Yesterday, on day 4 of JESEDU-Jogja2024, our keynote speaker Dr. Paul Sharkey mentioned that Karl Rahner once said that even the Church does not get to choose the era it works in. We are where we are.
I wonder if St. Ignatius ever wanted to be in a different era? A different time or space than he was. Did he ever consider that his call might be easier to live in the early days of Christianity, when people had the sense memory of Jesus walking in their midst and the Church was in the messiness and simplicity of its youth? Did he ever consider that there might be a better time for his work to begin than the moment where the Church was fracturing and some people were questioning everything while others were tightening their grip on the Catholicism they had always known? Did he ever pause to imagine that it might be simpler to start in a time before the bible was translated into German and people were able to form a personal and communal relationship with God in new and unchartered ways?
I think that thought crosses all of our minds, at least, it has crossed mine – Would another time and place be better, simpler, or even… more holy?
Yesterday as I listened to all of the speakers, I kept coming back to Ignatius and the early Jesuits who, despite any doubts they may have had in their heart about how to proceed, just kept on going in faith. Throughout Jesuit history, there have been many incredible, audacious contributions to the world by the Society. There have also been moments of messiness, mistake, and discomfort. Yet in all of these moments of both success and failure, there has always been Christ.
Dr. Sharkey said that we live in an era of secularism, at least in a fair number of our communities, and it is something that makes many of us long for a different era in which to work. But we are where we are. He told us that secularism is not our friend or our enemy but our context. Within this context, he reminded us of our way of proceeding particularly when engaging in discernment, a way that is not foreign to the historical Jesuit experience:
- First, we must name the experience which requires deep listening to the other and to God, clarifying that the experience we are naming is the experience of the one we are encountering.
- Then, we must analyze the context which requires delving into all of the things of this world that help us understand where we are including research, evidence, data, lists, and sound theory.
- Next, we must dialogue with the tradition of our Catholic faith which, according to Dr. Sharkey, is a deep well from which to draw that contains innumerable treasure.
- Finally, only after we have done the rest, we then develop the vision for action which may be external or within ourselves.
As I listened to him explain these four points, I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Jesuit Gerald Fagin, SJ in a tiny little red book of essays I got during one of my first years in a Jesuit school called A Dream Confirmed, where he said this about Ignatian discernment: “[Ignatius teaches to] pray, get good information, listen to the spirit moving in your heart, use your head to decide the pros and cons, make a decision, and bring it to God for confirmation.” Ignatius, in his process of discernment, did not ignore the era in which he found himself. He utilized the information available at the time as part of what he brought to God in prayer. It was what first drew me to Ignatian Spirituality – the idea that God’s work in me is not separate from my particular time and space but in constant dialogue with it.
As the Jesuits say: “The world is our house!” But this is not just true for Jesuits.
It is my house, your house, and God’s house and… we are not simply visiting it.
As I continue to reflect on the experiences of yesterday, I am once again drawn to the image that was given to us in mass the day before of Jesus with his Sacred Heart resting in his open palm as well as the statue of St Ignatius where he is leaning into the wind with one foot raised and I am asking myself:
- How is God inviting me to engage my current context?
- What do I need to let go of in order to stand before God with an open hand and an offering of my heart?
- How can the stories of those who have gone before me, their successes and their failures, aid my own discernment?
- What grace(s) do I need from God to live into the person God is inviting me to be?
I am currently in Yogyakarta, Indonesia as one of twelve North American delegates, 100 global delegates overall, meeting to discuss Catholic/Jesuit identity and in-depth faith formation in Jesuit schools at II Seminar JESEDU-Jogja2024. Since I keep forgetting about the 12 hour time change and texting all those I love at 2 in the morning, I decided I would write some blog posts about the most important moments for me and perhaps the moments that might stir something in you as well. Thanks for reading! More to come!
