Jesuit 101--Jesuit Spirituality

We have a Jesuit pope now, so a lot of people are probably trying to learn what that means.

It may be difficult to define Jesuit Spirituality, but every good definition will include some version of:

1) Finding God in All Things

This means that your whole life is the arena in which God acts and moves, and your whole life is where you can find God. God isn’t the God from the song “From a Distance”; God isn’t sitting somewhere far off and remote from us. God is right here, right now. God isn’t found solely in a church, or in a monastery, or limited to certain designated areas. God is found in our work, in our homes, in our cars, in the baseball park, on our computer screens, in our next breath. God, for Jesuits, is infinitely present.

This means that no part of your life is unimportant. Of course going to church, reading the Bible, saying prayers are important activities in fostering an ongoing and deepening relationship with God; but so it driving to work, talking to your spouse, sitting in a restaurant, even moments of intimacy with a loved one. Since God is in the midst of all things, I can find God in all things, making all things and act of devotion and prayer--IT’S ALL PART OF YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE!


2) Being a Contemplative in Action

A contemplative is a person devoted to contemplation"not a very helpful definition I agree. Contemplation means “thoughtful observation” and/or “a deep consideration and reflection.” So a Contemplative is one who makes thoughtful observations and reflects upon deep thoughts and considerations. In religious speak, a Contemplative is often a monk or a hermit, who shuts himself off from the world in order to contemplate these deep reflections and thoughtful observations.

Let’s face it, the world is distracting, even more so today than in the past. Wireless internet, cell phones, computers, twenty-four hour cable news, hundreds of television channels, work, family, sporting events, anniversaries, email, Ipods"noise, noise, noise, demands, demands, demands! The idea of monastic contemplation is leaving the noisy world of demands in order to free our lives so that we have time for peace and quiet reflection.

Being a Contemplative in action is making a decision to remain in the noisy, distracting world of competing demands, but committing to live in that world making thoughtful observations and engaging in deep reflection and consideration. We don’t cut ourselves off from the world to contemplate, but we contemplate in the midst of the world"the world as it is.

This of course means taking time throughout the day to stop and pray, but since God is everywhere and in the midst of all things, praying simply becomes being deliberately present with the God who is eternally present (ooh, that’s a good definition!). Prayer isn’t merely saying words to God, or presenting God with our list of demands; prayer is being present with God"sometimes it is talking, sometimes it is listening, sometimes it is just being. It is the same as with any other relationship, and you can only get to know God the same way you get to know anyone else"by spending time with them.

Being a Contemplative in action is to live thoughtful, prayerful, reflective, lives in the middle of our busy, noisy, distracting world. It is to allow our faith, our prayer life, our thoughtful observations and contemplations to inform how we live in the world, rather than simply reacting to one crisis after another, or to random stimuli.

Being a Contemplative in action is to realize that the world, the job, the home, the family, the club, all of it together, is your monastery.


3) Being Incarnational

Incarnation is a word that is generally used of Jesus Christ who is God incarnate. The word comes from the Latin root for “flesh”"so the Incarnation is God coming to us “in the flesh” in the person of Jesus Christ.

In a broader sense, incarnation can mean God being “fleshed out” in ordinary, everyday things and events. Since God is in all things, and since God is found in the midst of all things, and since our whole lives are the arena in which God acts and moves, then our whole lives can become incarnational. Our whole lives can be an embodiment of God’s love and presence.

An incarnational spirituality is one that recognizes that we all get to be Christ to each other at many points of our lives. Often we take on the role of “the least of these” but very often too we have the opportunity to take on the role of Christ who ministers to the least of these. An incarnational spirituality is one in which we seek to embody God’s love, presence, compassion and mercy"which is who Jesus Christ is-- with our lives.

God, of course is transcendent, and cannot be fully known in this life as it now is. St. Augustine reminds us that if we can fully understand it, then it isn’t God. But we can begin to know God even if we cannot fully understand God. So while there is always a portion of God that is completely “other” and unknowable, there is a portion of God who is present and near. God is both outside time and space, and very much inside time and space. And the God who is also inside time and space, is inside us, and can be known through us and through each other.


4) Finding Freedom Through Detachment

All of us have attachments and affections which have become “disordered.” These disordered attachments keep us from being free. Therefore, the more we can detach from these disordered affections, the more we can become free.

A classic disordered affection or attachment in our society is money. A successful person has lots of money, works in a career that pays lots of money, and if he is successful, he will continue to advance through various levels, which provide even more money along the way. As a result, many people begin to see their lives as what they do to make money, and since making money becomes so important, they begin to cut out events and people who cannot further their career. Suddenly the “successful” person is avoiding time with family and kids and family events and little league games because those things are distracting from the career that he says makes all those things possible. He’ll spend time with the family and go to the little league games when the career is stable. But it never is, because if he doesn’t advance, he works harder to advance, and if he does advance, he has more responsibilities which take him away from his family and events and friends even more. Often, he will begin to see others as tools to advance his career or obstacles who stand in the way of his career. Money has become the thing around which this person organizes his life"money is security. Whatever you organize your life around is your god, regardless of what you choose to call it. So money is the god and the career is the church or the religion that worships the god of money. And all those other things that was supposed to be aided by the money are slowly sacrificed.

That person is not free, but enslaved to the disordered attachment of money. Money is a tool, not a life. A career is a means of earning a living, but is not your life. If money is a disordered affection, then the most freeing thing you can do is learn to detach from money.

Detachment doesn’t mean that we have no feeling toward something. It isn’t about being emotionless Vulcans like Mr. Spock on Star Trek. But it does mean stepping back and getting things in perspective, realizing money, jobs, cars, houses, people are all gifts given to us to help us serve God, not to be used in place of God. So detachment is a balanced view of things.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius were created as a means to help people"ordinary people like you and me"to learn how to detach from disordered affections, and live life more fully in the freedom that comes from serving God.

Reviews

[Bishop R. Joseph Owles]

Another way of saying what I said is: Because (1) God is present in all things, we can (2) contemplate on our lives and percieve God acting and engaging with us; But deep thoughts and spiritual insights aren't enough, we have to (3) find ways of applying them to our lives, so that we live out those insights--allowing us to see God more clearly, have deeper insights, and find more meaningful ways to apply and enact those insights into our lives. Part of how we do all this is by (4) freeing ourselves from disordered attachments and affections. We can define "disordered attachments and affections" then as those things that block us from seeing God who is present with us, keep us from contemplating, and/or keep us from applying our insights.

Oh well, it seemed clear while I was walking the dogs...