Day 6
The Two Standards
Under which banner do I fight?
c. 1609
Grace to ask for
Lord, let me recognize the tactics of the enemy and choose Your way with clarity and courage.
"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other."
Matthew 6:24
Composition of Place
Ignatius presents a great plain. On one side, Lucifer's camp — surrounded by smoke, seated on a throne of fire. On the other, Christ's camp — in a pleasant, humble place. You are standing between them. Each one is sending out emissaries into the world.
Points for Meditation
The enemy's strategy
Ignatius says the enemy proceeds by steps: first, he tempts to riches — the accumulation of things, status, security. From riches comes honor — the esteem and recognition that wealth buys. From honor comes pride — the belief that I have made myself what I am and owe nothing to anyone. Pride is the root; riches and honor are the path.
Christ's strategy
Christ sends his people out by the opposite path: poverty (real or spiritual) — the freedom of holding things loosely. From poverty, humility — the honest knowledge of where I come from and what I am. From humility, all virtues flow. The enemy descends from pride; Christ ascends from poverty.
Where am I standing?
This meditation is not about dramatic choices — it is about recognizing where the accumulation logic has taken hold in your life. Where do you measure yourself by what you own, what you have achieved, or what others think of you? Where are you most tempted by riches, honor, and pride? That is where Ignatius wants you to look.
Colloquy
Ask for poverty — not necessarily material poverty, but the spiritual poverty of holding all things as gift, none as entitlement. Ask for humility — not self-deprecation, but the honest recognition that everything is grace. Ask for the courage to choose the harder, smaller, truer path.
Remain in silence for a few minutes.
Do not rush to the next exercise.