The Really Important Questions

The Really Important Questions

For a life to be worth living, it means you must know what the important questions/issues/themes are, you must ask those questions, you must find satisfying (and real) answers, and you must orient your life according to what you have learned.

Sometimes we refer to these questions as "worldview" questions… or the "existential" questions of life.

Here are a few of those questions, not listed in order or importance.

• What is the nature of reality?
• Is there a God?
• What kind of God is this God?
• Who am I?
• Is there something wrong with me? (it seems as if there is)
• How do I know what is wrong, describe it, understand it?
• How does what is wrong be made right?
• Why am I here?
• (or) What is my purpose?
• Who do I know what is right, true and good?
• How do I make decisions to choose what is right, true and good?
• How should I live my life?
• Do I have obligations to others?
• If so, what does that obligation look like?
• What, exactly, are the deep longings I have within?
• Am I in this alone? Or will there be others along the way?
• How do I become a healthy human being?
• How do I experience authentic relationships with others?
• How do I become a healthy, whole person?

I'm sure you realize that these questions are all deeply interconnected. They are questions that take on deeper, better answers as the insights generated from one question flow over to another question.

I'm sure you realize that these questions need a life time (if not longer) to be answered. Life is to be the asking, the seeking and the finding of wisdom concerning these questions.

I'm sure you realize that these questions will not be easily answered and that you will actually have some wrong, bad, harmful answers along the way.

Over the course of the last 35 years, I have embraced a broadly defined evangelical worldview as the way I generally answer these questions. I have strong Reformational nuances that further define that worldview. I have postmodern influences that are added into the worldview mix.

And in the last two years, I have found Ignatius to be an invaluable guide and conversation partner who helps me take so many of these questions much further… both individually and as an integrated whole.

Which is why I am an evangelical on the Ignatian way of proceeding. It is not the only thing I am, but it is now an essential part of who I am.

I have already mentioned this book, but when it is available late fall of 2010, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life by James Martin will be a valuable guide for so many of these worldview questions. (p.s. A friend told me he believes it is now scheduled for a March 2010 release.)

In the meantime, if you want a very good guide, one of the best, i recommend to you -Spiritual Freedom by John English.

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

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

AMDG

To the Greater Glory of God

There are certain phrases that run throughout the Jesuit literature and these phrases capture and express the deepest values of ignatius and his company of friends.

One of the most important is repeated in many of the 6000 letters he wrote. In the Latin it is:

ad majorem Dei gloriam

which means:

to the greater glory of God.

The abbreviation is A.M.D.G. and it appears on many Jesuit institutions, both colleges and churches.

It is difficult to communicate how core this defining idea was for Ignatius. He dedicated his life to the greater glory of God.

He used the Spiritual Exercises to help "exercitants" make choices that would help them work and serve in a way for the greater glory of God.

This was his passion and his mission. This was one way Ignatius' love for God was manifest. He who had received everything from God, his Creator and Savior and Lord, would do anything for the greater glory of that God.

This is just one of the many reasons I am drawn to Ignatius and his way. On my best days I too long for the greater glory of God and I am willing to dream, dare and do much for God's greater glory. On y worst days, I fall back into selfish pursuits of my own glory.

And so my regular practice is to daily ask God to strengthen my desire for his greater glory.

The Jesuits are always seeking "mas," magis," "more" because of their desire for the greater glory of God.

Brian K. Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Desires: A Devotional

As you begin to work through the Spiritual Exercises, you quickly notice that Ignatius has a repeated refrain for the retreatant. "Ask for what you desire."

Ignatius wants the retreatant to be in touch with his or her deepest desires and to ask Christ for what they desire.

In this post, I am giving you a devotional exercise to help you get in touch with your desires.

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Here is a collage of passages from the Psalms.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart…

I desire to do your will O my God…

You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing…

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him…

Psalms 37:4-5; 40:8; 145:16,19

Read this collage several times.

What do you feel, sense, think, discern as you read these passages?

Spend time on this, journal your discoveries.

Offer up a prayer to Christ in light of your feelings and thoughts.

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Now you are ready for a reflection on Luke 18:35-47, the encounter of a blind beggar who receives his sight. I'll guide you through this exercise.

Read the text, and try to imagine you being in the crowd who witnesses this experience. What do you see?

The question Jesus asked the blind beggar, “What do you want Me to do for you?” is the question Jesus is asking you right now.

