St. Ignatius' life-changing discovery

One day, while St. Ignatius of Loyola was convalescing from a serious wound he received in a battle, he realized something that changed the direction of his life. He realized that whenever he read or thought about worldly matters (such as knights in battle), he took pleasure in it but afterwards he was left feeling empty and even a bit sad. On the other hand, when he read the Gospels and the lives of the saints and thought about such things, he also took pleasure in it, and afterwards he continued to have an experience of abiding joy.

What pleasures leave us feeling empty or dissipated? What pleasures do we have that fill us with joy, a joy that remains with us for a long time to come? What changes or adjustments might we want to consider? Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

When you don't get what you pray for

There are times when we pray for something but God does not answer our prayers the way we hoped he would; sometimes, in fact, we end up getting the opposite of what we prayed for. “I’ve prayed for X but I’m getting Y. Doesn’t he care?”

Well, he does care, more than you know. He knows what you don’t know, that’s why he doesn’t always answer your prayers according to your own wishes. Don’t forget that we pray “Thy will be done,” not “My will be done.”

As it says in Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, “. . . He knows that you do not know what is good for you and he makes it His business to give it to you. He does not mind disappointing you. You thought you were going eastwards, he takes you to the west. You were on the point of striking something dangerous, he turns the rudder and brings you safe to port.” (Book II, Chp. 1, #8)

Find your peace in those words.

A simple prayer of consecration

“Lord, I wish to give myself to you, even though my flesh is weak at times. Take me Lord, lead me where you would have me go, teach me what You would have me learn, heal within me what You know is time to be healed. Take me, Lord, but assure me that You are with me. Even in the midst of doubt and confusion, even when clouds cover the sun, show me that You are there, let me hear Your Father’s voice, let me sense Your glory.”

Dealing with Hurt, part two

Consider just one situation that happened to you in the past, a situation which has made you feel sorry for yourself, or blame others: Could it be that your own sin, or misdoing, or mistake, or blindness, or ignorance, or something else within you may have contributed as much to the situation--or maybe even more, than those you are upset with? What will it cost you to admit that? What might you gain---perhaps not paradise itself, be certainly the possibility of some peace of mind…perhaps even a solution or a way to heal the hurt? Maybe a way to reach forgiveness?

Dealing with Hurt

Someone hurt me a long time ago and is still on my mind. Then I decided to look at the hurt as a wound I am carrying. In my meditation, I gazed upon the wound and allowed myself to feel the pain without thinking about what had happened. I focused simply on the wound. And then I held it up before the wounded Christ and let his blood flow into my wound.

Try it some time when you are wounded. Find out what happens.

A second poem about grace

Gifts come to us everyday unbidden. 

Some we embrace

                some slip through us: we deemed them insignificant

                                                                                though they may have changed our lives.

Some have impact

                while others are unwelcomed.

Some are fragile

                and we crush them in our haste.

Some are just what we need

                but we expected them to come

                                from another direction, so we ignore them.

How do we learn             

                to pay more attention?

How do we learn to expect?

Can we become more receptive?

A prose poem about Grace

Not all gifts

                have to be earned,

                                                deserved,

                                                                merited.

Your very life wasn’t.

                Nor was that love you found

                                on a day you felt unloved.

It’s called grace.

                God gives it lavishly.

                                Do you walk around with a basket big enough

                                                                to catch it all?

                                                or are you the type

                                                                to settle for

                                                                                a crumb

                                                                                     or nothing at all?

(c) 2014 by Bede Camera, O.S.B.