Boyhood
3. Return to the big house with Magdalena
When Iñigo was seven his elder brother Martin, married Magdalena, one of the ladies in waiting to Queen Isabella. They came to live in the Manor House at Loyola and Martin brought his little brother home to live with them. Magdalena now became a mother to the boy, Iñigo.
For the next nine years the boy grew up in Loyola, visited no doubt from time to time by a number of his brothers and sisters. One of his brothers, who owned a ship, travelled with Columbus on his second voyage across the Atlantic; another fought in Italy. Surely they had exciting stories to inspire their younger brother?
Lyrics
Living’s a tumbling stream;
growing’s a flooding river,
Heaven’s no distant dream;
God’s presence flows forever.
Urola the river I know,
Loyola the home it passed by;
Under the bridge it sang,
this song with the stars and mountains
Sprung from the mountain’s depths;
spreads to the sea that beckons
Widens the way it flows;
deepens where new streams enter.
A thought to ponder
Children growing up look for more and more independence. They also find role models in many of the adults they meet, particularly those they imagine lead exciting lives.
Can you remember anyone who inspired you as a child, either from stories or who you actually knew? Would such a person inspire you today?
Scripture for the Day
As a way of praying today’s Scripture we suggest, Imaginative Contemplation.
Luke 2: 41-51 NRSVACE
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.
And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.
When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey.
Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.
When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him,
‘Child, why have you treated us like this?
Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’
He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’
But they did not understand what he said to them.
Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.
His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Music for Today
Come and go with me to my Father’s House – the Fisherfolk
Purchase the Big Book of Gospel Songs
A Flemish painting of the Annunciation, given as a wedding present to Iñigo’s sister-in-law Magdalena by Queen Isabella of Spain.
It is still in the chapel in the Manor House in Loyola.
Photo: Ignatian Pilgrimage, DWB