Category: Ignatian Spirituality

The Butterfly Effect

Do you remember these little stores in the malls named Successories? They were always tucked away in some corner, and they offered inspirational gifts, which were really popular in the 90’s. Well, Successories bit the dust some time back, only remerge as Simple Truths. Only available on line, they offer the same kind of material.

Somehow I got on their email list, and out of sheer boredom one day, clicked on the link to their website. I was impressed by what I saw, and, since they were offering some fantastic deals, I bought a few books. One of which was entitled, The Butterfly Effect. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but, since I like butterflies, I figured what the heck.

Well, I love this little book. I’m going to blog more about its contents later, but here’s the basics of the story.

In 1963, a scientist named Edward Lorenz presented a hypothesis to a distinguished academy of fellow scientists. His theory said:

A butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air- eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet.

Lorenz was laughed out of the building. The others thought what he had proposed was impossible. For many years, the butterfly effect only showed up in comic books and science fiction, but no real scientists gave it much thought.

That was, until some thirty years later, when a group of physics professors came to the conclusion that the butterfly effect was authentic, accurate, and viable. Soon afterwards, it was given the status of a law, now known as The Law of Sensitive Dependence Upon Initial Conditions.

Now, you’re probably asking, what does that mean to me? The rest of this little book goes on to speak about the fact that everything we do matters. Every move we make, every action we take, matters.

There are generations yet unborn whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take today. And tomorrow, and the next day. And the next.

You have been created as one of a kind. On the planet Earth, there has never been one like you… and there never will be again.

Your spirit, your thoughts and feelings, your ability to reason and act all exist in no one else. You have been created in order that you might make a difference.

Knowing this, would it make a difference in the way you live your life? How about the way you treat others? Maybe change the way you use our limited resources? You can do a lot with this, and I hope you will. I’m going to try…

Body Ignatian Spirituality Mind Spirit

Ready to Relax

For the last several years, one of my tasks in getting ready for the summer ahead is to break out this fountain, which I position next to my pergola. Yesterday, as hit the switch to turn it on, the water slowly filled the upper reservoir, and began to spill down to the basin below.

It’s splashing water is just loud enough to hear from my open bedroom window upstairs. It’s music to my ears as I drift off to sleep. There’s something so relaxing about the sound of water. In the mornings from now until October, I’ll sit in my lounge chair, listening to the fountain, and think/pray/dream. This is one of my favorite times of the year.

Now a days, you don’t have to have a lot of money or space to get yourself a little water feature. Although they might be a bit cheesy, they even have them for your desktop. Maybe listening to water helps transport us to a better place, maybe a vacation or trip to the beach.

Earlier this spring, my family and I went on a little camping trip to Sycamore Cove, just north of Malibu, California. I could hear the waves crashing all night as I lay in my tent. Now, as I sit here in Westminster, Maryland, listening to my lion’s head fountain, I can think about that trip as well, and all the fun my family and I had that weekend. Or, there was the time in Rome sitting in front of the Trevi fountain, eating gelato. But, as my mom pointed out the other day, don’t forget the dolphin fountain in Cortona’s public park overlooking the Val di’Chiana below. Oh, and how about…

Catholic Church Ignatian Spirituality Italy Mind Spirit Travel

St. Catherine of Siena

Today is the feast day of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-80), a one of only three women who have the title Doctor of the Church. Over the summer, I picked up a biography of this great saint entitled The Road To Siena written by Edmund Gardener. I’ll leave it to you to find out more about Catherine. I just wanted to bring her up because, as I learned through reading this biography, she was one tough person who rose above the difficulties of her time and became a shining example of holiness.

Sometimes, actually, I think most of the time, every generation thinks that they have it worse than another other age. We wonder how we will ever survive, yet alone thrive through whatever comes our way. Reading the story of St. Catherine reminded me that we have been through worse times. Catherine lived in a time of plague, heresies, schisms, object poverty and absolute decadence. Sinful behavior seemed to reign. In the end, though, people like St. Catherine kept it together, calling people to task, challenging those in power at the time to live for holiness. Her forceful voice remains with us today, and her words speak to our time. Maybe Pope Paul VI had this in mind when, in 1970, he declared her the first woman Doctor of the Church. Read up on her. Ask for her intercession, for ourselves, and for our Church.

Ignatian Spirituality Mind Spirit

Fresh Start

If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you’ve picked up on the fact that I enjoy sunrises. I’m an early riser, and I love to sit on my back porch, coffee in hand and watch the dawn of a new day. It’s worth the effort!

Yesterday, a young man I know started a new job. I’ve been friends with Diego and his parents for almost fifteen years now, and I guess you could say that I’ve become one of his mentors. Like most twenty-somethings, he’s always got something going on in his life to talk about.

