Easter Joy Continued…
I loved the way Nancy Hulsebosch from Bellarmine Retreat House grounded the joy of Easter in the entire four-week experience of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. Nancy shared the fifth presentation in our Be More series last week. Five hundred years ago this Spanish saint of our Church captured the deeper reality of God at work in his life, a profound spiritual movement and discipline that can most accurately be described as a series of ‘exercises’ of the Holy Spirit of life – all life – your life.
Nancy reminded us of the way Ignatius starts with:
The Principal and Foundation
God has created me for a purpose—to praise, reverence and serve Him as The Good Lord. All creation shares a common destiny with me and with God’s continual help, I must rid myself of that which hinders me and choose that which is more conducive to achieve that purpose. That is why I am here on earth and that is my gateway to complete union in eternal, salvific life.
From this Principle and Foundation, Fr. Rick McGurn shared a profound and comprehensive overview of the life of Ignatius of Loyola, specifically his transitions – from soldier to pilgrim, and from pilgrim to a worker in God’s vineyard.
Erin Majorca continued the series with Be More Aware. She presented what Ignatius espoused, that through expanding our prayer experience to include using our imagination, fantasy and emotion, we can come in constant touch with the grounding of The Principal and Foundation and discern when we do it well, and when we have a flawed response to God’s unconditional love for us. This is the core of the First Week or Phase of the Spiritual Exercises.
I continued the series with Be More Like Christ. I used the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana as an example of how we can enter into the Scripture stories of Christ imaginatively, creatively and emotionally, thus making a deeper, more personal connection with Christ’s story. This leads to a dual focus on our life AND Christ’s. This dual connection is led by the scriptures and nurtured through good, intentional and, when possible, silent reflection.
Fr. Michael Sparough very dramatically helped us to enter into the Third Week or Phase of the Exercises by presenting the Passion and Suffering of Christ. His presentation entitled Be More … Not Do More coincided beautifully with the reflective tone of Lent. He not only built upon the Principle and Foundation, but the challenges to Be More … Aware, More … Like Christ, and More Grateful for his salvific suffering, done for us.
All of these presentations are archived on our website and you can access them at any time, either for review or to catch up. They do present a comprehensive package of spiritual exercises that I know will enrich your spiritual life, helping you to BE MORE.
It is in this spirit of joy and new life that our teens will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation next Sunday, April 28. I am deeply committed to the high school aged formation of our young people for Confirmation, and again this year I was reminded why. I ask each teen, most who are sophomores in high school, to write me a letter stating why they want to be Confirmed. The sincerity and depth of their reasons connect with where they are in life. Many find such support in our Flame program amidst the struggles and anxieties of high school. In my personal meetings with them I emphasize that the most important phase of their ENTIRE life is dawning. They are embarking on the adventure of driving a car that represents both freedom and responsibility. They will soon choose and attend college, followed all too quickly with work that will shape their lives. They are beginning to date and navigate falling in love, heartache, triumphs, commitment and beginning a family.
I strongly encourage them to think about their future and the significant decisions that are on the horizon for them and the resources they have to guide them. Confirmation ritualizes the presence of the greatest spiritual resource – the Holy Spirit.
I connect the Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sends the disciples out to baptize, teach, and carry out an eternal promise of his presence WITH the coming of the Holy Spirit ten days later at Pentecost. Like those disciples, that Holy Spirit will not only help them do significant things in life, but do WHAT JESUS COMMISSIONS THEM TO DO. I challenge them not simply to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but to be instruments of those gifts in a world that truly needs them. I am confident that great Easter joy will fill their hearts as they do so.