July 31, 2025 // Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6a, and 8a, 11
Reflect on the Word //
This mounting tension never seemed to lift: my mind and heart—consistently cluttered with the noise of the world. With worries and doubts and anxieties. With overwhelm as I tried to keep up with a pace of life that I knew would eventually bury me. I was exhausted, yet chose to ignore the gentle voice that invited me to be still.
It was the last straw and the tension finally broke. And in the breaking, I realized in the rubble that I could choose to leave these "courts of noise" at any time. No one held me captive in this space—I was free to enter a different dwelling place.
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!" (Psalm 84:2) In this silent stillness, I finally see: the Father has been here waiting all along for me. Beckoning my pining soul to come to Him, that He may lead me into the home of His Heart. A dwelling place that offers peace, joy, love, rest, hope, and increased faith. His Heart—this dwelling place—is where my heart and flesh were created to live.
Whether literally or figuratively, we often live our lives at a pace that is set not by Him, but by the world. Yet His invitation to each of us stands in every moment: to come! To enter into this sacred dwelling place with Him. To rest—if even for a moment—in order to reorient our lives towards Him. To turn down the noise. To leave behind the false altars and cluttered places. To trust always that it is in our surrender that we can receive with open hands the invitation to dwell with and in Him.
On this Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, may we give ourselves to Him.
Relate to the Lord // Pray today the Suscipe prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.
Shalini Blubaugh is a Minnesota transplant living in Coppell, Texas. She served with NET Ministries and went on to graduate with her J.D., though happily left all things law behind. Along with her roles as wife and mom, she now runs her own company, Pray. Train. Grow., as a Certified Fitness Trainer and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Her mission is to help Catholic women grow STRONG in mind, body, and heart through the integration of Faith, fitness and food.
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