About four months ago, Diego quit his job in a huff. The boss wasn’t the nicest person, and he had had enough. Although he found another job quickly, it wasn’t exactly right either. But he stuck with it, and it has paid off well for him. A few weeks ago the owners asked him to become the manager of one of their busiest and nicest restaurants. That’s a big complement for someone so young, but he’s got tremendous potential and they saw it.

He has been so excited over the last few weeks, talking about all his big plans. I have really enjoyed those many conversations, since over the years, working in the same job, it’s been easy to fall into the trap of mediocrity. Why change, if its already working? If you’re creeping up into middle age, I’m sure you can relate.

Just listening to this young man share his dreams and hopes has gotten me dreaming and hoping again. His fresh start, which began with such excitement yesterday, has got me thinking about some fresh starts I need to make in my own life.

No matter what we do, or how old we are, the new day always provides us with the potential of change. When Diego called yesterday morning, asking if he could stop by on the way to his new job, I said of course.

He pulled up and almost jumped out of the car. He looked great, dressed in clothes he had purchased the night before. He was ready to conquer the world. What a joy it was to share a few minutes with him, and what a blessing that he thought to spend some this with me. When I walked back to my office, I had a little extra bounce in my step. Happiness can be contagious, can’t it?

Body Ignatian Spirituality Mind Spirit

Time to get moving

Probably like you, I’m on several email subscription lists. Just about every day I receive an email from John Eldridge, and they contain some quote from one of his many great books. I thought today’s quote from his book, Sacred Romance was a great one to share:

Journey or Homestead?

Every great story involves a quest. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins ran from the door at a quarter till eleven without even so much as a pocket handkerchief and launched on an adventure that would change his life forever. Alice stepped through the looking glass into Wonderland; Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter stumbled through the wardrobe into Narnia. Abraham left his country, his people, and his father’s household to follow the most outlandish sort of promise from a God he’d only just met, and he never came back. Jacob and his sons went to Egypt for some groceries and four hundred years later the Israel nation pulled up stakes and headed for home. Peter, Andrew, James, and John all turned on a dime one day to follow the Master, their fishing nets heaped in wet piles behind them. The Sacred Romance involves for every soul a journey of heroic proportions. And while it may require for some a change of geography, for every soul it means a journey of the heart.

The choice before us now is to journey or to homestead, to live like Abraham, the friend of God, or like Robinson Crusoe, the lost soul cobbling together some sort of existence with whatever he can salvage from the wreckage of the world. Crusoe was no pilgrim; he was a survivor, hunkered down for the duration. He lived in a very, very small world where he was the lead character and all else found its focus in him. Of course, to be fair, Crusoe was stranded on an island with little hope of rescue. We have been rescued, but still the choice is ours to stay in our small stories, clutching our household gods and false lovers, or to run in search of life.

I don’t know about you, but I think the time has come for all of us to make that leap of faith and run towards the prize that St. Paul speaks about. It’s time to hop on the bridge that will take us somewhere new…

Ignatian Spirituality Spirit

God’s Grandeur

Through my silent retreats and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, I was introduced to the writings of a Jesuit poet named Gerard Manley Hopkins. Fr.Hopkins (1844-1889) was born into an Anglican family, but later converted to Catholicism and later entered the Society of Jesus.

As I was out walking today, I realized that the heavy scent of all the neighborhood lilac bushes has started to fade. For about two weeks, the beautiful fragrance was almost overpowering. Those of us with sinus problems had a time of it. I suffer from all the pollen during these days, but I am open to getting a headache over breathing in all the spring scents.

Well, this transition of the lilacs made me remember one of Hopkins’ most famous poems entitled God’s Grandeur. The poem is a reminder that nature is constantly changing, that God is moving, watching over all, looking around to see what’s blooming next, wondering where the next rainbow will appear.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

and all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell:

the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

All, for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last nights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward,

springs –

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright

wings.

It is exciting to see what tomorrow will bring in this ever-changing rhythm of nature. What scents will we smell? Will we recognize it is all a Gift?

Ignatian Spirituality Mind Spirit

Where the wind has blown

Today has been a day of recollection. As I enter my last week of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, I’m to review my journal and look for ideas/concepts/situations that remind me of how God has been moving in my life over the last 30+ weeks.

