Ignatian inspiration

“We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,

wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or short one.

For everything has the potential of calling forth in us

a deeper response to our life in God.” 

—St. Ignatius of Loyola 

In November 1998, Banu and I made a retreat at Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat House in Sedalia, Colorado.  This was our first interaction with practitioners of Ignatian spirituality.  (That is, Jesuits!)  It wasn’t until several years later that I discovered that Ignatius’ feast day is 31 July.  In his book, The Spiritual Exercises, he includes a section entitled “Discerning the Spirits.”  His use of the word “spirits” reflects a medieval concept; today, we would say “inclinations.”

Ignatius can still guide us in our decisions as we consider that “Our only desire and our one choice should be this:  I want and I choose what better leads to the deepening of God’s life in me.”