2008 Woodie Awards
Ignatian Corner Where are you, God? Everywhere!
Daniel Joyce, S.J.
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Features
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In a recent interview on BustedHalo.com, acclaimed author Ron Hansen was commenting on the novel "Kiss of the Wolf," by Jim Shepard.
"That's kind of the Catholic imagination in a nutshell," Hansen said.
"To expect disaster and at the same time find God somewhere in it.". This got me thinking.
"Finding God in all things." We say this all the time at St. Joe's as if the meaning of this value is obvious.
Does it mean that God "exists" in all things and, thus, can be found there?
Does it mean that all things are good and acceptable without reservation?
Does it mean that God will put all things to good use in some divine plan for each of us?
We should be reluctant to offer any of the abovementioned as a way of understanding this important phrase used in Jesuit and Ignatian circles.
The two key sources for understanding the ideal of "finding God in all things" come from The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
The primary way that Ignatius uses the phrase is near the end of this retreat experience in a recommended exercise called the "Contemplation on the Love of God." Ignatius asks the retreatant "…to consider how God works and labors for me in all things created on the face of the earth" [Fourth Week, Section 236]. God is willing to use all things to help us live in a divine relationship.
Despite our best efforts to ignore goodness and avoid the call, God may choose to come at us in all sorts of ways, through all things. Longtime spiritual director George Schemel, S.J. put it this way: "For Ignatius, God is what is wet in water, sharp in the edge of a knife. God is what is green in the grass, and strength in steel.
He is the smell of the rose, the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, the expanse of the universe of stars, the insight of the mind. God can be found in all those things."
God is not reduced to some unquantifiable quality in all things, but God can use the amazing qualities of all of creation to teach us about our relationships in the divine plan.
"That's kind of the Catholic imagination in a nutshell," Hansen said.
"To expect disaster and at the same time find God somewhere in it.". This got me thinking.
"Finding God in all things." We say this all the time at St. Joe's as if the meaning of this value is obvious.
Does it mean that God "exists" in all things and, thus, can be found there?
Does it mean that all things are good and acceptable without reservation?
Does it mean that God will put all things to good use in some divine plan for each of us?
We should be reluctant to offer any of the abovementioned as a way of understanding this important phrase used in Jesuit and Ignatian circles.
The two key sources for understanding the ideal of "finding God in all things" come from The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
The primary way that Ignatius uses the phrase is near the end of this retreat experience in a recommended exercise called the "Contemplation on the Love of God." Ignatius asks the retreatant "…to consider how God works and labors for me in all things created on the face of the earth" [Fourth Week, Section 236]. God is willing to use all things to help us live in a divine relationship.
Despite our best efforts to ignore goodness and avoid the call, God may choose to come at us in all sorts of ways, through all things. Longtime spiritual director George Schemel, S.J. put it this way: "For Ignatius, God is what is wet in water, sharp in the edge of a knife. God is what is green in the grass, and strength in steel.
He is the smell of the rose, the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, the expanse of the universe of stars, the insight of the mind. God can be found in all those things."
God is not reduced to some unquantifiable quality in all things, but God can use the amazing qualities of all of creation to teach us about our relationships in the divine plan.
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