July 31, 2017: St Ignatius of Loyola
July 31, 2017: St Ignatius of Loyola
What Shall We Do?
St. Ignatius of Loyola gave a compelling pelling "big picture," a worldview that has made sense to many people over the past five centuries. Ignatius laid out his big picture in a short passage at the beginning ning of the Spiritual Exercises called "The First Principle and Foundation".
The first sentence answers the question, "Why are we here?" "Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul." The next two sentences tences specify how this is to happen:
"The other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created. Hence, man is to make use of them in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end, and he must rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him."
Here is the great challenge of life: to choose the good ("make use of them in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end") and avoid the bad ("rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him"). "Them" is "the other things on the face of the earth," in other words, everything-the work we do, the people in our lives, our responsibilities, our ambitions and hopes and disappointments, appointments, the opportunities and misfortunes that come our way, the way we interact with the institutions of human society.
All of it is meaningful. Nothing is so small, so fleeting, so distasteful, ful, or so awful that it's excluded from the drama of life. In the Ignatian big picture, how we choose is just about the most important thing we do. The First Principle and Foundation sets forth some of the necessary conditions for making good choices.
"Therefore we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition. Consequently ... we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things.
Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created."
We shouldn't care whether we die young, get sick, or live in poverty? That's not what Ignatius means. He's saying that we shouldn't care about our health or our financial security or our reputation or anything else so much that these things determine our choices. We're to be "indifferent" to them-that is, free from attachments to them. Only by being detached from created things can we make good choices about them, so that we can achieve the end for which we are created.
That's the big picture. We're here to love and serve God. The things in the world help and hinder us in this task. We must make good choices, and to choose well we must be free. The examen is a tool we use all along the way-to find God in our lives, to discover what needs to be done, to reflect on our actions and motives, and to make good choices.
That, in a nutshell, is what Ignatian spirituality is all about. Ignatius brought contemplation and action together, but the senior partner in the alliance is action. In the Ignatian scheme of things, we love and serve God by being joined with Christ in the work of saving and healing the world.
- by Jim Manney, "The Prayer that Changes Everything"
What Shall We Do?
St. Ignatius of Loyola gave a compelling pelling "big picture," a worldview that has made sense to many people over the past five centuries. Ignatius laid out his big picture in a short passage at the beginning ning of the Spiritual Exercises called "The First Principle and Foundation".
The first sentence answers the question, "Why are we here?" "Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul." The next two sentences tences specify how this is to happen:
"The other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created. Hence, man is to make use of them in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end, and he must rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him."
Here is the great challenge of life: to choose the good ("make use of them in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end") and avoid the bad ("rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him"). "Them" is "the other things on the face of the earth," in other words, everything-the work we do, the people in our lives, our responsibilities, our ambitions and hopes and disappointments, appointments, the opportunities and misfortunes that come our way, the way we interact with the institutions of human society.
All of it is meaningful. Nothing is so small, so fleeting, so distasteful, ful, or so awful that it's excluded from the drama of life. In the Ignatian big picture, how we choose is just about the most important thing we do. The First Principle and Foundation sets forth some of the necessary conditions for making good choices.
"Therefore we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition. Consequently ... we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things.
Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created."
We shouldn't care whether we die young, get sick, or live in poverty? That's not what Ignatius means. He's saying that we shouldn't care about our health or our financial security or our reputation or anything else so much that these things determine our choices. We're to be "indifferent" to them-that is, free from attachments to them. Only by being detached from created things can we make good choices about them, so that we can achieve the end for which we are created.
That's the big picture. We're here to love and serve God. The things in the world help and hinder us in this task. We must make good choices, and to choose well we must be free. The examen is a tool we use all along the way-to find God in our lives, to discover what needs to be done, to reflect on our actions and motives, and to make good choices.
That, in a nutshell, is what Ignatian spirituality is all about. Ignatius brought contemplation and action together, but the senior partner in the alliance is action. In the Ignatian scheme of things, we love and serve God by being joined with Christ in the work of saving and healing the world.
- by Jim Manney, "The Prayer that Changes Everything"
