Prayer

Litany on the Perfect Timing of God

Steve · May 8, 2024 · 1 Comment

I was talking on the phone last week to my friend Dave in Texas, a retired hospital chaplain and now deacon and pastor of visitation at a Methodist Church. As “men of a certain age,” we have lots in common and were reflecting on those times in our lives when, despite all odds and seeming reason, God just seemed to show up when we needed Him most.

We both thought and said that same phrase at almost the same time: “And then God showed up.” And I thought to myself, there have certainly been a long list of those divine occurrences in my life and in the lives of those around me; I could make a list, maybe even a litany of sorts. And here you go:

I was feeling powerless and small…and then God showed up.
I was on the edge looking into the abyss…and then God showed up.
I had no idea which way to turn…and then God showed up.
I didn’t believe my life had purpose or meaning…and then God showed up.
I was alone and on my own…and then God showed up.
I ached all over and saw no end in sight…and then God showed up.
I was up against a wall…and then God showed up.
I couldn’t find true love anywhere…and then God showed up.
I had been abused and unloved…and then God showed up.
I was confused and unsure of myself…and then God showed up.
I didn’t have the right words…and then God showed up.
I didn’t have the courage…and then God showed up.
I thought life would never get any better…and then God showed up.
I had no hope…and then God showed up.
I was uncertain if God was even real…and then God showed up.
I was sure that God wasn’t real…and then God showed up.
I was in so much pain…and then God showed up.
I was in so much trouble…and then God showed up.
I needed peace of mind and heart and soul…and then God showed up.
I needed a friend…and then God showed up.
I needed a savior…and then God showed up.
I needed you…and you showed up.
Amen and amen.

What could you add to this list?

A Total Eclipse of the Heart

Steve · April 19, 2024 · Leave a Comment

Once upon a time I was falling in love
Now I’m only falling apart.
There’s nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart.

– Jim Steinman

On April 8, a total solar eclipse made a diagonal cut across parts of Central and North America, with parts of 15 U.S. states within the path of totality. Here in St. Louis, we didn’t get this totality, but were in something like the ninety-ninth percentage and got enough of it to know something strange was happening. Dogs barked and crickets chirped.

Sue and I thought about driving a few hours south to be in that totality but we soon learned we’d be joining thousands and thousands of others flocking to southern Illinois to get a glimpse of this natural phenomenon through those ubiquitous cardboard dark-colored glasses. We took a pass on the expected crowds and the traffic jams and opted instead for finding a quiet place in our own front yard. There, we sat for a few hours and read while we waited for the near-darkness to come. It was time well spent.

The day came and went and we were little changed by it, unlike the ancients who, so were are told, were so freaked out that they thought the world was surely ending. And who could blame them?

But I’m thinking this morning that this eclipse, perhaps, is also a chance for spiritual reflection, an opportunity for us to ask if anything has gotten in between us and God. To paraphrase Jim Steinman’s song, made famous by the Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler in her 1983 single: Are we still falling in love with God or are we falling apart?

There’s a famous poem-prayer about the practicality of this “falling in love,” which is often attributed to Pedro Arrupe, SJ (1907-1991), but was actually written, we know now, by Joseph Whelan, SJ. It goes like this:

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

For those who believe, that falling in love makes all the sense in the world. But we also know that it can be easy enough to fall out of it if we’re not careful and paying attention. So get out there today and experience the beauty and mystery of the world. And while you’re waiting, offer up a prayer and reflect a bit about what might be getting in the way of your love for God. What else is seizing your imagination? What’s eating up your time and energy? What’s breaking your heart and getting you up and out of bed these days?

On April 8, as the moon moved in between us and the sun once again, so many paused in amazement and wonder. Today, let’s be amazed by the God who waits patiently for us to return. Let’s accept that invitation to fall in love once again. After all, nothing is more practical than that.

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 Post-Thanksgiving Call to Awareness and Gratitude

Steve · November 26, 2022 · 2 Comments

Dear friends,

On this ordinary day just a few days past the American holiday of Thanksgiving, I write to share a reminder (in words and in the video below) that faith requires an ongoing commitment to this idea of Thanksgiving — to awareness and living with our eyes wide open to our blessings. Above all, to gratitude.

We are called to recognize the holy when God puts it right before our eyes. It should be our life’s work to pay attention. I’m reminded of the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.

God says to us: “Listen carefully. Become more aware of the world around you, of the people and circumstances and challenges that I place in your lives. I will meet you there in these ordinary things and then I will make the ordinary extraordinary for you. I will change you.”

Below is new video (created yesterday) of an older song by me and my colleague Phil Cooper. Enjoy.

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?