Soldier, sinner, saint

You know that song sung at Mass, Take and Receive by Bukas Palad? It goes: Take and receive, O Lord, my liberty. Take all my will, my mind, my memory. All things I hold and all I own are Thine, Thine was the gift, to Thee I all resign.

Do Thou direct and govern all and sway. Do what Thou wilt, command, and I obey. Only Thy grace, Thy love on me bestow; These make me rich, all else will I forego.

I always thought it was a sweet, fervent prayer of surrender.  But watching the movie, Ignacio de Loyola, I realized what went into the making of that prayer, Suscipe, by St. Ignatius, and it was far from sweet. 

In the film written and directed by Paolo Dy, Ignacio de Loyola, we see a man of the world — a proud and ambitious soldier, battling his desires, his ego, his will, and surrendering them to God.  It is an epic struggle, awesome in its scope and agony, as Ignacio transforms from soldier and sinner to saint. 

Sidelined by a major leg injury in the Battle of Pamplona, Ignacio deals with boredom and depression by reading the only books in his family home — the Lives of the Saints and a book on Jesus. Fired up by his readings, he leaves home, discarding everything he owns, and embarks on his search for fulfillment in a life centered on Jesus. He preaches about the love of God which is total and unconditional. I was particularly moved  by a scene where Ignacio invites a prostitute to imagine that Jesus is seated on a chair in her chamber.  Ignacio  was later arrested and imprisoned while undrgoing investigation by the Spanish Inquisition for preaching without authority. 

Besides his book, Spiritual Exercises, which the Inquisition studied closely, Ignatius maintained a journal that he chose to keep private, fearing that if his followers knew the torment, pain and anguish he went through in his spiritual  and physical search for God, they would be fearful and discouraged.

After watching Ignacio de Loyola, I will not be able to sing or pray the Suscipe the same way again.

During the premiere showing which was accompanied live by the ABS-CBN orchestra and the Ateneo Chamber Singers conducted by Gerard Salonga, I thought of all the Jesuits I have known since I was a child and wondered, Is this what it takes to be a Jesuit?  Many Jesuits I know are brilliant, urbane and quite worldly, far from the strange ascetic that Ignatius was. At home, I looked up what Fr. Horacio de la Costa, SJ wrote in 1975 when he was assigned to draft the formal statement of the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in Rome. He wrote:

What is it to be a Jesuit? It is to know that one is a sinner, yet called to be a companion of Jesus, as Ignatius was: Ignatius, who begged the Blessed Virgin to ‘place him with her Son,’ and who then saw the Father himself ask Jesus, carrying his cross, to take this pilgrim into his company.

“What is it to be a companion of Jesus today? It is to engage under the standard of the cross, in the crucial struggle of our time: the struggle of faith, and that struggle for justice which it includes.”

I realized that in the 1500s, the 1970s and today, the challenge to Jesuits is the same.  As worldly as they may seem, there is another facet to being a Jesuit. Ignatius saw to it that they are men of deep humanity, faith, humility and great learning.  Only the most deserving of sinners are called to be soldiers and companions of Jesus. 

Ignacio de Loyola is both new and familiar. The details of Ignatius’ life are new, but the tone of the film is familiar to those who have undergone an Ignatian retreat, sat through a Jesuit homily or listened to the most famous Jesuit of our time, Pope Francis. “Go forth and set the world on fire,” Ignatius told his fellow Jesuits. And we hear them say, “Ad majorem dei gloriam, for the greater glory of God.”

Ignacio de Loyola is Paolo Dy’s first feature film.  Although he has done short indie films, he basically does commercials for which he has won local and international awards.  He also wrote the movie script, which is remarkable in both its depth and simplicity of language. I imagine he had to dive deep into the Spiritual Exercises to be able to translate into popular language and images the challenges of Ignatian spirituality. 

Dy’s story-telling is compelling; the portrayals by Spanish actors, especially Andreas Muñoz who played Ignacio, are brilliant. Filmed in Spain, the settings are breath taking, and the costumes are authentic.  The music, composed by Ryan Cayabyab, is hauntingly beautiful. The production is so rich it is hard to believe that it cost only one million US dollars to put the film together.

Go see Ignacio de Loyola and be inspired, if not by the courage and commitment of Ignatius, by the fine film making. The movie can be appreciated on several levels — as a good Filipino film, as a history lesson on the origins of the Jesuit order, or as a virtual Ignatian retreat, which is what it felt like to me and others in the audience. 

Ignacio de Loyola was graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board. It is showing in 56 cinemas nationwide.  Let’s keep it in the theaters for as long as we can. Go see it  — in honor of St. Ignatius, whose feast day is tomorrow, July 31.