I was looking for some information about Ron Hansen, one of my favorite writers, and I ran across an interview he did several years ago. I was struck by this comment.
The analogical imagination sees God within the world and somehow described by all of creation. And that’s a great beginning point for a fiction writer. The dialogic imagination sees God as far more distant, a mystery with whom we can be in dialogue but who is otherwise beyond our understanding. It comes close to Manichaeanism with its hints that the world is evil and somehow alien or off-putting to God. That view can make fiction writing seem irrelevant at best and sinful at worst.
I think that this distinction is relevant to areas other than fiction. Prayer, for example. Seeing God as present in the world is great starting point for prayer.
Writing on Busted Halo, Jim Martin, SJ, makes the argument for embracing religious tradition:
We all tend to think that we’re correct about most things, and spirituality is no exception. And not belonging to a religious community means less of a chance of being challenged by a tradition of belief and experience, less chance to recognize when you are misguided, seeing only part of the picture, or even wrong….Religion can provide a check against my tendency to think that I am the center of the universe, that I have all the answers, that I know better than anyone about God, and that God speaks most clearly through me.
I love the prayer called St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Today, the feast of St. Patrick, is a great time to pray it. I like the prayer because it’s an invocation of God’s protection on a journey, and a journey is a good metaphor for life. Oh, yes — the imagery of the prayer is wonderfully vivid. The text of the prayer is here. The short video below is from Loyola Productions. The YouTube link is here.
A documentary on the life and legacy of Pedro Arrupe, SJ, is available for viewing on YouTube. The film was produced by Georgetown University a couple of years ago. It was uploaded through the Jesuit Channel, a YouTube channel sponsored by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The video here is the first one in the series. The other videos are available here. If you like these, you might want to subscribe to the Jesuit Channel’s videos.
There’s long been a discussion among spiritual directors about the purpose of the Spiritual Exercises. Is the goal to help people make important decisions, or help them grow in the spiritual life more broadly. Both of, course. It’s a false choice. But there’s a third way to view the Exercises–as a spiritual program that helps us grow into different a kind of person.
This is the view taken by Gerald Fagin, SJ, in his new book Putting on the Heart of Christ. Fagin, who teaches at Loyola University in New Orleans, sees the Exercises as a means to grow in virtue. In the book Fagin shows how the Exercises discusses 15 virtues (gratitude, reverence, and forgiveness among them). He shows how they enhance and develop them. The question is “What Kind of Person Should I Be?” The answer is to be a person who is putting on the heart of Christ.
In Putting on the Heart of Christ, Fr. Fagin supplies some fresh thinking about some familiar Ignatian ideas.
Today is the anniversary of the canonization of Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier in 1622. Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri were also canonized on that day, making March 12, 1622, possibly the greatest day in the history of canonizations.
The painting above by the Jesuit Andrea Pozzo depicts Ignatius sending Xavier to the missions in the Far East. They never saw each other again, but their love for each other remained strong. Xavier once wrote this to Ignatius:
God our Lord knows how much my soul was consoled on receiving news of your life and health, which I cherish so highly…Your Holy Charity has written to me that you have a great desire to see me before you leave this life. God knows what an impression these words of great love made upon my soul, and how many tears they have cost me whenever I recall them; and it seems to me that I shall have this consolation since nothing is impossible to holy obedience.
Ignatius Loyola strides through the snow at the Jesuit Retreat House in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. Photo by the Law and Gospel blogger. Go here for more on Ignatian retreats.
Jack Mahoney, SJ, suggests we review our Lenten program. But be careful: “What we should avoid is the almost magical or superstitious feeling that whatever we do in religion must be done completely and meticulously, like completing a novena or an indulgence or a chain prayer. For one thing, the Lord may have made it clear that he has different plans for us.” He quotes and paraphrases John Calvin, who said that:
by God’s grace we are freed from having to observe rigorously and scrupulously whatever the Lord requires of us, as if we were terrified slaves. On the contrary, he points out, we are God’s beloved children; and like any devoted parent he is delighted with us when we do not hesitate to offer him trustingly ‘works that are only begun or half finished, or even with something faulty in them,’ works which a less loving observer would judge poor or inadequate.What counts, Calvin maintains, is that our ‘obedience and readiness of mind will be accepted, although the performance be less exact than was wished.’
So, where we may feel at this stage of Lent that there was more that we might have done, or could have done, the prayer, too for this Third Sunday of Lent, is highly appropriate: ‘Father, you have taught us to overcome our sins by prayer, fasting and works of mercy. When we are discouraged by our weakness, give us confidence in your love.’
Fr. Jim Martin has just published a new book, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. It’s an in-depth, witty, and very readable account of Ignatian spirituality, aimed at both believers and seekers. It includes chapters on desire and the spiritual life, prayer, decision making, and being contemplatives in action. Browse the contents here at the publisher’s website. NPR interviewed Fr. Martin last weekend. Listen to the interview and read an excerpt here.
There’s long been a discussion among spiritual directors about the purpose of the Spiritual Exercises. Is the goal to help people make important decisions, or help them grow in the spiritual life more broadly. Both of, course. It’s a false choice. But there’s a third way to view the Exercises–as a spiritual program that helps us grow into different a kind of person.
Today is the anniversary of the canonization of 
Jack Mahoney, SJ, suggests we review our Lenten program. But be careful: “What we should avoid is the almost magical or superstitious feeling that whatever we do in religion must be done completely and meticulously, like completing a novena or an indulgence or a chain prayer. For one thing, the Lord may have made it clear that he has different plans for us.” He quotes and paraphrases John Calvin, who said that:
Fr. Jim Martin has just published a new book, 
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