Collections of Spirituality Essays, accessible by links:
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To read one of the following essays which have recently appeared in "This Week's Essay" section of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality's home page, click on the title.

Healing a Hit - The first movement in the process of healing a hit is to acknowledge that it happens, and that it hurts.

Exercise - Exercise faith, and it grows; act or speak with good will, and love grows.

“Good Things” - We can readily imagine that Jesus chose his words carefully, moved by his love for us.

Our Healer - Whatever leads us to God – even pain or illness - is an occasion for receiving an experience of love.

Unconscious Faith - Our bond with God grows and changes over time.

God and Summer - God is ready to encounter us in ways uniquely adapted to our summer doings.

Healing a Hit

Many of us are “hit” at one time or another, not with a physical blow, but by someone’s words, by something we read, or by a suddenly awakened memory. In every case, our immediate need is for healing. We do not need revenge and we do not need to completely understand the source of the pain, and we certainly do not need to go over the incident again and again. Our best response is to focus on the process of healing. We might never find out why we have been hurt, but if our intention is to recover the state of balance and peace that we had before being hit, we can begin the process of healing immediately.

If we deal with a hit as soon as we can, we have a much better chance of negotiating our way to a satisfactory conclusion than if we tell ourselves to “just forget it” as an attempt to avoid dealing with the pain. We might have to keep our feelings in check until we can obtain some privacy, but if our commitment is to seek healing rather than to “make them understand,” we will succeed. The longer we put off the work of actively sorting through our pain and anger, the more time for our minds to run through fruitless “reruns,” and the more difficult it becomes to put the specific cause of our pain into a reasonable and affective perspective. Hits that are left unresolved and unhealed have ongoing negative effects in our attitudes, words, and actions. Healing is not only of benefit to us, but also saves others from the possibility of our projecting hurt and anger onto them.

A hit elicits a powerful release of energy within us, usually painful and unwelcome. If we take the energy as a gift of God (not the hit itself, and not the pain), we can use that power to accomplish two excellent transactions: Bringing the pain to a conclusion, and determining appropriate action. For example, once I was hurt and angry after reading an email message. In bringing the matter directly to God, I was enabled to calm down – that was good – but also to recognize and to determine that I would have to take the lead in seeking reconciliation. The result was an improved relationship rather than a long-term stand-off. In another situation, healing of a hurt might take place together with a quite reasonable determination that nothing should be said or done other than to let the incident move from the present into the past. God will guide our process of healing from the first moment to the last, if that is what we desire and actively seek.

At one time or another, we might become aware of a long-term, deep wound that will take considerable time to heal, and for which a person we trust might be of significant help. God often works through others on our behalf. But no appointments are necessary and no costs are involved when we take a hurt to the One who “invented” our human nature, and who shares it fully with us in the person of Jesus. Healing can begin immediately, even if we come to an understanding that the process will take time, and can best be facilitated by a friend, advisor, guide, or counselor. The process is still the same: we make use of the energy to seek an end to the pain, and we make an appropriate decision about the next step to take.

However negative the feelings elicited by being hit, we do not have to react by giving our whole attention to negative thoughts that contribute to the pain rather than alleviate it. Our experiences of distress – however unjustly imposed upon us – are very clear signs that point directly away from God, from life, and from love. They do not arise from God. We have the blessed option of turning to God, and seeking a way through and away from the source of whatever disturbs our bodies, minds, and spirits. All the energy that is stirred up can be turned from apparent harm to an actual increase in our sense of accomplishment. Victory over an external enemy might bring some little pleasure, but is nothing compared with the deep satisfaction of successfully resolving an interior struggle within ourselves, in direct personal interaction with God.

The first movement in the process of healing a hit is to acknowledge that it happens, and that it hurts. Once we bring the event to God as we experience it, God acts in concert with us, initiating a change within that we cannot achieve by ourselves.

