The Heart of a Holy Man

Happy Feast Day of St. Ignatius Loyola! 

On this day every year, I celebrate how God changed my life through the fruitful work of the Spirit as given to this great saint. In 2021, it has been 500 years since the beginning of Ignatius's full conversion to Christ and thereafter the consecration of his life to its true purpose.

The event that led to Ignatius's metanoia was one that could turn others away from God: He was struck by a cannonball while defending Pamplona, Spain from the French armies. His leg was completely shattered and had become almost useless. More significant to the one-time prideful soldier, however, was his concern that he would no longer be attractive to the ladies of the court.  He underwent multiple surgeries and manual resetting of his leg bones - all during a time when there was no anesthesia.  

What have you done in the name of Pride? How did it turn out for you in the end?

While Ignatius was convalescing at the home of his aunt and uncle, he lacked for his usual entertainment - the popular novels of the day, filled with stories of lusty romance and courtly life.  Instead all that was available to read was The Life of Christ and a book on the lives of the saints.  

Do you ever notice what you choose for entertainment - the types of books you read, the movies you watch? How do you feel after you read these books or watch your choice in films? Do you feel uplifted? Or are you left disturbed?

Ignatius began to notice that after he read about holy men and women, including the life of Jesus, he was filled with a sense of  real happiness and peace. Whereas the novels he used to read would leave him feeling empty and at a loss. He imagined himself as some of these saints and began to long to become like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic - leading a life in service to God and others. He soon after had a mystical vision that completely turned his heart to Christ and led to abandoning his formally immoral lifestyle.

Have you ever experienced a period of time or even a moment when you suddenly knew you could "do better"? What did you do with that inspiration? Did you ignore it? Did you ask God about it?

Ignatius recovers but will always walk with a limp; however, he is moved to embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Along the way he gives away his money and his expensive clothing and begins to wear sackcloth and begs for his food. It is on this journey that he remains for many months in solitude, prayer, and silence while he begins to write his Spiritual Exercises. 

Have you ever considered making a big change in order to grow closer to God? Were you afraid that God would ask you to do something or give up more than you are capable? Did this fear stop you before you even began?

Not everyone will be declared a saint by the Church, but we are all born in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, we are profoundly capable of achieving the work that God wants us to accomplish for the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. If you're not sure how to get started, you can start like St. Ignatius Loyola - make small changes at first and allow God to work through those efforts. Open your heart to the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit in a new way and don't be afraid that "too much" will be asked of you. You will find yourself living with more fullness (and even joy) than you could ever have imagined. I share one of my favorite quotes of St. Ignatius Loyola, "Whatever you are doing, that which makes you feel the most alive... that is where God is." 

May you be blessed in your efforts to find your gifts and embark on your own true purpose!

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Inscribed Upon our Hearts

     "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

    Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor 3: 2-6)

    The title of this posting comes from an old hymn that I read in the breviary today, and the line "inscribed upon our hearts" really touched me. It reminded me of the Book of Isaiah relaying to me how my name has been written in the palms of God's Hands.  What an image of God's personal and intimate love for me, for each of God's children! 

So I couldn't stop there and went looking through Paul's epistles to find where he wrote of how we can inscribe God onto our hearts - and found the above letter to the church in Corinth. Paul's message is remarkably written - full of promise, filled with hope, in Christ. He reminds us that Jesus became incarnate to bring a new covenant and a new way to look at the laws.  We are called to go beyond the laws of Moses written in stone - unafraid to see beyond the veil because of and only with Christ. 

Paul points out that we can do nothing without the Spirit of God guiding us forward in our call to be His. It is only through God's mercy that we are able to live out our purpose. God fills in the gaps of our humanity with this mercy.  God puts us in right order. And as we become one with the Holy One - we are, and even become for others, the image and likeness of God.

We may struggle with temptation and even fall into sin at times, but as Paul writes, we are "being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Cor 3: 18) In Christ, we are reconciled to God. There is our hope! So we persevere in our prayer life; we go deeper in our relationship with Christ; we search for the person God created us to be and then BE it!  Strive daily to live as if our Lord's love and teachings are already inscribed upon your very heart.

