Ignatian Spirituality.Africa
A Service of St Francis Xavier Parish, Kabwe, Zambia
Ignatian Spirituality.Africa
A Service of St Francis Xavier Parish, Kabwe, Zambia
By Fr. Charlie Chilufya, S.J.
“She it was who placed me with her Son.”
— St Ignatius of Loyola
Author
Fr. Charlie Chilufya, S.J.
The words “Place me with Thy Son” rise like a quiet prayer from the heart of Ignatian spirituality. They express the deepest desire of every disciple — to be close to Christ, to walk where He walks, to love as He loves.
For St Ignatius, this longing was never abstract. It was born in the intimacy of prayer and nurtured in the gentle companionship of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. He recognised in her the one who had first received the Word, pondered it in her heart, and followed it to the very end.
In the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius invites us to be placed with the Son — to share in His mission, His suffering, and His joy. But he also knew who could lead us there. “She it was,” he writes, “who placed me with her Son.” Mary is the first accompanateur, the mother who introduces us to the school of Christ’s heart.
Mary teaches us what true discipleship looks like:
To pray “Place me with Thy Son” is to echo Mary’s own fiat: “Be it done unto me according to your word.” It is to ask that our lives, too, become a dwelling place for God — that we might carry Christ into the world with the same tenderness and courage that she did.
O Mary, Mother and Companion, place me with your Son — where His heart burns for the poor, where His mercy heals the wounded, where His light overcomes the darkness. Keep me near Him in joy and in sorrow, in action and in stillness, that I may learn His compassion and serve in His peace. Amen.
Ignatius found in Mary not only the Mother of God, but the Mother of the Journey — the one who gently leads us to her Son’s heart and mission. The simple aspiration “Place me with Thy Son” gathers the Ignatian spirit into one desire: to be with Christ where He is, doing what He does, loving whom He loves.