Editor’s notice: All through July, we’re internet hosting 31 Days with St. Ignatius, a month-long celebration of Ignatian spirituality. Along with the calendar of Ignatian articles discovered right here, posts on dotMagis this month will discover the theme of “The Audacity of Ignatian Spirituality.”
Whereas I believe that each head and coronary heart are locations we expertise religion, we have to keep in mind religion just isn’t solely about what we really feel or how we expect, but additionally what we do. The audacity of our religion consists of the concept regardless of all the numerous injustices that we see on the planet, what we do issues; we’re known as to work for justice on the planet.
Think about some audacious beliefs that underlie an Ignatian strategy to justice.
- God asks us to be companions in bringing the world to higher justice. We’re invited to be buddies to Jesus, not solely servants, in how we reside out that mission. How audacious to be buddies with God!
- Being a flawed individual isn’t any impediment and no excuse. Take St. Ignatius himself: he struggled early in his life with overly romanticized visions of courtly love and navy fame, was overly scrupulous about his sins, and was extremely passionate. But God used Ignatius—and his passionate nature—for good.
- As Dean Brackley, SJ, has written, our vocation just isn’t in direction of upward mobility, however somewhat in direction of “downward mobility.” (Downward Mobility: Social Implications of St. Ignatius’s Two Requirements) Whereas many see life because the pursuit of wealth, honor, and safety, we’re requested to be detached to those issues and as an alternative to pursue salvation for all. For the Jesuits, the promotion of justice is a part of that apostolic work. Generally this pursuit can depart us—because it additionally left Jesus—susceptible, disliked, or maligned, after we are touched by these whom society maligns. However what an audacious method to reside!
- We’re invited to train our imaginations to check the world otherwise. God works via our imaginations. For my part, one of many best obstacles to social justice is that, at some stage, we don’t think about issues could possibly be in any other case. We discover it laborious to think about a world with out meals insecurity or a world the place individuals reside in higher simplicity in order that future generations can get pleasure from God’s creation too. However God’s love is inventive and imaginative.
- Working for social justice is finally joyful, as a result of we uncover what it means to be brothers and sisters to others, in group. As Greg Boyle, SJ, as soon as stated, “Service is the doorway to the banquet corridor of kinship.” It’s audacious to say that spending time with gang members, people who find themselves unhoused, people who find themselves imprisoned, and different marginalized individuals is joyful. But many individuals very a lot discover God in these communities.
- Ignatius’s Religious Workouts remind us that, regardless of the struggling of the Ardour in Week Three, the therapeutic and liberation of the Resurrection in Week 4 absolutely will comply with. Struggling is rarely the final phrase. Love is.
Replicate for only a second on that final concept and the way audacious it’s! It’s simple to have a look at injustice on the planet and be overwhelmed by how a lot there’s to do. It’s simple to turn out to be cynical about what is feasible and what’s inconceivable. However Ignatius didn’t suppose that God calls us to a life that’s simple. Fairly, God calls us to stroll with Jesus in a lifetime of love, one wherein we additionally imagine that “with God, nothing is inconceivable.” (Luke 1:37)
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