Help us, O Lord, to learn
the truths thy word imparts:
to study that thy laws may be
inscribed upon our hearts.

Help us, O Lord, to live
the faith which we proclaim,
that all our thoughts and words and deeds
may glorify thy name.

Help us, O Lord, to teach
the beauty of thy ways,
that yearning souls may find the Christ,
and sing aloud his praise.

William Watkins Reid (1959)

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Giving my Heart to God in a New Way

    It has been such a long time since I last posted on this blog, and my excuses are many.  But like all excuses, none of them count like one good reason (or two).  

I believe I resemble many people during COVID - finding myself in shock at first and then not engaging fully in life for a while, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and also letting a lot of "things" go (cleaning my house regularly was one of those things).  In 2020, I also had yet another run-in with cancer that set me back for a good five months during COVID time as well.  But my main reason for not posting is because I wanted my views on the death penalty and the sin of racism to be front and center on my blog site.  And I'm glad that those who have been newly introduced to my blog wrote to let me know their feelings about these two postings...

However I've been feeling the pull to return to writing, as life has begun to pull me back into it: Completing my COVID vaccinations while my little corner of the world reopened. One thing that I did not "let go" during the last year and a half though was my prayer life.  So I write today to tell you about an ancient and wonderful form of prayer that recently came into my life - The Liturgy of the Hours (LOTH).

As a beginner, I cannot give instructions, helpful hints, or ways to make following the breviary easier for any layperson; that is exactly what this posting is NOT.  😊  I can barely make it through Morning (Lauds), Midday (Sext), Evening (Vespers) and Night Prayer (Compline) myself - and not at all in the length of time that the seasoned prayers of the LOTH claim it takes for them to read and chant these beautiful psalms and canticles.  But I made sure that I was firm in my decision to these prayer times before making the monetary commitment to the four volumes. 

All that I needed was to find and recite the prayers for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and I was convinced that I would take the plunge into this devotion with heart, soul, and resolve! The length of the psalms and the readings and responses were not seen as daunting but an opportunity for me to dive deeper into time spent with the Blessed Trinity, knowing I was praying with and in Him who lovingly gave us the Holy Spirit who prompts us to pray.  I discovered more about what it means to "pray without ceasing," (1 Thessalonians: 16-18) as the LOTH invites us to pray seven times a day. If I just pray the "Hours" three to four times a day, it gives me a strong sense of hemming in my spiritual life with small opportunities for grace sewn into the fabric of my day. By devoutly reading the Psalms, we all learn how we can turn to God about everything in our lives - or in other words, praying without ceasing.

I also love knowing that I am praying with "the communion of saints" around the globe.  Over the course of 24 hours, there are millions of faithful people singing or praying the same hymns, the same Psalms, the same intercessions that I am praying.  We are united in our purpose in praise, in furthering the Kingdom of God, and in knowing our Lord more fully.

Lastly, for me, I love know I am praying the words that Christ spoke Himself while on earth.  Lest we forget, the 150 Psalms are the prayers of our Jewish brothers and sisters (who prayed multiple times a day long before Christians), and Jesus would have recited these same prayers and loved them too.  He came to fulfill the words of the prophets and the Psalms.  Jesus was so familiar with the Psalms that he spoke from them, even while dying on the cross.  Knowing how the Liturgy of the Hours gives me an opportunity to pray the same words as the Lord prayed adds Truth and Light to my life.  

Therefore, I will persevere with this oft confusing and sometimes downright baffling way to navigate through the breviaries until I am good at it, because the reward of the Liturgy of the Hours is already so consoling.  My hope is that your relationship with God has blossomed over the many months of COVID.  The complete slowing of our lives along with the whole world has been the perfect time to reevaluate what is important in this life and life eternal. If you avoided, barely missed, or survived the pandemic, I hope you'll see that now is a good time to give your heart to God in a new way.  

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