St. Ignatius’s Prayer for Generosity.

 Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous,
teach me to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and ask not for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.

Amen

There is always the temptation to work only for results.

“Vainglorious is the person who prefers to be the general of defeated armies rather than a simple soldier in a squadron that continues to fight on even when it has been devastated”.

Too often we measure our work by the obvious signs of success, especially the praise of others.
“Vainglory” means “empty praise.”

Instead, let us be reminded that we ought not seek success, but rather faithfulness. If our primary concern is results, we will choose to work only with those who give us good ones.

Ignatius touched on something radical at the heart of the Christian life: that authentic discernment rests not primarily on foreknowledge of success, but rather on the willingness to go exactly where Christ leads us. For him, it was the cross. Am we willing to go there too?