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“Ignatius’s most fundamental teaching was that individuals had to find the way that suited them best.”
considering their questions and problems and answering them with care. His letters were a way to love and serve others.
The way of Ignatius means there is nothing in our lives that is not part of our spiritual lives.
But Ignatius knew that God meets people where they are. We’re all at different points on our paths to God.
During times of hardship, faith is an anchor.
sometimes the question is not why so many Catholics leave the church—it’s why they stay.
“I didn’t fall away from the church. It fell away from me.”
“Real religion,” said Macmurray, has a different maxim: “Fear not; the things you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”
their own spiritual practices are enhanced through interactions with other religious traditions.
More problematic than Sheilaism are spiritualities entirely focused on the self, with no place for humility, self-critique, or a sense of responsibility for the community.
Religion can provide a check to my tendency to think that I am the center of the universe, that I have all the answers, that I know better than anyone about God, and that God speaks most clearly through me.
At its best, though, religion modifies our natural tendency to believe that we have all the answers.
Experiencing God also comes through personal interactions within the community.
Religion without spirituality can become a dry list of dogmatic statements divorced from the life of the spirit. This is what Jesus warned against. Spirituality without religion can become a self-centered complacency divorced from the wisdom of a community. That’s what I’m warning against.
God often speaks in ways that are beyond our intellect or reason, beyond philosophical proofs.
Gratitude, peace, and joy are ways that God communicates with us.
Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants, not so much for himself as for the blind man. Jesus was helping the man identify his desire, and to be clear about it.
Why this emphasis on desire? Because desire is a key way that God speaks to us.
I’m talking about our deepest desires, the ones that shape our lives: desires that help us know who we are to become and what we are to do.
Recognizing our desires means recognizing God’s desires for us.
Desire is energy, the energy of creativity, the energy of life itself. So let’s not be too hard on desire.
Naming our desires tells us something about who we are.
It’s freeing to say, “This is what I desire in life.” Naming our desires may also make us more grateful when we finally receive the fulfillment of our hopes.
They are also the way that God fulfills God’s own dreams for the world, by calling people to certain tasks.
Feelings of incompletion may reflect dissatisfaction with our daily lives and point us to something that needs to be rectified.
If you accept them as originating with God, you might have to accept that God wants to be in relationship with you or is communicating with you directly, which is a frightening idea.
“Dying is about becoming more human.”
Drawing closer to God transforms us, since the more time we spend with someone we love, the more we become like the object of our love. Paradoxically, the more human we become, the more divine we become.
Not only does God desire to be in relationship with you now, but God’s way of relating with you often depends on where you are in your life.
Do you engage the world through action? Look for God in your work. Do you enjoy the arts? Go to a museum, or to a concert, or to the movies, and seek God there. God can meet us anywhere.
Your spiritual house does not need to be tidy for God to enter.
If God meets you where you are, then where you are is a place to meet God.
“You sanctify whatever you are grateful for.”
The voice of our conscience, which tells us we did something wrong and moves us to make amends, is a voice that can lead us to become more loving and, ultimately, happier.
Sin, in Father Keenan’s words, is often a “failure to bother.”
Guilt is a means to an end, not the end of the story.
The first step is to be consciously aware of yourself and your surroundings. The second step is to remember what you’re grateful for. The third is the review of the day. The fourth step, asking for forgiveness, could be a decision to reconcile with someone you have hurt. And the fifth is to prepare yourself to be aware for the next day.
“I never knew that my yesterday was so beautiful.”
Being human means being in relationship.
God, I believe, also wants us to be open about what we need. This is part of having an honest relationship with God.
If Jesus were my friend, he would be happy to listen to me. He would celebrate with me over my successes and be sad with me over my disappointments. He would want the best for me. And he would want to spend time with me and hear about my life.
prayer is “a long, loving look at the real.” Prayer is “long,” said Burghardt, because it is done in a quiet, unhurried way. “Loving” because it happens in a context of love. Prayer is a “look” because it has to do with being aware. “I do not analyze or argue it, define or describe it,” wrote Burghardt. “I am one with it.” Finally, prayer is “real” because our spiritual life is primarily about what happened in our daily life. His superb definition emphasized the groundedness of prayer.
You can find God through worship services, reading, work, family—everything, really.
Detachment, freedom, and a sense of humor are signposts on the road to holiness.
a healthy spirituality requires freedom, detachment, and openness.
Honesty is an important part of this process. Father Barry suggests thinking about what happens when you’re not honest in a relationship. Usually, the relationship begins to grow cold, distant, or formal. If you’re avoiding something unpleasant, the relationship devolves into one defined by nothing more than social niceties. Eventually the relationship stagnates or dies.
Anger is a perfect example. It’s natural to be angry with God over suffering in our lives. Disappointment springs from all of us. Anger is a sign that we’re alive.
burns. God has been handling anger as long as humans have been praying.
Everyday events are perhaps the easiest part of your life to overlook; especially if you’ve been praying for some time you may inadvertently start privileging the contemplative over the active.
overreliance on a rules-based religion can lead to an image of God as a stern traffic cop concerned only with enforcing the law or, as one friend said, a parole officer.
