Finding God in All Things
By taking your cues from a spirituality which helps you to find God in everything, you will see God hidden under many disguises. Your searching and finding can go on forever. Life then becomes an exciting adventure, which carries great joy. Christian faith comes to life, and the Church grows. We are made, after all, for God, so in finding God, we experience a rich depth of joy which does not fade. And since we reveal or hide God from one another by the depth of our appreciation of God, every finding of God can help others to grow.
Excerpted from Finding God in All Things by Brian Grogan SJ (p.10)
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Trust in God
Ignatius followed the Spirit, without passing him by; thus, he was gently led to the unknown; and slowly the path opened up for him, along which he wisely went ignorantly, his heart simply focussed on Christ.
One of the most striking fruits of that way is trust. People who believe in an active, loving God have nothing to fear. They desire simply to consciously hand over their life and entrust it to God, not least out of the belief that this great God knows much better than limited humankind what is the best way to walk.
Excerpted from Living with Ignatius: On the Compass of Joy by Nikolaas Sintobin SJ (pp.28-29)
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The Glory of Our Being
So many fail to see the glory and beauty of their inner being. Many people get caught up in the messiness and imperfection encountered in life and in themselves. That messiness and imperfection can be mistaken for failure, ugliness or even a reason to hate.
When we’re in that mode, we fail to see how complex, well-ordered and smooth we are at our heart and core. We have been created and are being created daily as well. Not only that, but the One who creates us loves us and wants to be in dialogue with us. It is possible to take our feelings of messiness and imperfection to our Creator and to understand that our Creator is with us even, and maybe especially, in those times.
Excerpted from Deeper Into The Mess: Praying Through Tough Times by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds (p.15)
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Bad times are not evidence that God is punishing me
In Jesus’ day there was a common belief that whatever misfortunes people experienced were a punishment for sin. The more a person suffered, the greater his or her sin must have been! Jesus rejected this simplistic notion. Instead, he emphasised repentance, which means a turning towards God and toward one’s neighbour. As always, Jesus tells us not only to look outward, but also to look in; he is concerned with what is going on in our heads and in our hearts. He wants us to ask ourselves how God is opening us to compassion, prompting us to repentance, and leading us to life.
Excerpted from Sacred Space: A Little Book of Encouragement edited by Vinita Hampton Wright (p. 136)
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Discernment: Like Sailing a Boat
Discernment is like sailing a boat on a large body of water when the wind is strong. Success depends on the wind, the sailor and the rudder.
The direction of the wind is like the voice of the heart. It expresses what sets them in motion and moves them forward.
The sailor is like the mind. She judges the direction and strength of the wind so as to respond optimally. Without a sailor, the ship has no direction and is at risk of rapid damage. She has to constantly take the direction of the wind into account. Without the wind, the sailor can do nothing.
The rudder, finally, is like the will. It gives the ability to make concrete decisions and choices. The rudder allows you to take to the open sea and sail further and further, instead of staying by the shore or bobbing about aimlessly.
Excerpted from Trust Your Feelings: Learning how to make choices with Ignatius of Loyola by Nikolaas Sintobin SJ (p.58)
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Watch and Pray
If we don’t make the effort to renew our love for God daily, we will become more and more lukewarm. And the more we sink into the slumber of mediocrity, the more fearful we will be of meeting Jesus on the way of the Cross. We need the vigilance of prayer to regain our spiritual consciousness. Prayer rouses us from the triviality of an existence that is centred upon ourselves. Prayer reminds us that we cannot dream our way to the truth and in the process, prayer gives us the courage to fight the good fight and finish the race.
Father, I’d love for you to find me fully awake. But so often I’m drowsy and discouraged, a mixture of good intentions and constant distractions. Take me as I am Lord, but don’t let me stay as I am. Raise me above my mediocrity and make of me everything that you want me to be.
Excerpted from The Mindful Our Father by Thomas G Casey SJ (p.120)
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Jesus Calls Me A Friend
It’s profound to think of myself as a friend of Jesus, one to whom he reveals spiritual truth. A friend listens to me, stays with me when life is hard and when I’m not doing well. Jesus’ friendship–my connection to him–will make it possible for my life to be fruitful, even though I am not perfect and have many lessons to learn. What kind of fruit am I called to bear?
Excerpted from Sacred Space: A Little Book of Encouragement edited by Vinita Hampton Wright (p. 114)
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You Belong to Me
Dear God, the image of the divine that I mostly live with is the image of Jesus. You make yourself accessible to me through your Son. He belongs to the human race: he’s one of us, as we say! So when I want to know what you are like, I can go to the Gospels and watch you in action in the person of Jesus. I learn how you relate to me by watching how Jesus relates to those he met. He is the face of the divine: the Father’s face shines on him because he always has you in view. I might shine a bit better if I were to keep you in view in the same way.
Excerpted from I Am Infinitely Loved: A Month of Meditations by Brian Grogan SJ (p.12)
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Prayer
There are as many ways of praying as there are people, and finding our prayer style as a bridge to God is a gift. Some like to walk on the seashore, or a rugged mountain and taste the beauty of creation while reciting a psalm as background music to help articulate wonder at the greatness and mystery of the universe. Many are put off by prayer in the false belief that they must wear their Sunday best before God. We come to God as we are, warts and all, in the same way that we go to a doctor for healing remedies. It’s not a case of cleaning the house before the cleaners come. It’s a friendship where airs and graces are off limits because we might be able to fool ourselves, but we can’t fool God. It’s helpful to remember that God loves us not for our good deeds, but for who we are, a member of God’s family, even if we’re not conscious of that reality.
Excerpted from Reimagining Religion: A Jesuit Vision by Jim Maher SJ (p.45)
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‘Aha!’ Moments
Jesus, help me to continue to track your disguises so that I may be alert to the endless ways you are present to me. I don’t want to miss you as you pass by. You stripped yourself of divine glory in becoming just like us, so it took a huge leap of faith for people to identify you and say, ‘Look, there goes the Son of God!.’ And then came your Passion. Your disguise was now complete. Your enemies said, ‘Come down from that Cross, then we’ll believe your claims’. But you didn’t. You kept your disguise. If you were God, then it seemed that God was dead.
But then you rose from the dead, only to disguise yourself again – as the gardener, as the traveller on Emmaus Road, as the visitor who asked for something to eat, as the figure standing on the lake shore at dawn. You gave hints: your message of peace, your forgiveness, your special way of breaking bread, your wounds – these helped doubting disciples, each in their own time, to reach their ‘Aha!’ moment. Is such slow revelation a kindness for us who cannot bear too much reality?
Excerpted from I Am Infinitely Loved: A Month of Meditations by Brian Grogan SJ (p.56)
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