Ignatian Lawyer

Damiles, Nicole Adrienne P

IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

“It’s a tough world out there” a quote said mostly at any circumstance that calls for describing reality or any phase or part of life like high school, college, politics, sports and basically anything that involves competition. Law school and the field of Law as a whole is no excuse. Proving an argument of the prosecutor to be wrong and convincing the judge to listen to a plea is not elementary; it takes a lot of guts, values and a lot of studying. We are far more complicated than those of the prehistoric era men and women where the rule of “an eye for an eye” governs the whole of the human race.  It is often called as the law of retaliation is the principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree, or in softer interpretations, the victim receives the estimated value of the injury in compensation.

The rule during said era is rather chaotic and inhumane in today’s context, however today’s rules are a whole lot confusing and complicated. Present day lawyers need, more than studying and researching, to acquire values as set by Ignatius. One of which is Cura Personalis which is Latin for “care for the whole person. It means that we should take care of our talents, abilities, physical attributes, personalities, desires, hearts, faith, and minds. People today are focused on getting things done without looking at what and how much they sacrifice of themselves in the process. As Ignatius realized that he cannot help the weak if he is weak himself, a good lawyer must also ensure that he helps himself before helping others.

If he is successful in taking care of himself, the next value he must uphold is Magis. It means more. While our society one that is very competitive often thinks in terms of doing more, but magis calls us to depth and quality in what we do, more love and more meaning. Magis is an invitation as to how a lawyer can consider serving the country and...