As a New Year is upon you, as Jesus asks, “what do you want Me to do for you?” he is asking - what are your desires? You can (and do) have many desires and you should feel full freedom to name whatever desires come to mind. But also pay attention to those desires that seem stronger. What do you "most" want Jesus to do for you in the year ahead?

As you did with the Psalm collage, let your heart and mind range over this question and if you can, imagine Jesus sitting with you, asking you this question. Also, pay attention to what is going on inside you as you ask for your desires. Journal your thoughts and prayer.

While this exercise I provided is not an actual Ignatian exercise, it is an exercise that has the spirit of the Ignatian Exercises all through it.

Suscipe and the Contemplation to Attain God's Love

There is a beginning and an end… and hopefully everything in-between is congruent and in harmony with what is said first and last.

In the previous post, I told you what the beginning of the Exercises is all about. That was the First Principle and Foundation which ground the retreatant in the very meaning of creation and the purpose of life. All things are created for our well being and to aid us in the pursuit of the glory of God.

The final reflection of Ignatius' Exercises is found in Notes 230-237. It is titled:

Contemplation to Attain the Love of God.

(By the way, there are many things that are contained as supplemental resources after this, but they are not the Exercises themselves.)

The First Principle and the Contemplation are the Bookends for the Exercises and are deeply intertwined and supportive of each other.

By the time a retreatant has come to this final reflection, Ignatius' assumption is that the retreatant is full of gratitude, having gained awareness of the Presence, Work and Word of Christ (or having Found God in All Things), has consecrated desires to know, love and serve God, and a generosity of spirit that desires to do more for the greater glory of God.

This final reflection invites the retreatant to consider the great love and grace of God for her or him. It is called the contemplation to ATTAIN God's love. But the word - attain - is not used in the sense of "learn" but rathe rin the sense of "awareness" or "the experience of" God's love.

There are four movements in this reflection. The retreatant reflects on:

God's gift to them (all the retreatant is and has is from God), #234

God's self-giving, #235

God's ongoing labors and works on their behalf, #236

God's unceasing self-giving love, #237

In the center of these reflections is a beautiful and profound prayer. It is sometimes referred to as the "Suscipe" which is simply the first Latin word of the prayer, which begins, "Take, Lord, and receive…" "Suscipe" is "take."

Here is the prayer:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,

my memory,

my understanding,

and my entire will,

all that I have and possess.

Thou hast given all to me.

To Thee, O Lord, I return it.

All is Thine,

dispose of it wholly according to Thy will.

Give me Thy love and Thy grace,

for this is sufficient for me.

Ignatius of Loyola

This is a prayer of loving surrender and trust in response to the deep awareness of the enormous love and grace of God for us.

I recommend that you write out this prayer and pray it daily for the week to come. You may also want to reflect several times on these words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:17-21

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Some Names and Titles

If you are new to the Jesuits, you may be a little confused about the variety of names and titles used for them. Here is a brief explanation.

The Spanish words do not have the proper accents or markings.

Inigo: The name of Ignatius given to him by his family.

Ignatius: The name Inigo took, in part, after the Ignatius of Antioch, one of the church fathers.

Companeros: The Spanish word for companions, which is how the first group of "amigos/brothers" saw themselves.

Compagnia: The Spanish word for company. Put some companions together and they are a Company.

Compagnia de Jesu (or Gesu): The Spanish phrase for Company of Jesus.

Societas Jesus: This is the Latin translation of Compangnia de Gesu.

Company of Jesus and Society of Jesus: The English equivalents.

Jesuits: A term first used by their critics to describe the members of the Society of Jesus.

Jebs: A nickname for the Jesuits that American students began to use.

Jays: A nickname for the Jesuits that British students began to use.

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

First Principle and Foundation

Here is the First Principle and Foundation as it is found in The Spiritual Exercises.

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23. FIRST PRINCIPLE AND FOUNDATION

Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.

The other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created.

Hence, man is to make use of them in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end, and he must rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him.

Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition. Consequently, as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things.

Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created.

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It is difficult to emphasize how significant this First Principle and Foundation are for Ignatius theology and spirituality. Even the words used by Ignatius, tell us how significant it is. It is the First Principle, not just in terms of order of appearance, but in terms of priority. And it is the foundation or support for what Ignatius will now begin to teach.

In stead of a full essay on the meaning of this Text, I'll just provide several brief comments and observations.

ONE:
I am struck by the similarity of this First Principle and the language used by the Reformers in their catechisms. And one in particular, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which asks:

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

(Here is the Westminster Assembly which produced the Confession and Catechisms.)

