In 1522, not long after his conversion, Ignatius sat praying on the bank of the Cardoner River near the village of Manresa in northern Spain. In his Autobiography, he describes an extraordinary vision:
He sat down for a little while with his face to the river—Cardoner—which was running deep. While he was seated there, the eyes of his understanding began to be opened; though he did not see any vision, he understood and knew many things, both spiritual things and matters of faith and learning, and this was with so great an enlightenment that everything seemed new to him. It was as if he were a new man with a new intellect.
We don’t know for sure what happened. Ignatius often said that the vision was a pivotal event but he didn’t say why, leaving it up to others to speculate. It’s been noted that, soon after the vision, Ignatius abandoned severe fasting and harsh penitential practices, and embraced a more balanced spirituality. Juan Polanco, his secretary, said that the Cardoner vision led directly to his decision to write the Spiritual Exercises. Many Ignatian scholars think that the vision is the basis for the Contemplation to Attain the Love of God at the end of the Spiritual Exercises. The Contemplation certainly has mystical overtones; it presents God, who is present in all things, who labors to transform creation, and who bathes all of creation in a ceaseless flow of blessings and gifts, like the sunlight emanating from the sun.
The Ignatian tradition regards the Cardoner vision as a turning point in Ignatius’s life and ministry. It’s a reminder that Ignatius was a mystic as well as a learned intellectual, and that much of what he knew came directly from God.
—Excerpted from Ignatian Spirituality A to Z by Jim Manney
As I think about the turning points in the Saints lives from St Paul and his awareness over food, to the awareness of St Ignatius I am thinking that how Our Lord speaks of LOVE and how it is the pinnacle of spiritual development. Could it be the LOVE that the Saints reach actually reach an awareness, no I’m not using the right word. Awareness is something in a cognitive part of the brain. I believe it is the actual state of being, in LOVE. Is that why the mortifications of the Saints suddenly seem to reduce in their intensity? ……
An interesting new or more focused direction by Saint Ignatius comes to light from this perceptive article. It reminds me of St. Francis, who unlike some of his contemporaries who were deeply into self control through harsh self punishment was focused on the Love of God according to commentators. Perhaps less of self and more of God…
But St. Francis suffered so much and carried the stigmata from Our Lord and stands out as the first saint to bear them. To defend his purity he also threw himself on thorn bush. The saints were demanding on themselves and gently and understanding of others.