Ignatian Spirituality

Right in Front of Our Eyes

Steve · July 6, 2023 · 8 Comments

Once when I was a boy I was trying to find something — I don’t remember now what it was — but this thing ended up being right there on the table in front of me. My father laughed as he pointed it out to me and said, “If it had been a snake, it would have bitten you.”

As a child, that metaphor scared me a little. What IF it had been a snake? What IF I hadn’t seen it there on the table, hiding among my father’s copies of National Geographic and Organic Gardening, slithering toward me between his overflowing ashtray and transistor radio? I learned to look closely around me for the things I was searching for before I started asking for help. Lesson learned: pay attention to the obvious and the close at hand.

In our search for God, sometimes the same thing happens. We miss the obvious moments and occurrences of the Divine because we’re frantically searching for something “out there,” something that is big and splashy and without-a-doubt “God,” when all the time there are these small, ordinary experiences that we’re missing, hidden among the ordinary stuff of life.

Finding God in our daily lives does not require special abilities or tools. We do not have to be particularly holy, although focusing our minds on the holy around us can be a good place to begin. What is required is our intention — a desire and willingness to pay attention to the life we have been given and find God already there waiting for us, beckoning to us, laughing at us and saying, “If I had been a snake…”

I recently wrote a new song on this theme, this idea that God is “right there,” always in front of our eyes. God doesn’t hide from us. God is always waiting to be found, always delighted when we slow down, pay attention and utter those sacred words: “Ah…there you are.”

Here are the lyrics to the song, and a new video is below (you may have to scroll a little). Thanks to my musical collaborator Phil Cooper for the beautiful piano arrangement and to my talented daughter, Jenny, for creating the vocal arrangement and singing with me. In the midst of the creation of this song I found God again — in the act of creation, in the gift of words and music, in the chemistry that happens when we gather together to create something new.

There you are, there you are
in the green that clothes the trees
There you are, there you are
in the very least of these.

Some days I rise but do not waken.
Sometimes I look but fail to see.
And still, you move and catch my eye
A flash of red, a moment fleeting.

In all the noise I cannot hear you.
In all my words I miss your voice.
And still, a whisper fills my head
A gentle beating, inside of me.

Today I saw you on the street
With all you own spread out around you.
And still, a spirit in your smile
A soul on fire, a gift before me.

There You Are
Words and music by Steve Givens
© 2023 Potter’s Mark Music

Book Review: “What Matters Most and Why: Living the Spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola,” by Jim Manney

Steve · February 12, 2023 · 2 Comments

Whether you’re an experienced and seasoned practitioner of Ignatian spirituality or a seeker looking for new ways to put your faith into practice, Jim Manney’s new book of daily “actionables” is going to be a welcome addition to your nightstand or prayer space.

Manney, a former editor at Loyola Press and author of many books on Ignatian spirituality, including “Ignatian Spirituality A to Z,” “What Do You Really Want?” and his popular work on the Examen, “A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer,” has organized this collection of 365 daily reflections around a traditional Ignatian approach to learning and spiritual development that includes experience, reflection, and action.

The book from New World Library offers readers a daily dose of wisdom from established writers — from historical and contemporary Jesuit writers and thinkers to the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela to Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish texts — in addition to Manney’s own insightful commentary and calls to action. “What Matters Most and Why” is designed as a tool to help readers/prayers find additional depth and awareness during their times of daily prayer, as added inspiration for going deeper and wider in the awareness and gratitude that naturally spring from the daily examen of consciousness.

As author Chris Lowney writes in the book’s foreword, Ignatian spirituality is a “superb technology, ideal for navigating today’s complex, volatile world.” The wisdom and approaches to prayer and life found in Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises are now 500 years old and yet retain a contemporary freshness, depth and applicability missing from much of today’s self-help philosophies. What Manney has given the world with this new volume is an easy-to-read and apply daily guide to the ancient wisdom of St. Ignatius and those who have followed in his footsteps. He does so with a clarity and conciseness that make this daily guide indispensable reading for mature Christians seeking inspiration to take their spiritual lives to both a higher and deeper level.