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Exercise

The concepts of “exercise” and “spirituality” go quite well together as noted by Ignatius of Loyola in his book, The Spiritual Exercises. Some of us learned early in life, some of us later, that exercise has benefits that are easily recognized in terms of improved health, mental activity and spiritual endeavors. We might re-learn this kind of lesson at various times in life. Recently, I noticed that my energy level increased for daily work, thinking, and prayer, as a consequence of adding a bit more physical exercise to my habitual routine.

Some people never engage in deliberate physical exercise, and live long and productive lives. If we were all the same, life would be devoid of the delightful variety that we find among us. But all of us certainly use some of our physical muscles on a daily basis, just as we all use our minds and spiritual capacities regularly. In that sense, all of us exercise the full range of our faculties, but in widely varying levels of intensity and purposefulness. No two of us exercises all of the capabilities we possess in the same way, and no one of us exercises the various aspects of our humanity in the same proportion from day to day.

If we decide to do so, we can build up muscles through physical exercise, and we can build up mental aspects of ourselves through hobbies and careers, and we can also build up our spiritual components of faith, hope, and love by exercising them, too. The positive side of “use it or lose it” is this wonderful capacity we have of “gaining by exercising.”

Initiating any kind of exercise can be difficult or challenging. We have resistance to change. Muscles, unaccustomed to exercise, might become sore. The first time we have to write a new kind of letter or report, or fill out a form on-line, the process can be less than pleasurable. People who want to establish a routine for prayer often find that getting started is difficult. But, after some repetitions, we gain facility, and then begin to experience the benefits: an increase in energy, pleasure in writing, enjoyment at actually saving time when working on-line, and a sense of interior peacefulness in prayer. Many of us have found deep satisfaction in having developed a habit that we had decided upon. By exercising a particular set of muscles, or our minds, or our spirits, we find increased joy in living.

If we decide that we want to increase our faith and love – our practice of trust and of care for those whom God loves just as God loves us – we should rely on the assistance of our Personal Trainer. The union of exercise and spirituality has this unique characteristic: when we ask for assistance from God, we will exercise the very faith and love that we seek to enlarge.

We can see, or hear, or at least read a book by, some other person who can help us with almost any activity. But God, as our Personal Trainer, is invisible, and is infinitely greater than all people. We relate with God primarily by trusting the desires within us that incline us towards God. Trust and love grow together when we respond to the movements of God within us, such as our yearning for better health, more knowledge, a deeper sense of purpose, or most of all, love.

The union of spirituality and exercise is most readily perceived when we attend reflectively to our experiences. For example, I could say, “Come, Holy Spirit, please help me to increase my trust in God” or “Please help me to love people as You love them.” The immediate experience might not be that of more trust in God or love for people exactly as God loves them. But, if I reflect on my experience, I can surely notice whether or not I was content with what I said, and whether or not I was honest in my expression. Most of us come away from such encounters with God with a sense that we “did the right thing,” and find satisfaction in the interaction. Our experience, upon further reflection, actually is that of someone who has trusted, and who has grown in love, even in a very small way.

Exercise faith, and it grows; act or speak with good will, and love grows. This is how we are made, and this is how very well our spirituality is enhanced through appropriate exercise.

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“Good Things”

One of my favorite Scripture verses offers a very sound motive and a quite reasonable criterion for choosing when to speak and when to remain silent: “Say only the good things people need to hear, things that will really help them.” (Ephesians 4:29)

Two reflective questions for us before we speak are: “What do people need to hear from us?” and “What can we say that will really help them?” These questions are quite different from the more familiar: “What do we feel like saying?” And, brief as the time and effort required for reflecting on the purpose and benefits of speaking or not speaking, we know from much experience that we can easily produce words and expressions that no one needs and that are less than helpful to our hearers.

What an excellent motive to employ when saying something to a child, or for speaking up at a meeting, or for writing a note: “whatever will really help them.” To consider the possible effects of what we say or choose not to say and being concerned about how our words might be of assistance or a hindrance to others in their life journeys is definitely an opportunity for us to act in agreement with God. We can readily imagine that Jesus chose his words carefully, moved by his love for us.

Believing that God wants what is best for everyone, we can depend upon God to give us inspirations either to find the right words or to avoid communicating, whichever will benefit those we have in mind.
When our concern is the welfare of others, we will not intend hurt or harm. Painful misunderstandings can arise, but there is no real injury when our honest desire is to be of help.

