Editor’s word: 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.”
As I write this put up, I’m packing my baggage to take my first journey off the North American continent. This can be a journey I by no means thought I might take. I’ve all the time been fairly comfy sticking with locations that may be reached by airplane in 4 hours or much less and don’t contain crossing any oceans! Stepping onto a 16-hour flight goes to take me far out of my consolation zone. It’s going to require numerous untapped braveness.
Truly, it’s going to require one thing a bit stronger than braveness. It’s going to require audacity.
Each time I wish to know what audacity in observe seems to be like, I flip to the quite a few tales of audacious Jesuits who’ve sought to do the unimaginable over the previous 5 centuries. First is St. Ignatius himself, who needed to be audacious sufficient to discover deeply each side of who he was, in order that he might uncover the distinctive individual God was calling him to be after which assist others do the identical. Then there’s Luigi Fortis, SJ, who, upon being elected Superior Normal shortly after the Suppression, needed to be daring sufficient to rebuild the Society of Jesus from the bottom up, remaining devoted to the unique imaginative and prescient of St. Ignatius. A century later, Pedro Arrupe, SJ, was audacious sufficient to step out in entrance of alumni of Jesuit colleges and declare that Jesuit educators had not completed sufficient when it got here to working and instructing for justice, demanding they do extra. One other instance is Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, who, as present Superior Normal, continues to discern what Ignatius’s imaginative and prescient seems to be like in observe within the twenty first century.
I flip to the Jesuits as a result of I do know the supply of their audacity. It’s not simply innate braveness that helps them do daring issues when mandatory. As a substitute, their audacity to attempt the unimaginable comes from their shut, private friendship with God born out of the Religious Workouts of St. Ignatius. Via the Workouts, a retreatant comes to amass a deep and abiding friendship with God. The Workouts assist retreatants come to know who they’re uniquely created to be and evokes them to supply all of themselves in working hand in hand co-creating with God. When a retreatant has accomplished the Workouts, that individual is impressed to be audacious and try the unimaginable, fortified by the companionship of a God who’s with us each step of the best way. I do know that’s how I felt after I accomplished the Workouts not too way back.
So why do I wish to harness the audacity of the Jesuits, the audacity that was additionally planted in me throughout the Workouts, for my first journey off the continent? As a result of this journey is about greater than stepping out of my consolation zone. This journey is about making a contribution to persevering with the mission of the Society of Jesus, significantly in Jesuit colleges. In only a few days, I’ll head to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, to attend the II Seminar JESEDU-Jogja2024. 100 delegates from Jesuit establishments everywhere in the globe have been invited to this seminar to debate the way forward for Catholic/Jesuit id and in-depth religion formation in Jesuit colleges. It guarantees to be an audacious dialog, one which might be based within the understanding that with God, nothing is unimaginable.
In an effort to contribute to the dialog, nevertheless, I first must step on the airplane.
What audacious step is God asking of you proper now to assist construct the dominion on earth? Will you are taking it?
Picture by way of Pixabay.
Melinda LeBlanc displays on Getting Via the Canine Days of the Religious Life, in the present day in 31 Days with St. Ignatius. Use the hashtag #31DayswithIgnatius in your favourite social media channels while you share the hyperlink to any of our articles this month.
