Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Here is an exercise excerpt from the work of St. Ignatius:

First Point. First: It seems that St. Peter and St. Andrew were called three times: first, to some knowledge; this is clear from St. John in the first Chapter: secondly, to follow Christ in some way with the purpose of returning to possess what they had left, as St. Luke says in the fifth Chapter: thirdly, to follow Christ our Lord forever, as St. Matthew says in the fourth Chapter and St. Mark in the first.

Second Point. Second: He called Philip, as is in the first Chapter of St. John, and Matthew as Matthew himself says in the ninth Chapter.

Third Point. Third: He called the other Apostles, of whose special call the Gospel does not make mention.

And three other things also would be to be considered:

The first, how the Apostles were of uneducated and low condition;

The second, the dignity to which they were so sweetly called;

The third, the gifts and graces by which they were raised above all the Fathers of the New and Old Testaments.

I think it especially important to look at the fact that the Apostles were of uneducated and low condition. It seems important to note that the men who would disseminate the Gospel Message all over the known world would be men of simple lives, including fishermen, tax collectors, and political activists. God transformed these simple men into the foundation of a Church that exists in billions of lives 2,000 years later. What a powerful statement God made through the lives of these uneducated men of low condition.