Tag: ignatius of Loyola

Amazing Grace

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Part of an Art Installation in London, on Wilberforce and the Abolition of Slavery.

I watched the film Amazing Grace last week for the second time, about William Wilberforce and his long campaign leading the abolitionists to end slavery in the United Kingdom. There is much in the story that moved me, but there is one small, short, and maybe even overlooked scene, that remains with me, and indeed did so after the first viewing of the film (about 14 minutes 8 secs into the film). It takes place just after he has sung Amazing Grace to the politicians. Wilberforce is in his grounds admiring plant life and spiders webs, and has an open conversation with his butler about how God has found him. He says:

It’s God. I have ten thousand engagements of state today but I would prefer to spend the day out here, getting a wet arse, studying dandilions and marvelling at spiders webs.

William Wilberforce, from the film Amazing Grace,

And the scripture readings from last week, about Martha and Mary, also fed into my thoughts. It is the tension between contemplation and action: something I definitely feel daily, as I expect many people do in the busy, pressured world we live in. I am also reminded of The Way of Paradox, by Cyprian Smith:

When I emerge from a state of inner withdrawal and abandonment to God in prayer, and take up my duties in the everyday world, I am establishing a flow of energy whereby light, life, wisdom and power of heaven enter our world to enliven and transform it.

The Way of Paradox, Spiritual Life as taught by Meister Eckhart. Cyprian Smith

To me, the tension is necessary: it is creative. The desire for God is there, and becomes stronger, or perhaps we become more sensitive to it, as we practise prayer, and engage in the examen habitually. And this deepening relationship with God drives our action, according to our own personal vocation – there is no alternative. When we say Yes to God, it becomes our will too. It is the Contemplatio in the Spiritual Exercises:

The first is that love ought to manifest itself in deeds rather than in words.

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

I guess the process is to ensure that with our cooperation and as far as we are able, we maintain the balance in our lives and flow appropriately from contemplation to action and to contemplation: God’s amazing grace will do the rest.

Where do you pray?

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Prayer mandala

I have been thinking about my prayer spot recently because I have mentioned it a few times (Last week in Cromer, Meet you in the Morning) and I was reading a post on Ignatian Spirituality yesterday by Marina McCoy about giving herself a monthly retreat day.

Time in Silence

In the Spiritual Exercises, in the additions, Ignatius says:

The purpose of these directions is to help one to go through the exercises better and find more readily what he desires.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola; trans Louis J. Puhl S.J.

and in the third addition he suggests that:

I will stand for the space of an Our Father, a step or two before the place where I am to meditate or contemplate…

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola; trans Louis J. Puhl S.J.

The words in bold are mine, and here, I want to spend some time considering the nature of this place. I might just have a chair in the living room – I do, and I use it to pray sometimes. It faces a large picture of Jesus washing Peter’s feet by Seiger Koder. You can find it, with a reflection, at The Society of Jesus in South Africa.

This place is a very comfortable place to pray, and facing the image helps me to imagine how He is looking at me. It is not the place I pray most often though: it is where I go when I am struggling. I have a space set aside specifically for prayer in my room. I was being absolutely honest when I said that I go into my room and be alone with God. Currently it looks like this:

This is my prayer spot: it is a sacred space in my home that is set aside to spend time with God. I change the display and the flowers regularly, trying not to let it become stale. I may have the scripture open at the text I am praying with, but not always, and I have different cloths to change the meaning or mood, depending on what is going on in the liturgical season or in my life. Here, in ordinary time, and with my work on Exploring Personal Prayer, I have been sensing God’s joy and gladness, so I have chosen the brightly coloured cloth, which reminds me of the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit and in general, life in all of its fullness. I am currently using the chair, rather than the prayer stool, because, for some reason, I am resisting the discomfort of the latter. I have changed my position to one which is helping me to resist the resistance to prayer, and is therefore more fruitful, in line with the fourth addition of the Spiritual Exercises. Here are some others I have used at different times:

Used when I was training to be a spiritual director and was presenting The First Principle and Foundation. Suggestive of themes of creation, with undercurrents of Eden and hearts of stone, movement into the First Week.
Used at Sheringham in the week we were looking at images. There are no images on the table to distract from those chosen for prayer. The crimson suggests the divinity of Jesus.
The arrangement used at Sheringham for the session on imaginative contemplation. We were praying with the gospel passage from Matthew on the baptism of Jesus. The blue cloth represents the water, and the mandala artwork is called “River”. More on that at a later date.
This was my prayer spot for Holy Saturday this year. The cloth is purple, for the season of lent,and the doll is a symbol of myself as a loved sinner, and transformed by God in the process of the Spiritual Exercises. The painting is the one I did during the exercises on the day between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The poem is from Rumi:

I asked.

What about my eyes?

I will fill them with tears.

I asked.

What about my heart?

I will break it with sorrow.

I asked.

What about my body?

I will crush and throw it away.

Rumi

You get the general idea. So why do I go to this trouble? Simply, because I want to communicate with Him how important He is in my life. I’m giving Him space in my life by giving Him space. I take care, and put thought into making my prayer environment a special place in my home. It is a compliment to the One I meet there. It helps me to find more readily what I desire, which is a conscious awareness of His presence, and through it, the grace to become who He would have me be.

Meet You in the morning….

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From God In All Things, 20 June 2019

This post has been making me think in the last few days. It’s an excellent question, and not one I’ve found myself able to answer. I have been unable to get past the phrase “Morning Ponder”, and have been pondering the morning. Perhaps that is inevitable, given my post last week about the struggle to pray sometimes (Last week in Cromer). In the second addition of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius says:

When I wake up, I will not permit my thoughts to roam at random, but will turn my mind at once to the subject I am about to contemplate…

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

While making the Exercises, the point is to direct my attention and focus to the meditation and prayer I am about to engage with, but what about in every day life? And so, in the last few days I have been pondering the question:

What are my first thoughts in the morning?

They are not what they used to be. My first thought used to be”Where are my children?” but now that they are grown, my head is singing the song that my alarm is set to play to wake me up.

http://lukeparker.bandcamp.com/track/meet-you-in-the-morning

This is my call to morning prayer, and on a good day, it only plays once before I get up and make my way to my prayer spot to meet Him. There are worse ways to begin the day; this is one of the best. What are your first thoughts in the morning?

Next week in Cromer and Sheringham…

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So, let there be popcorn…sweet, salty, both? And bring whatever it is you like to have when you are watching a film.