Ignatius is of the same spirit as were the Protestant Reformers in their desire to glorify God above all else.

This is also seen in the Baltimore Confession, question six.

Q: Why did God make me?

A: God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him, and to be happy with him forever in heaven.

TWO:
I stand in the stream of "Reformational Worldview" thinking. Ignatius has, at least, this same approach in an incipient form. By a Reformational Worldview, I mean, understanding the Grand Biblical Narrative in terms of this framework:

Creation - Fall - Redemption (Israel, Christ, Church) - Renewal of All Things / Consummation.

While the Exercises will mainly focus on Fall (Week One) and Redemption (Weeks Two-Four), Ignatius front loads the Exercises with this Creational theme. The First Principle and Foundation are exactly that for what follows. And "Creation" will appear at various points throughout the Exercises.

THREE:
Ignatius, is once again, robustly biblical in his First Principle. Since I have spent a fair amount of time studying and teaching through Ephesians in the last number of months, a number of texts from that letter of Paul come to mind.

I won't write them out here, but I suggest you turn to Ephesians and read:

1:3-14 for how we have received every spiritual blessing, to the praise of His glory and the complete salvation of our lives.

Then...

2:8-10 with its strong emphasis on our very creational DNA is for a missional purpose, which is also created by God. We are created for a purpose and our "works of service' are also planned out for us.

FOUR:
And then, all other things in creation, are created for our blessing, our benefit, our use and our stewarding care. All things on earth are designed to be the context and occasion of our "imitation of Christ" and our glorifying of God. All things are either useful (or not) toward this end. Ignatius is going to help us learn how to be passionate about what is MOST conducive toward the end for which we are created.

And this will lead to two of the CORE CONTRIBUTIONS of Ignatius, and that is histheme of freedom from any attachments that keep us from the BEST pursuit of the end for which we are created, and a genuine "indifference" toward all things. Indifference, not in the sense of not caring, but indifference in the sense of not bound to them. And the second theme being "more for the greater glory of God."But more on this part of the First Principle and Foundation next week.

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And tomorrow, a very brief post explaining a few of the names and titles for the Jesuits.

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

Anima Christ of Ignatius by Puhl, Fleming and Tetlow versions

Here is the Anima Christi prayer in three versions. Each one is moving and useful. I encourage you to pray these prayers this coming week.

By the way, I recommend to you, a little book on payer, Hearts on Fire: Praying With the Jesuits, edited by Michael Harter, SJ, published by Loyola Press.

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Ignatius

Anima Christi (Soul of Christ)

Source: The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, trans. Louis J. Puhl, S.J.

Soul of Christ, sanctify Me

Body of Christ, save Me

Blood of Christ, inebriate Me

Water from the side of Christ, wash me

Passion of Christ, strengthen me

O Good Jesus, hear me

Within Thy wounds hide me

Permit me not to be separated from Thee

From the wicked foe defend me

At the hour of my death call me

And bid me come to Thee

That with Thy saints I may praise Thee

For ever and ever.

Amen

David Fleming, S.J.

Soul of Christ Prayer

Source: Hearts on Fire: Praying With the Jesuits (pp. 3-4)

Jesus, may all that is in you flow into me.

May your body and blood be my food and drink.

May your passion and death be my strength and life.

Jesus, with you by my side enough has been given.

May the shelter I seek be the shadow of your cross.

Let me not run from the love which you offer.

But hold me safe from the forces of evil.

On each of my dyings shed your light and your love.

Keep calling to me until that day comes.

When with our saints, I may praise you forever.

Amen

Joseph Tetlow,S.J. (pictured)

I Choose to Breathe the Breath of Christ

Source: Hearts on Fire: Praying With the Jesuits (pp. 5-6)

I choose to breathe the breath of Christ that makes all life holy.

I choose to live the flesh of Christ that outlasts sin's corrosion and decry.

I choose the blood of Christ along my veins and in my hearts that dizzies me with joy.

I choose the living waters flowing from his side to wash clean my own self and the world itself.

I choose the awful agony of Chrsit to charge my senseless sorrows with meaning and to make my pain pregnant with power.

I choose you, good Jesus, you know.

I choose you, good Lord; count me among the victories that you have won in bitter roundedness.

Never number me among those alien to you.

Make me safe from all ha seeks to destroy me.

Summon me to come to you.

Stand me solid among angels and saints chanting yes to all you have done, exulting in all you mean to do forever and ever.

The for this time, Father of all, keep me, from the core of my self, choosing Christ in the world.

Amen

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