Can Ignatius give us a way of experiencing scripture that is Reformed?
In order to decide, you'll need to be brought up to speed on how Ignatius uses scripture in a prayerful, meditative way. And to understand that, you need to know some history.
Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits, came to understand that God could be found in all things. The former soldier to the royal court of Spain, while recovering from wounds sustained in battle, reflected on two books: The Life of Christ and the Lives of the Saints. Through his reflections, he came to see that he was called not to be a soldier at court but a "Soldier of Christ." Over several months, Ignatius developed a series of principles, prayers, and meditations which over time would come to be what we now know as "The Spiritual Exercises." As he took his college buddies through these exercises over the course of 2-3 years, they too became inflamed with love for Christ and became with Ignatius the founders of the Jesuit Movement.
So what does the founder of the Jesuits offer us that is unique? One of many significant contributions Ignatius made to Christian Spirituality was the practice of imagining oneself within the biblical passage one is studying. In other words, while praying and meditating on a passage such as the story of the Prodigal Son, you allow yourself to be placed in the heart of the story and may be a bystander or perhaps the Prodigal, the older brother or the father. In reflecting on the lessons learned in these encounters, a person is frequently able to discern movements of the spirit and learn what God is trying to say to you. At the end of the scriptural encounter, Ignatius has participants engage in a colloquy or conversation with the characters or directly with God or Christ.
Since for Ignatius, God can be found in all things, it is quite alright to enter into these scripture encounters through one's imagination. And while for Ignatius, the encounter will not function as "Word" to you, it can, nonetheless, be used by God to help you understand areas in your life that are problematic or which the spirit seems to be moving you to pay attention to and thus help you move closer to God's will for you. While using the Spiritual Exercises, which are often done as a 30 day silent retreat with a minimum of 5 hours spent each day in prayer and contemplation, Ignatius would have us seek to know the grace that God wishes to impart to us each day (the gift or problem God wishes to make us aware of that can in turn become a focus of our prayers) and pray for God to grant us that grace. Then, during the nightly Examen (a prayerful examination of one's conscience and the movements of the day) one seeks to discern the next grace that God desires for you, prays for God to impart that grace and makes a resolution concerning how the participant will act on the next day in light of the particular grace God has given and the new graces one discerns that God wishes for their life.
The problem for those of us who are reformed is that all of this is done alone in our own spiritual bubble with God. Two safeguards would make Calvin much happier. (1) We should share our insights and experiences of scripture with the community of faith in order that they may help us see where we may be in error when compared with tradition, theology and the corpus of scripture and with Word as we receive it with the community in the form of preaching in the context of worship. (2) We may need to work with a spiritual director, someone whose expertise and experience in walking faithfully with god we trust and, ideally, someone who is trained to listen to our experience of God and see trends both good and unhealthy and suggest ways that we can explore our experience of God through scripture, reading of theology and classic works on Christianity, and the use of various forms of prayer and spiritual disciplines. By acknowledging our need for other members of the Christian community to help keep us from stepping too far off the path in our walk with God, we can grow in our faith and perhaps help others grow as together we explore how God is at work in the world and in our lives.
A Brief How-To
So if you believe that Reformed folk might actually be able to benefit from Ignatius method of meditation on scripture and attention to the urgings of Spirit, how does this actually work? To actually use this practice in prayer, it is good to read the passage first, preferably even the night before praying on the passage so that it is already working in your subconscious mind. Begin the actual prayer by asking God to grant you the grace that you associate with this passage--the thing that God will want you to receive in order that you may move to a closer and deeper walk with God. Then focus on your breath as a gift of God and let the slow rhythm of each breath help prepare you to truly meditation on the passage of scripture. Then ask God to speak to you in the passage and allow your mind and spirit to take you into the story. Notice the details presented to you. Which character are you or are you just a passive observer? What is happening? Is this event identical to the scriptural account? How does it differ? How do you feel during the encounter? Are you anxious, or peaceful? Allow the story to play out. Then engage the characters in conversation. Or speak directly to God or to Jesus, asking what it is they would show you. This whole encounter generally takes at least 30 minutes. When one is actually making the 30 day spiritual exercises, retreatants generally engage in five sessions daily, each lasting up to one and one half hours with additional time spent in reflection and spiritual direction. This is a tremendous way to discern how and where God is leading you at times of transition in your life.
In summary, through Ignatian prayer and the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius teaches us to use imagination, prayer, contemplation and reflection to learn the desires that God has for each of us and to help us learn to allow God's desires for us to become our own. Maybe this is something even we of the Reformed stripe can find useful and edifying.
The full text of the exercises is available at http://www.jesuit.org/images/docs/915dWg.pdf
Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits, came to understand that God could be found in all things. The former soldier to the royal court of Spain, while recovering from wounds sustained in battle, reflected on two books: The Life of Christ and the Lives of the Saints. Through his reflections, he came to see that he was called not to be a soldier at court but a "Soldier of Christ." Over several months, Ignatius developed a series of principles, prayers, and meditations which over time would come to be what we now know as "The Spiritual Exercises." As he took his college buddies through these exercises over the course of 2-3 years, they too became inflamed with love for Christ and became with Ignatius the founders of the Jesuit Movement.