Even as children, we probably were taught: “If you have nothing good to say about a person, say nothing at all.” Respect for others is not age-specific. We certainly do not want to approve of negative behavior in others, and we have a responsibility to defend the common good. Most of us have had to speak a hard truth to a misbehaving child or to a peer whose actions or words were out of place. But there is no one whom God does not love, and God asks us to reflect this truth in all our modes of communication with everyone from family members to complete strangers.

Anger is a powerful emotion, providing us with instant energy. If we speak or write from anger primarily as a means of release, we will probably add to the kind of pain and injustice that might have elicited our feelings of anger in the first place. The same God who created us in love is as capable of guiding us in our use of anger-energy as with our most calm and collected moments. Rather than tear down with anger, we might find that, with the near-instantaneous grace of choosing rather than reacting, we are enabled to communicate a truth that someone needs to hear, that can really help him or her. We know that in some circumstances, only forceful words will convey the appropriate level of authority.

The passage from Ephesians invites us to pay attention to the end results of what we communicate to others, whether face to face, text-messaging, on the phone, speaking in a group setting or making use of the media. God’s good inspirations move us to want “good things” for all who receive our words.

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Our Healer

From “baby aspirin” to Vicodin, we have a wide range of medications available that can diminish muscle aches or reduce intense pain. We can thank God that both nature and human ingenuity have provided us with means to lessen some of the physical and emotional suffering that can at times wholly occupy our consciousness, or at other times touch us less strongly.

Pain-killers often promote healing, or afford us an opportunity for healing to take place, but they do not usually heal the causes of chronic or momentary pain. If we have access to health-care, we seek healing, not just pain reduction. With wounds of the spirit or hurts of the heart, there are no medications available to help us. But we can find in God not only relief from pain, but healing as well. For any and all the suffering which can occur in our lives, our Creator prescribes nothing that we have to buy, but freely offers us healing that begins as soon as we ask – healing not only for injuries we receive from others, but for the disappointments and frustrations that we have taken upon ourselves.

When we consult with medical practitioners, we relate our symptoms, so that they can correctly identify the appropriate measures that will promote healing. We might also go through a series of tests as a prelude to diagnosis. When we turn to God as healer, it is of great importance to “name the hurt.” We do this, not to provide information that God could possibly need, but, through the use of thoughts and words, we become fully aware of what we are experiencing. We not only have pain, and a precipitating cause, but most importantly, we have trust that God can and will respond positively to our request for help. Consciously bringing our concern directly to the Healer is the beginning of the healing process.

If we were to tell a doctor which medicine to prescribe, and precisely what procedure to use, we might receive a polite smile, or we might be invited to look for help elsewhere. When we seek God’s gift of healing for anything from a minor disappointment to a grievous injury, we will experience healing in proportion to the trust we exercise. For example, if we implicitly “tell” God that the way to heal our broken heart is to restore the particular relationship we had cherished, we limit the options of our infinitely wise and loving Healer. When we focus on bringing our pain to the Lord, rather than on our presumed or preferred solutions, the miracle of healing can begin immediately.

When we listen to others describe their pains, whether of body, mind, or spirit, we might not be able to do anything other than to manifest our care and respect for them. As we know from those who have been compassionate with us in our needs, every bit of love and care is welcome and helpful. We give and accept love for the healing and helpful gift that it is. God’s love is, when we experience it, radically healing. Though we do well not to tell God how to heal our hurts, we are most welcome to ask God for an experience of love, which does initiate, sustain, and complete every kind of healing.

If we can look back at one or more of the times when we have honestly sought God’s help with some need for healing – whether a heartache from being neglected, a debilitating illness, or a recent hurt of any kind, we might recognize that our relationship with God grew, deepened, and become more significant for us. Every time we encounter the healing love of God, we are in some manner changed; over time, we become habituated to bringing our hurts to God more quickly, and with greater confidence.

