Iñigo did not see it coming. The cannonball smashed through the walls of the castle at Pamplona in northern Spain and tore through his legs. The French who took the fortress carried the wounded Spaniard back to the family castle at Loyola. (Adversaries did such things back in the 1500s.) There the restless Iñigo convalesced for months. To pass the time, he asked his caretaker for something to read, but all she gave him were versions of the “Life of Christ” and “Lives of the Saints.” Discontent but without much else to do, Iñigo read through the books. And he daydreamed.

A Basque by birth, I̱igo was an idealist at heart, living with great passion. For most of his 30 years, he imagined himself as a valiant knight in service to his king, winning the affections of a certain lady. Now, confined to bed, he still had those daydreams, but he noticed something new happening Рthough he was initially entranced by such thoughts, they ultimately left him feeling flat and empty. Something different happened when I̱igo imagined himself living a life like the saints he was reading about, and living as a disciple of Christ: He again got excited, but this time, the enthusiasm stayed with him.

God was stirring up something new in Iñigo. Or rather, the young knight let himself experience feelings that were always there but were suppressed by a constant stream of activity and ambition. In his climb up the courtly ladder, there was no time or space for soul-searching, for daydreaming.

After six months, Iñigo left the family castle and took to the road, begging, preaching and testing these bold, holy desires. He traveled all over Spain and Italy and even made it to the Holy Lands. Along the way, Iñigo talked to people from all walks of life about how to get in touch with God’s holy desires deep within their hearts. With the help of these spiritual conversations, Iñigo wrote a manual of prayer, called “Spiritual Exercises.”

To hone his desires, which could become unruly if not refined, Iñigo studied at the great universities of his day. At the University of Paris, he became known as Ignatius. Some of his fellow students, among them Francis Xavier, were captivated by Ignatius’ vision of God and the world. Ignatius’ band of brothers soon formed the Society of Jesus.

Long before Ignatius was called a saint, the young, impetuous Iñigo daydreamed.

I graduated from Georgetown in 1988 and return now as executive director of campus ministry. From my office in Healy, my chaplain’s apartment in Copley and my walks through campus, I’m reminded of my student days: They were so busy and full. Today, I marvel at the zeal, dedication and talent of our students, who commit so generously to so much.

Too much.

We leave so little time, place and space for daydreaming – for imagining, with God, what our future could be. Not just what I could do with my life, but what this city, this country and this world could be.

Imagine if Ignatius never dreamed: Would Georgetown, the Jesuits’ oldest academy in the “New World,” ever have come to be? Imagine if the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never dreamed, as he did on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on that hot summer day in 1963: Would we have just elected a black man as president?

Try it out: Give yourself 10 minutes a day to imagine.

Let God’s dream for you and your world swell up in your heart. And then see which daydreams “stick” – which dreams take hold of your heart, inspire your imagination, invite you to hope, impel you to act and sustain you over the long haul? Notice where your holy desires meet the needs of the world (to paraphrase Frederick Buechner’s classic definition of “vocation”). Then do something.

Surely, we are smart enough to recognize that some dreams may not be fully realized in our lifetime, but we are also courageous enough not to swallow the bitter pills of cynicism, despair and small-minded realism.

So dream. And if you need some help with this experiment in living and loving, ask St. Ignatius. He understands what daydreaming is all about.

Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1988 and is executive director of campus ministry.

“