For more information or to order, visit: https://www.jimmanneybooks.com.

A Week of Indifference

Steve · November 20, 2022 · Leave a Comment

I continued praying this past week with “Journey with Jesus,” Larry Warner’s guide through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. The theme was “indifference,” in the Ignatian sense of the word, so let’s begin there…

— Although “indifference” is often used to speak of not caring about something or having a lack of passion, in this spiritual sense it carries a different (and deeper) meaning. When properly understood and embraced, it leads to a freedom to say yes to God and no to the things that lead us away from God. This indifference is a “detachment” from those kinds of desires. (Warner, p. 94)

— Or as Gerald May writes, it is a freedom not from desire but for desire: “An authentic spiritual understanding of detachment devalues neither desire nor the objects of desire. Instead, it aims at correcting one’s own anxious grasping in order to free one’s self for a committed relationship with God.”

— The opposite of indifference (for Ignatius) is a “disordered love” that would exert authority over individuals to such a degree that that they would be incapable of choosing to say yes to God and to God’s purpose for their lives. (Warner, p. 94)

A few more thoughts from my journal this week (I hope they challenge you as they did me):

— We all can recite (at the very least) the first verse of the 23^rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I want.” But can we bring ourselves to really live that out? Are we content with the things we have (and have been given)? Paraphrasing Philippians 4:11-13):

Are we content and self-sufficient? This self-sufficiency doesn’t mean we can do and provide everything ourselves but, rather, that with God we have everything that we need. We can live humbly, and we can be comfortable with abundance, depending on what God gives us. Whether hungry or full-bellied, in abundance or in need, we have strength for everything through Christ who empowers us.

— As we look over our possessions and wealth (however meagre or grand), can we recognize them all as gift? Would we be able let go of them if they got in the way of our love of God and others? Would losing possessions and savings be the end of us or the beginning of something different?

— What do we worry about? What keeps us up at night? Those concerns reveal what is dearest to us, what we treasure in our hearts. Do we use these treasures to draw us closer to God and love others more completely, or are we just storing them up for another day and constantly worrying about losing them?

— “We cannot see things in perspective until we cease to hug them to our own bosom.” (Thomas Merton)

— Inspired by Psalm 63:1, Psalm 42:1-2, and Philippians 3:8

For you I long, yearn, thirst,
Like dry land in desperate need of water
Lifeless without you,
Desiring animation through you.
As the deer longs for a drink from a cool stream
[or as those elephants in African documentaries walk for hundreds of miles in the dry season]
So I desire you, Giver of life,
Are pulled toward you, somehow.
Everything else is temporary oasis is an ever-shifting desert.

A Week of Challenge – Servanthood before Self

Steve · November 12, 2022 · 1 Comment

As I continued my way this week through “Journey with Jesus,” Larry Warner’s guide through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the theme was “service,” with Jesus set before us as role model. The grace I was told to pray for was the ability to own my role as one who serves others. Here are a few thoughts from my journal…

— “Jesus did not come to be served but to serve.” (Matthew 20:28) This challenge to “be like Jesus” I find both inspirational and an obstacle. After all, I am not Jesus, am not both human and divine. So that’s a pretty high bar against which to measure myself. And yet, we have been made “little less than gods” (Psalm 8:5) and have within us a divine spark placed there at our baptisms and fanned into flame by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. We don’t get to play the “I’m not Jesus” card. We need to try and live up to what has been placed in us.

— Inspired by John 13:12-17

I can still feel the water and the texture of the towel, his rough hands on my calloused feet, wiping away the grit, gently massaging and drying them. Now he has moved on to the person next to me, whose feet are, well, even worse than mine were. As he knelt before me, I couldn’t look him in the eyes, couldn’t begin to fathom why he would do such a thing. Just as I was beginning to believe he might be special, might be the One, he goes and does something like this. This can’ be the image he’s shooting for. This is going to be his brand? He finishes and stands before us.

