What do you like about Ignatius and Ignatian spirituality? Here’s a sampling of some responses here and on our Ignatian Spirituality page on Facebook. Add your own reflections in the comments.
Carol Voss: The freedom to explore and stretch the talents I have been given all AMDG, the knowledge that something is NOT just my imagination, it is the stirring of the spirits, and the sheer joy of detachment from all things unless they point me to His will.
Mary Sutton: Removing my focus on life and all its problems, and raising my eyes and focusing on God. When I do this, I can experience God’s love for me, and from this love, I can better accept the person who I am, a child of God, much loved by Him.
Antonio Matta: Finding God in all things.
Marion Chatterley: To look for that which is life-giving and actively choose to invest energy in that direction.
Ruth Wibisono: That God is trying to communicate with us through everything around us. So Finding God in all things really is just a response to God’s initiative to communicate with us in the first place.
Mike Romeu: Discernment, detachment, the Examen, finding God everywhere/all the time (not easy!), the beloved sinner, I am loved by Him.
Jay Kronenberg: Finding God in all things, the good and the “bad,” is what has particularly touched me about this approach to spirituality.
Su Scipe: The Exercises.
Anna Lyn Salva Saludes-Aguilar: Ignatian indifference…
Ignatius of Loyola – a man for others. Long live the memory of his dedication to serve.
In finding God, i will be lead to my highest end, where no one can corrupt my soul anymore. Thank you iggy.
…and I like Ignatius and Ignatian spirituality because I was here long before. When i lost it, I was some kind of a warrior in battle without a helmet and a chord. This is one of my favorite saint who taught me to start all over again, a new.
Everything related to The Spiritual Exercises. But if I were to pick one thing it is always beginning my prayer time by asking for the grace that I desire, or sometimes a variation on that, of asking for the grace to know my deepest desire. Where I find my deepest desire is where I find God’s desire for me. God’s will/desire for me is not outside me, but in the center of my heart, where my deepest desire and God’s desire for me meet.
Find God in all things…and over the years have found him in very unexpected places. All these encounters challenge us to think about our God and our neighbors differently. In looking for him, it is not hard to find Him if we are open to Him and not shy about it. For the process not only helps our understanding of God in what He reveals to us, but He adds to our understanding of ourselves and those around us. It helps to rise to the occasion to be Jesus to others.
An interesting religion survey I read about some year ago made an interesting observation about what most differentiates Catholics from non-Catholic Americans. The survey response was that almost all Catholics perceive God in an personal, and often intimate, relationship in which God is involved in the daily events of our lives. If we believe this, our potential for finding the Divine in all things becomes a frequent and daily occurence.
I just want to say; What St. Ignatius left to his followers to do and what The Jesuit family in all ministries are doing to reach out to so many people to help us in our daily life is what I am thankful to St. Ignatius!