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No.7 January 2004 The Silence
In the last issue of The Way (an English Jesuit publication, 42/4 October 2003 pp. 106-117) we find an interesting and thought provoking article, The Silence, published in memory of the late Ignatian scholar, Fr Joseph Veale S.J. of the Irish Province. Joe’s ideas exposed in The Way appeared first in the Irish Province newsletter, Interfuse. The Editor asked Joe to elaborate them further. Unfortunately, Joe died before completing the article. Unyieldingly and in gratitude to his scholarly work in the field of Ignatian Spirituality, the Editor put Joe’s thoughts together for the benefit of a wider readership. I found the article inspiring. What I write below is not a summary of the article. I simply put to pen personal thoughts and reactions as I read and reflected on the article. “We keep looking in the wrong direction”! We are all aware that the western European culture is beset with religious indifference. There are subtle forces active in trying to repress God’s immediacy in people’s life. We have been analysing the phenomenon for years. And what are the results? Has anything changed? We keep looking outwardly for awareness when what we need is people who are able to look inwards and communicate from a deeper level of experience. As soon as one opens his mouth about God, he is immediately associated with a discredited Church. The truth, nowadays, is that priests, religious and fervent lay people find it painful to speak so openly about God. If we are honest let us admit how uncomfortable and uneasy we find it when we are invited to go before T.V. cameras as the Church’s (faith’s) representatives. We find so many justifications to refuse to participate! At times we cannot tolerate criticism levelled at the standard of our homilies or talks. Is it not true that perhaps these criticisms are justified? Isn’t the use of our religious language fast becoming irrelevant, with tired images and with "churchy idioms" that are remote form the people’s lives? Today, people need to listen to first-hand experiences that are sensed to be in touch with God, otherwise our words are dead…“if the contact with God is a wrestling and contention with God, a cry from a disbelieving ache, a groan of the spirit out of darkness…this can be heard, because it is real. That God is real.” Isn’t it high time to come out clean, protecting ourselves from anxieties and denials of our fogged sense of belief? Otherwise, our unbelief will distance us further from getting in touch with what is ailing our culture. Our own inner experience is the best laboratory where we can conduct our examinations and analyses. Is our spiritual experience desolate? Are we getting trapped in our private world? (Sp.Ex. 326). We fittingly find an escape route in silence, in not taking any decisions. We become overcome with a feeling that there is nothing we can do. All our doings will seem a mere semblance of vitality, a masking of indifference. What has to change so that we come out in the open and conversion takes place? In the last decades of the 20th century we addressed rampaging atheism. Our commitment to social justice was extensive and brought us together around one objective. It was perceived as being a positive response of a faith that does justice. Good has been reaped in conscientising many within and without the Church to the plight of the poor, the oppressed and the demeaned. But how can we explain that concomitantly to palpable social involvement the Church has been visibly witnessing a haemorrhaging of faith? How did we manage to evacuate God from central stage in people’s lives? Has the God of the committed Christian become what God is rapidly becoming in European culture more generally, the loony relative who is always kept in the kitchen and never mentioned to the guests? We need to refocus our pastoral, social, academic and political energies on God. Karl Rahner, speaking in persona of Ignatius says to Jesuits… “Do you understand me now when I say that the central task for you Jesuits, around which everything else is centred, has to be the giving, (and the doing) of the Exercises?” This does not necessarily mean “retreat houses” or formal courses. This implies a creative pedagogy of freedom of the heart (the Two Standards). Rahner is suggesting that Ignatius wants us first and foremost to offer mystagogical help (to illuminate the personal experience of grace). Our first pastoral concern is to help people not to repress God’s immediacy but to come to experience it clearly and accept it. In all that we do we must serve this goal first…then and only then we can proceed with the rest of our work. We need each other to come out of the silence and simply start talking about God…not talking about faith but experiencing faith. We need to show that God is not dead! It is time to be heard again, to discover a fresh Gospel language that attracts and rings true. We must not be taken aback if after we come out of our silence we are met with another great silence! It is likely that people shrug our words away…they do not want to hear. This should not discourage us from speaking the truth…at least God would have been let out of the kitchen and shown to the guests! The Exercises call us to be free from the need to see results. Ignatius has taught us to leave results in God’s hands. That is his business. Whatever divide there exists between us and the culture out there the real gap is not between us and them. “The gap is within ourselves. The gap is between the spiritual famine and our incapacity to speak to the hunger.” (With sincere thanks to the editor of The Way... and to Joe for his wise thoughts). Vincent Magri S.J.
Ignatian Maxims (5) 26. This has to be the first rule of our works: we trust in God as if the success of our work comes all from us and not from God; but we work hard and make all efforts as if God were to do everything and we do nothing. (Gonzales, Memoriale, M.I. Font. Narr.) 27. When one makes a mistake and is aware of it, one should not lose heart, for the mistakes themselves will benefit one’s spiritual life. (Gonzales, Memoriale, M.I. Font. Narr) 28. To do great things in the service of the Lord, it is necessary to overcome vain fears and not be afraid of poverty, of discomforts, calumnies, and affronts, not even of death. Nor should you be bitter or experience hatred and abhorrence towards those who contradict you or persecute you. .(Ribadeneira, Tract. De Gubern. Font. Narr) 29. If we forget ourselves and our own interests for the service of God, we will have God himself taking good care of us. (Bartoli I. IV, n.36, p.392) 30. The more we are alone and by ourselves, the more capable we become of drawing near to and reaching our Creator and Lord, and the more we reach Him, the more we make ourselves ready to receive grace and gifts from His divine and supreme Goodness. (Spiritual Exercises, n. 20) Fr.
Arthur Vella SJ
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Becoming Human Jean Vanier Jean Vanier is the founder of the L’Arche & Faith & Light Communities. These communities are a haven for people with mental disabilities. Within the walls of these shelters, these “disadvantaged” people find warmth, belongingness and an environment which gives them back their lost dignity. Jean Vanier has written several books including Man and Woman He Made Them, The Broken Body, Community and Growth, Tears of Silence and The Scandal of Service. These books are full of profound insights into the human condition. By exposing himself into the world of the mentally disabled, Vanier discovered a deeper and richer spiritual wisdom of the suffering heart. That which from the outside is deemed weak and insignificant turns out to be a real catalyst for building a healthy network of human relations and communities. In the present volume Being Human Vanier shares with his readers themes that really help to build a more humane world. The book has 5 chapters exploring loneliness, belongingness, exclusion and inclusion, freedom and forgiveness. With exceptional clarity of thought Vanier delves into the heart’s quest to give human existence meaning and hope. Vanier makes no secret of the most essential discovery of all: God, the common ground of all our being and doing.
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THE 10
COMMANDMENTS
NOTE: We would like to remind you that the Centre for Ignatian Spirituality offers personal spiritual direction to all those who would like to have any kind of spiritual experience like Ignatian retreats in every day life. Retreats can be tailored according to the needs and circumstances of the retreatant. CIS can call on experienced Jesuits, other religious and trained lay people to accompany retreatants through these experiences. Anyone interested can contact the Director on 218227323 or 99864561 or email vince@maltajesuitretreats.com. The CIS Programme for 2003/04 is now online.
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