“Do you know why I did this?” he asks.

I haven’t a clue.

“You have an idea of who I am,” he begins, “you call me teacher and master. You’ve seen the miracles and heard my words.”

We nod. We’re ready.

“And now you’ve seen me do this. To serve instead of being served. This is more important.”

Silence. None of us know what to say.

“So if I do this…” he begins, leading us like a schoolteacher into our grammar books.

Silence again. Finally someone ventures a guess. “We need to do the same.”

Ding-ding. We have a winner.

“This is the way to live,” he says. “Hearing my words and understanding them is not enough. Get down on your hands and knees and live them out.”

Once again, I find he is turning my world and comfortable way of doing things upside down.

— Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve.
To give, and to not count the cost,
To fight, and to not heed the wounds,
To toil, and to not seek for rest,
To labor, and not to ask for any reward,
Except that of knowing that we do your will. (St. Ignatius Loyola)

— Inspired by Romans 12:1-2

We offer up our bodies and minds
As prayers and living sacrifices
Worship that pleases God, we hope.
Not swayed by what pleases the crowds but, instead,
Open to transformation
Daily renewal of
Mind and spirit
By what we do and choose not to.
We align ourselves to God
Better to discern what we have been made for.

Ask yourself:

— To what am I drawn?
— What am I uniquely called and created to do?
— Can I empty myself of my “wants” so I can better understand what God wants of me?
— Can I give without counting the cost of my time, effort, work and wealth?

A Week of Reverence

Steve · November 5, 2022 · 3 Comments

I am slowly making my way through Larry Warner’s book, “Journey with Jesus,” yet another modern (and insightful) take on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. This past week, the theme was “reverence,” and over and over I was praying for the grace to be in awe of God. Here are a few thoughts from my journal…

— Yesterday I walked the wooded path that loops around Mallard Lake near my home. I was still contemplating the theme from the previous week in the book, which was “praise.” Surrounded by the wonder of creation, sometimes there are just no words to express even that praise to the Creator. I guess that’s the purpose of awe. Sometimes we just need to stand in awe and allow the silence of our thoughts to do the work of praise.

The changing and falling leaves. The turtle sunning itself midstream on a log. A big re-headed pileated woodpecker constantly on the move, flitting tree to tree as if just trying to stay ahead of me. Is that you, God? Slow down. My response is to stop and take it all in. What I felt was God’s extravagance. I know these are all just natural, biological things with lives and rhythms of their own. They are common and ordinary. And yet if we stop and pay attention, they hold a glimpse of the Creator and the divine ongoing work of creation — all seemingly for my enjoyment in that moment.

— Inspired by 1 Chronicles 16: 23-25

The Earth, and everything in it, sings to God.
Intones God’s glory and action.
Fills us with awe.
The splendor of the Earth announces and presents God to us.
Nature sings in harmony:
“You think this is so great? You should see who made us!”
We are called to shift our gaze from the created to the Creator.
When we do, a whole new world opens up.
We enter in as if entering a temple, for surely we are.
So bring yourself as a gift before the altar of fallen tree and exposed rock
Stand still in your awe and feel yourself tremble.
Listen to the Earth and take up the song:
Water rippling over rocks.
The whisper of grass and grain.
Trees reaching high in near-silent psalms of praise.
My own mouth breathing out.
My small voice sings.

— I have an overwhelming sense of awe of the presence of God in my life, this God who just keeps showing up in the simple and ordinary, in my work, in those who surround me, in the everyday miracles of nature.

— Inspired by From Revelation 4:6-11

In unimaginable beauty, I find myself before the throne,
Radiant, as if all light comes from that one place.
As if.
Speechless, unsure of myself,
And yet words tumble out of mystery and doubt:
Holy.
You are holy.
You have always been, and are, and will be.
Worthy.
You are worthy
To receive my little psalms of praise
My nods of reverence.

What is your song of reverence today?