Traveling and Unable to Post on This Site

For the next two Sundays, I will be overseas and unable to post to this site.

The post for February 28th is The Really Important Questions

The post for March 7th is How Does God Communicate With us. This post launches an extremely significant part of the Ignatian Way of Proceeding and it is one that requires some major dialogue with evangelicals. I try to show why evangelicals can have a deeper encounter with Christ than we have been accustomed to.

To read these posts on each Sunday, just go to:

Evangelicals on the Ignatian Way blogsite.

When I return, I'll post them on this site as well.

Brian K. Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

www.lci.typepad.com

The Ignatian Charism

The Roman Catholics refer to the "charism of the founding father" (or mother) of a religious order.

By this they are talking about the essential DNA of the founder that is imprinted on the order/organization they founded. It is the heart of the founder, it is the distinctiveness of the order, it is the core qualities that characterize an order.

For the Franciscans, the charism would be the simplicity of Francis, his service to the poor and his love of nature. If you Google images of Francis, most of them have birds and other animals surrounding him.

For the Dominicans, the charism involves their love of study and teaching.

For the Benedictines, it is their gift of hospitality to all and their well ordered life together as it is described in The Rule of St. Benedict, especially including their hours of prayer. (St. Benedict to the left.)

The Trappists, (of which Thomas Merton is, perhaps, the most famous) have the most rigorous code of silence and solitude. The are an extremely austere order.

This "charism" of the founding father is not restricted to the Roman Catholic orders. It can be found anywhere.

For the Wesley brothers, it was their passion for holiness, their focus on the lower class population and their house structure for meetings. (John Wesley to the right)

For William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army, it would be their holistic ministry of gospel and social service to the poorest of the poor.

Rick Warren/Saddleback - seeker sensitivity and the purpose driven life.

Bill Hybels/Willow Creek - seeker targeted ministry, excellence, leadership.

And on it goes.

The founders are men and women of leadership, passion, vision, values, defining methodologies… and all of this is the original "charism" that is imprinted on the organization they launch.

There is an Ignatian Charism as well that flows through the Jesuit organization. I would define that spiritual DNA, that essential ethos as including the following things.

1. The Spiritual Exercises as a way of spiritual formation. This Exercises are a way of encountering Christ through prayer and reflection and then responding to Christ.

2. Contemplation in Action. In other words an active spirituality.

3. Finding God in All Things. An incarnational approach to spirituality. God can be found anywhere and everywhere, in all aspects of life. There are no dualisms in Ignatian spirituality.

4. Missional spirituality. Ignatius had a passion to "help souls" and the spirituality he developed was a spirituality that would energize and sustain a missional service to the world.

5. Spiritual friendship together with others in the wey of missional service.

6. Living very free from all inordinate attachments. The only thing that truly matters is the greater glory of God and therefore, the follower of Ignatius must find the inner freedom that enables him or her to let go of anything that hinders them.

7. A way of discernment. Ignatius developed one of the most substantial ways of discernment ever mapped out.

8. Finally, I would probably add the general organizational life as it is defined in the Constitutions (but that is a broad statement that includes many of the above ideas).

All this became the Ignatian "way of proceeding."

I have blogged about several of these core qualities that are a part of the Ignatian charism and I will be blogging about others in the weeks ahead.

It is this original charism, that has been sustained and developed through the centuries that is extremely attractive to me. There is so much that I am interested in and which defines who I am and how LCI does things.

Leadership

Spirituality

Pedagogy and life long learning

Culture and mission

Friendship

I find help and guidance in all this from the Ignatian "charism" and "way of proceeding." These are not individual aspects of life, but in the Ignatian Way, they are intricately connected to one another and merge together.

Let me say it this way. The Ignatian Way is a way of holistic, developmental processes… something that the evangelical world has not been as good at doing. I have devoted about the last 20 years of my life trying to design this kind of developmental process.

Which is why I am an evangelical on the Ignatian way of proceeding.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

The Love of God

To do this exercise using the video clip, you'll have to go to Evangelicals on the Ignatian Way blogsite.

However, here is the content of the post, minus the video.

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Here is a second exercise to help you connect with the deep, deep love of God for your life. It is another old hymn. I don't know all the details, but the core part of this hymn was found on a scrap piece of paper in the room of a person who had just died. The room of that person was in an Insane Asylum where he/she had been for many years.

I found myself wondering if the person was able to endure that condition for long years, because he/she had connected with the love of God in a sustaining way.

The love of God can be such an abstract idea for us. We can theologically dissect the idea and rationally assent to it... but not have much direct experience of God's love. Like the song from last week, you will find that this hymn is rich in metaphors that help us experience God's love. The video images provide concrete images.

Pay attention to what is speaking to you and what draws you deeper into the experience of God's love.

May you encounter the deep love of God for your life and perhaps spend time yourself, journaling, writing of your experience.

And here are the words:

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.

The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave his son to win;

His erring child he reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade.

To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong;

It shall for evermore endure, the Saints’ and Angels’ song.

The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything (An Advance Review)

I was given a copy of an advance copy and uncorrected proof of a book that is to be released in October 2010 by Harper One.

It is, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life by James Martin, S.J.

This is a book that I/we/you have been waiting for... and you are going to have to wait a few more months until it is released.

It is a substantial introduction to the Jesuit/Ignatian Way that deserves a wide reading audience. It is extremely well written. Informative and instructive, illuminative, encouraging, containing autobiography and stories, and has a devotional flavor throughout.

A few years ago, I read his absolutely delightful, My Life With the Saints, which was a spiritual memoir for how his journey has been enriched and deepened by his engagements with the great saints throughout the history of the church.

Put his forthcoming book on your Books To Get list.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International

The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

Here is a link to another website that I have on Typepad, Evangelicals on the Ignatian Road. It is identical to this site, but is the home site and this one has those posts copied.

However, for this post and the next, there is a short video to watch as part of a devotional exercise. So it will be easiest if you just go to that site.

The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.

Brian K. Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

www.lci.typepad.com