So what does the founder of the Jesuits offer us that is unique? One of many significant contributions Ignatius made to Christian Spirituality was the practice of imagining oneself within the biblical passage one is studying. In other words, while praying and meditating on a passage such as the story of the Prodigal Son, you allow yourself to be placed in the heart of the story and may be a bystander or perhaps the Prodigal, the older brother or the father. In reflecting on the lessons learned in these encounters, a person is frequently able to discern movements of the spirit and learn what God is trying to say to you. At the end of the scriptural encounter, Ignatius has participants engage in a colloquy or conversation with the characters or directly with God or Christ.
Since for Ignatius, God can be found in all things, it is quite alright to enter into these scripture encounters through one's imagination. And while for Ignatius, the encounter will not function as "Word" to you, it can, nonetheless, be used by God to help you understand areas in your life that are problematic or which the spirit seems to be moving you to pay attention to and thus help you move closer to God's will for you. While using the Spiritual Exercises, which are often done as a 30 day silent retreat with a minimum of 5 hours spent each day in prayer and contemplation, Ignatius would have us seek to know the grace that God wishes to impart to us each day (the gift or problem God wishes to make us aware of that can in turn become a focus of our prayers) and pray for God to grant us that grace. Then, during the nightly Examen (a prayerful examination of one's conscience and the movements of the day) one seeks to discern the next grace that God desires for you, prays for God to impart that grace and makes a resolution concerning how the participant will act on the next day in light of the particular grace God has given and the new graces one discerns that God wishes for their life.
The problem for those of us who are reformed is that all of this is done alone in our own spiritual bubble with God. Two safeguards would make Calvin much happier. (1) We should share our insights and experiences of scripture with the community of faith in order that they may help us see where we may be in error when compared with tradition, theology and the corpus of scripture and with Word as we receive it with the community in the form of preaching in the context of worship. (2) We may need to work with a spiritual director, someone whose expertise and experience in walking faithfully with god we trust and, ideally, someone who is trained to listen to our experience of God and see trends both good and unhealthy and suggest ways that we can explore our experience of God through scripture, reading of theology and classic works on Christianity, and the use of various forms of prayer and spiritual disciplines. By acknowledging our need for other members of the Christian community to help keep us from stepping too far off the path in our walk with God, we can grow in our faith and perhaps help others grow as together we explore how God is at work in the world and in our lives.
A Brief How-To
So if you believe that Reformed folk might actually be able to benefit from Ignatius method of meditation on scripture and attention to the urgings of Spirit, how does this actually work? To actually use this practice in prayer, it is good to read the passage first, preferably even the night before praying on the passage so that it is already working in your subconscious mind. Begin the actual prayer by asking God to grant you the grace that you associate with this passage--the thing that God will want you to receive in order that you may move to a closer and deeper walk with God. Then focus on your breath as a gift of God and let the slow rhythm of each breath help prepare you to truly meditation on the passage of scripture. Then ask God to speak to you in the passage and allow your mind and spirit to take you into the story. Notice the details presented to you. Which character are you or are you just a passive observer? What is happening? Is this event identical to the scriptural account? How does it differ? How do you feel during the encounter? Are you anxious, or peaceful? Allow the story to play out. Then engage the characters in conversation. Or speak directly to God or to Jesus, asking what it is they would show you. This whole encounter generally takes at least 30 minutes. When one is actually making the 30 day spiritual exercises, retreatants generally engage in five sessions daily, each lasting up to one and one half hours with additional time spent in reflection and spiritual direction. This is a tremendous way to discern how and where God is leading you at times of transition in your life.
In summary, through Ignatian prayer and the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius teaches us to use imagination, prayer, contemplation and reflection to learn the desires that God has for each of us and to help us learn to allow God's desires for us to become our own. Maybe this is something even we of the Reformed stripe can find useful and edifying.
The full text of the exercises is available at http://www.jesuit.org/images/docs/915dWg.pdf
posted by Frank at 12:09 PM
2 Comments:
I discovered your journal yesterday and have so enjoyed reading it. I'm close to finishing a 19th Annotation Ignatian Retreat and it has been an astounding experience.
We do a lot of work (for Presbys LOL) in our church on spirituality and your site has been really helpful to me in understanding the absence of a tradition of personal spiriutality in our denomination.
I'm glad you found something meaningful to your faith journey. I recently spent a week in silence doing an Ignatian retreat. I have also used the Spiritual Exercises over time in a loose version of the 19th Annotation.
Scripture and the presence of God have become so much more vivid for me, in no small part, thanks to Ignatius. I lead a weekly Spirituality and Prayer Group of mostly retired men and women and they have shown me that people can come to a more vital faith at any time. And they're beginning to incorporate Ignatian ways of reflecting on scripture into their spiritual lives.
Despite the moniker "Frozen Chosen," I think there are a lot of people in the Presbyterian church and everywhere who are hungry for something more than an hour on Sunday. May you continue to seek and find God powerfully.
Thanks for your comment.
Frank
Post a Comment
<< Home