Whatever leads us to God – even pain or illness - is an occasion for receiving an experience of love. God, as Healer, is also Lover.

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Unconscious Faith

When we ask someone if he or she is willing to assist us with a written recommendation, we are quite conscious that we are putting our trust in that person. When we ask God to help us to deal with a challenge, we exercise our faith consciously. If we call on friends or family members to help us with a project, we do not even think about the degree of reliance we have on them; our focus only needs to be on the task at hand. In our busy lives, we often commit our resources of body, mind, and spirit to a variety of actions, and are not conscious of the abiding and supportive trust we have in God for making sound choices.

The effects of faith, trust, reliance, assurance, or confidence that we bring to our relationships with people and with God is of great importance. We do not bring any one of these qualities to apply without relying on our experiences and our set of values. Nor do we exercise them in the same way all the time. We will likely weigh the pros and cons of entrusting ourselves to a driver who has a reputation for speeding and paying more attention to conversations than to driving. But we might give little thought to relying on familiar movements of inspiration in committing ourselves to a task, even one that will require hard work and some sacrifice. We have developed habits for readily making some acts of trust, and of cautious discernment about others.

Our concern is not about whether conscious faith is better or less good than unconscious trust, because our spirituality is primarily a unique relationship with God, and only secondarily a path or way of life governed by rules with universal application to all circumstances. With some of the challenges we face, we sense a need to first stop and pray, while with others we are sure that we should proceed immediately in making a decision. In and through all, we do trust God’s love for us.

Our bond with God grows and changes over time. Through reflection on our experiences we become familiar with some of the ways that God works within us, so that we rely on them; at other times we recognize that we are under some negative influences, either internal or external, and had best not make any decisions in keeping with those pressures. We are at times aware of the spontaneous confidence we have in God working within our freedom to choose, our patterns of thinking and reasoning, and within our emotions and interior senses, just as we also are familiar with how anger and fear make it difficult to trust. When we resonate with the Spirit, we can move forward in unconscious faith; when we are pushed and pulled in opposite directions, we might have more need to exercise conscious faith, appealing to God for healing, guidance, or support – whatever we might need.

Faith that operates in our habits of mind and heart is certainly not of less value than that which we exercise in our petitions and prayers. Much of what we do and say each day relies upon the gift and grace of our unconscious faith.

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God and Summer

In the northern hemisphere, summer officially begins on the longest day of the year, in late June. The days grow shorter all through the following months, although the weather typically becomes warmer - at least during July and August. But summer means much more to us than a correlation between shorter days and higher temperatures.

When we think of summer, what comes to mind? We might consider vacations, outdoor events, gatherings with family and friends, or travel; rest, changes in daily habits, or reading a book. The season and the weather are factors, but those provide only the occasion and the environment. We give meaning and purpose to the summer through the decisions we make about our occupations.

God is ready to encounter us in ways uniquely adapted to our summer doings. We have the capacity and the responsibility of saying “yes” or “no” to any and all inspirations, suggestions, opportunities, and graces that are offered to us. The weather and the seasons are outside our control. But as we take into account the daily temperature when we select clothing and locations for events, we can also consciously attend to the movements of the Spirit in us as we plan outings, family reunions, and volunteer service.

God created the weather and the seasons, which are for us immovable and unchangeable forces. But, as vulnerable and weak humans, we are privileged with the capacity for personal contact with God, who is immediately accessible and responsive to us. Summer is for many of us a time when schedules vary more than during the rest of the year, providing opportunities for noting the beauty of our surroundings and the closeness of our Creator.

During the summer, we can call a friend and suggest a walk together; we will make arrangements about a meeting place and a destination so that we can enjoy one another’s company. When we call upon God, we are together even in the desire to make contact. We can experience being in close companionship without the need to move from one place to another, for we are already together. Our thoughts and feelings, as in any conversation or walk with a friend, can be light and cheerful, intense and tearful, or anything and everything in between.

This summer, if we wish, we can take some times - momentary or more lengthy periods – for “vacations with God” that will cost nothing, require no planning or packing, and yet be occasions of refreshment, restoration, and re-creation. God and summer go well together.

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