jn. 14:6 NRSV).
However, in order to gain eternal life, one must have faith in God. Faith, in the christian perspective, has three essential dimensions namely, believing, trusting, and doing. For the benefit of this discussion, we will only highlight the doing part because as Jesus clearly says, “not everyone who says to me, ‘ Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father will inherit eternal life (Mt. 7:21 NRSV).” The will of God that this biblical text tries to emphasize is the two greatest commandments that we should obey, ie. to love God and to love one’s neighbor (Mt. 22:36-40 NRSV). Thus, living a good life that touches the lives of others is necessary in order for us, Christians to be surely one with our God in eternity.
Mother Ignacia gave an inheritance of living memories that touches the lives of her people by doing the will of God during her lifetime. She did this primarily by living a good life and having a deep spirituality that is rooted in the Eucharist. According to S. Ma. Anicia Co, she writes, “Mo. Ignacia was devoted to the Eucharist, the sacrament of God’s love the clearest expression of His self-giving unto death.” In fact, M. Ignacia and her companions got the name Beatas de la Compañia de Jesus because of her frequent attendance at Mass and reception of the sacraments at the Church of St. Ignatius. Hence, Mo. Ignacia’s example in living the Eucharistic spirituality led her companions to experience joy and confidence in God’s loving presence in spite of the unfavorable situation that they experienced.
Moreover, the devotion of Mother Ignacia to the Holy Eucharist bore fruit in her daily endeavour in living always in the Divine presence. She manifested it clearly through her loving service to the people who surround her. In fact, Ferraris, in her synthesis about the “finger of God” in Ignacia’s story, wrote:
“The call of God to Ignacia was renewed everyday in prayer and found expression in her life and work. Through her, the women of Manila enjoyed spiritual benefits of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Spanish and indigenous children learned the basic skills for literacy and household management and women desirous of leading a life in pursuit of religious perfection found a home…” (Ferraris, 2014).
In this sense, the effort of Mo. Ignacia in living in the Divine Presence gave a positive impact to the people during her lifetime. Thus, Mother Ignacia was a foundress, a pioneer, a spiritual leader, a head of a group and a prophet responding to the signs of the times and in the process contributing for the transformation of society then and now as she lived in the presence of God always, seeking and doing God’s will and motivated for the greater honor and glory of God as contemplative in action.
Mother Ignacia, foundress of this institution died on September 10, 1748. Oral tradition in the Congregation holds that she died while still on her knees at the communion rail, and discovered thus after the Mass. Murillo Velarde was silent on this particular, but wrote how she was honored in her funeral, which took place in the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius, with the attendance of ecclesiastics and Spaniards who carried her coffin to its final resting place. Velarde eulogized her as, “a genuinely valiant woman, overcoming not only the great difficulties met from the very foundation of the institution up to its completion, but more specifically for having conquered with singular persistence the three species of indolence most arduous and difficult to overcome: those innate in the country, those natural to her sex, and those congenital in the very entrails of the nation. She was mortified, patient, devout, spiritual, zealous for the good of souls, very humble, this last proved by her having abdicated spontaneously the government of that house, without allowing herself to be overcome by the desire to command, which can be likened to a wood-borer that destroy such hardwoods as the cedar or hyssop.” (Chpter 2: the Finger of God in the Call of Ignacia, p.10)
More so, Fr. Murillo Velarde’s account of the death of Mother Ignacia demonstrated the fullness of life of Mother Ignacia as seen by the people she served. The privilege she received of being given special honor by Spanish ecclesiastics and Spaniards even carrying her coffin as Intramuros mourned her death showed how her life had touched lives. This gives a picture of the role Mother Ignacia played for God, for the Church, for her people and her country. “Although she was not Spanish in ancestry and fatherland, the Spanish and civil and ecclesiastical officials rendered her high honors by attending her funeral rites and acting as pallbearers –honors reserved only for persons of distinctions.”