Cindy Schmersal, ’19 M.A

Ignatian Year Invites Us to Ongoing Transformation

BY CINDY SCHMERSAL, ’19 M.A

500 years! May 20, 2021, marked the 500th anniversary of the day St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (aka the Jesuits), took a cannonball to his legs. This devastating experience proved a holy disruption that radically altered the trajectory of St. Ignatius’ life and ultimately spurred his interior transformation, a conversion of heart. On this momentous anniversary, the global Society of Jesus officially commenced the Ignatian Year, a time when all Jesuit works, Jesuits and lay companions are invited to intentional awareness of our ongoing call to and daily opportunities for transformation.

Admittedly, I am often tempted to romanticize St. Ignatius of Loyola’s conversion, drawn to believe that the redirected pilgrim life that followed his post-cannonball year of convalescence was one marked by a magical ease reflective of his renewed clarity of purpose. Yet, the reality is – well, just that – real, gritty and complicated, not romantic or marked by supreme effortlessness. Throughout his pilgrim life, Ignatius met with disappointment, thwarted plans, unexpected paths, and, in them, recognized invitations to deepening conversion, invitations to greater embodied love of God and of God’s creation.

And so, during this Ignatian Year, I find myself challenged to recognize that invitations to ongoing conversion of heart abound if only I pay attention, allowing myself to have the eyes to see and heart open – even if only modestly so at times – to transformation.

I write this in the spring of 2022, a time ripe with invitation to conversion. I write in the wake of the Feb. 3 Zoom bombing of Rockhurst Black Student Union’s online panel, an invitation to acknowledge and actively combat the evil of racism that persists in our society. I write as the world’s eyes are focused on the Ukraine and the heart-wrenching realities of war, an invitation to honor the interconnectedness of all of humanity and my call to be present to the suffering that is before me – locally and globally. I write following a February in which Kansas City experienced single-digit temperatures with snow on the ground one day and a 60+ degree day the next, an invitation to listen to the cry of the Earth and repent of the ways in which my too often blind consumptive behaviors cause irreparable harm.

No doubt, our lives are replete with invitations to conversion of heart. As we journey through the lingering months of this Ignatian Year, which concludes on July 31, 2022, and beyond, may we — companions in shared pilgrimage — ever attend to these invitations that call us forth to ever greater love of others, of creation and, ultimately, of the Source of it all.

Cindy Schmersal, ’19 M.A., is vice president for mission and ministry at Rockhurst University. In August 2022, she anticipates completing her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in higher education leadership at Rockhurst, her fourth degree from a Jesuit institution. Cindy serves on the boards of the Ignatian Spirituality Center of Kansas City and Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit honor society.

THURSDAY, FEB. 10, GROTTO

The new grotto provides a contemplative place for prayer near the statue of Mary, which was moved from its former place to face outward toward the city.

1100 Rockhurst Road Kansas City, MO 64110-2561

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