There can be many reasons to write a biography. In father Camilo Luquin’s biography of Father Ignacio Larrañaga “An adventure of the spirit”, the goal was to show how God became the center of Father Larrañaga´s life thanks to an intense love for Jesus Christ born out of the stories and experiences told by his father during his early childhood.
Prayer was the treasure that gave meaning to his life. It was a serene immersion “in the infinite riches of Christ”. His passion for music and his friendship with God were the two loves of his youth and accompanied him for the rest of his life.
The windmills of God grind slowly and Father Ignacio in numerous moments of his life had to wait for signs of God’s Will. But these moments had their meaning and sustained his hope thanks to an experience in infused Grace in a small town of Navarra.
The experience of the eternal and gratuitous Love of our divine Father showed him that He wants us to be happy, this belief led to him to communicate continuously on the importance of letting us be loved by God, as only those who feel loved know how to love. This was the starting point of his conviction that failure is not possible for the person who surrenders himself to the all Loving and Powerful hands of God, as learning to let go of those “impossible” things, facts or situations where there is nothing else to do, is a source of freedom and infinite peace.
All his work, following the inspiration of the II Vatican Council to the return to the original sources and charisms of each religious institution, and particularly in this case the Franciscan order, led him to motivate church members of different countries in the Franciscan spirit through weeks of renovation, and also led him to reach to the life of Francis of Assisi for inspiration in a key moment in his search for spiritual growth.
Francis told his companion Rufino who was troubled by his apprehensions about the true path to find God: “May God be God to you, that is enough and it will set you free…then you will be able to cross the world with the serenity of the great rivers”.
“A life with God is by necessity liberating” said Father Camilo Luquin of the writings of F. Ignacio. As God is He who never leaves one alone and always grants peace…always opens spaces of freedom, as there is always an “Egypt that one must escape”… and He allows for a true reconciliation with oneself and others; He is the only real path to one´s fulfillment in love.
(Based on the Father Camilo Luquin’s book “An adventure of the spirit”. Life and work of Ignacio Larrañaga”)
