Blog 9

The closest similarity between Ignatius and me personally is that, like Ignatius, my mother passed away when I was very young. From learning about his early life, it seems that he was always eager to "seek approval" growing up in such a large family with a general lack of parental presence. All kids seek that feeling of assurance and validation from parent figures. Ignatius pretty much lacked those figures in his life. It would have been easy for him to fall in the shadow of his large familiy, but he refused to let that happen. I have immense respect for his ambition and drive despite a somewhat difficult beginning. I also can relate with his focus on Mary due to his lack of a real mother figure.


More broadly, I think an aspect of Ignatius's life that is most relateable to my current state is his struggle to find his path in the world. This is something that I, like most University students, am currently struggling with. You often hear about great individuals and leaders in society who were "born to do something" like play basketball or invent something or be a writer or be a priest. I've always been extremely jealous of those people who know from such a young age what their calling in life is like it was chosen for them and handed to them on a platter. Ignatius was seemingly one of these people. He wanted to be a knight and make a difference in the world. He made that his identity, but it was all taken from him. He went from being one of those people who know what they are going to do and became someone like me, searching and grasping for his destined role in the world. It's very enlightening to look at the life of such a great man and learn that he faced many of the same struggles that I'm currently facing. He was able to break through desolation and pursue his true calling in life. His life struggle is extremely inspiring to me in  my current position, and I am happy to have learned more about it in my last year of undergraduate classes.