I hardly got through my first entry written on September 23rd, 2009, when I acknowledged just how present God has been to me throughout this time. As I flipped through the many pages of these daily entries, I was struck by the fact that this has been the first time I’ve really stuck with the task of journalling. I’m grateful that I’ll always have a record of all these many, many experiences, and I’m hoping that I’ll keep with it. I guess in some sense, this blog will also fulfill the role of a daily journal, but now I get to share my experiences with you 🙂

Through my reading of my journal, I was also reflecting on how much more disciplined I’ve become over the last several months. I’m a procrastinator by nature, I guess, although I do have pretty good follow-through once I start something. But you have to be disciplined if you want to get something out of this great legacy of St. Ignatius.

When he penned the Spiritual Exercises in the 1500’s, Ignatius was writing as a layman, and he intended the exercises for laypeople. Only later did he form the group that would eventually become the Society of Jesus.

There are two main ways to complete the exercises as Ignatius intended. The first way is to do a 30 day silent retreat, done with the help of a spiritual director. The second way, which is how I am doing them, is called the 19th Annotation, and is usually done over the span of 34 weeks. It can be done one on one with a spiritual director/guide or it can be done in a group setting. For those who are adventurous, it can even be done online through Creighton University.

I’ll be writing a lot more about the exercises in upcoming daily blogs, and may even create a separate page so as to do them justice.

I leave you with these words from the autobiography of St. Ignatius, entitled, A Pilgrim’s Journey. He was writing about himself when he wrote,

He was astonished at these changes, which he had never before experienced, and said to himself, “What kind of life is this that we are now beginning?”

So, as St. Ignatius points out, the end of the Exercises marks a new beginning. Where will the Wind take us?

Gardening Ignatian Spirituality Spirit

Earth Day

I wish we could have sat together today under the pergola. The warm air was heavy with the scent of lilacs. We have Hans and Mary to thank for this one, planted years ago and still going strong. I’ve added my own to the mix, a white one on the side of the house. Will the people who come after me know my name, or why I planted a white one?

Yesterday, a dvd from Netflix arrived in the mail. It was the second part to Ken Burns’ documentary on the National Park System. What a master film maker! It was ironic that it would arrive on the eve of Earth Day.

As I watched, I realized what a debt of gratitude we owe to people like Teddy Roosevelt. What would have been lost had he not taken a little trip out west in his youth, and who one day had the power to stop a destruction that could have never been reversed.

We also need to thank the people who have cared for the land, who planted the trees, designed the gardens and parks we enjoy. What would Central Park be had it not been for Olmstead? Descanso Gardens without Boddy? We have lots of people to thank for giving us the pleasure of experiencing the joy that comes from nature. Most of all, thanks to the Master Himself, who created it all, and called it good.

All of earth is crammed with heaven

And every bush a flame with God

But only those who see take off their shoes.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Ignatian Spirituality Mind Spirit

Time With Friends

Yesterday, some elderly friends of mine returned to Maryland after spending the winter in Florida. This year, it was cold down there for much of the time, and they were excited to come north.

I’ve known this couple for nearly twenty years, and they are faithful friends. I have watched them grow old, and now they are beginning to struggle with their health. Their friends are dying off, several this winter while they were away. They didn’t have the chance to say goodbye.

I know from them and other people I’m close to, its hard to get old, to not be able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, to slowly lose control. As I was driving home, I was thinking about the passage from John’s gospel, where Jesus says to Peter, “when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you are old, someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). I guess Jesus wasn’t just talking to Peter, but to all of us. It will happen. The important thing, I think, is what we do with it.

My friends continue to be as active as they can, take care of their sickly neighbors, and keep a positive attitude. When I told them I was bringing over Lentil soup, they were genuinely excited to try it. They know I’m trying to eat healthier, and they are too. They loved the soup, especially on a cold rainy day like it was here in Maryland.

Just about everyone I know is trying to get healthier, especially focusing on what they eat. I’m finding it so much more fun to do it with the people I care about most, whether it’s in person, on the phone, or through this blog.

Body Ignatian Spirituality Mind Spirit

Resolution Review

Well, it’s been about five months since many of us made our annual New Year’s Resolutions. I was trying to remember mine, so I guess maybe I haven’t quite met them. Hum…

USA Today did a study where researchers tracked individuals who made New Year’s resolutions. They divided them into two groups: (1) Those who made a resolution and wrote it down, and (2) those who made one but didn’t write it down. The results were astonishing. Of those who neglected to put their goal down on paper, only 4% kept their resolution, however, those who did write it down, 44% kept them. That’s a ten fold increase!

So this got me thinking. Did I write them down somewhere? If I was smart enough to, where did I put that paper? Maybe you share in this dilemma?

Well, whatever those goals were in January, they are still probably relevant today. So, maybe its time to start over. If you didn’t make at least one resolution, then maybe we can all set some goals together.

Here’s some easy tips:

Write it down. Put it in a prominent place, or somewhere where it won’t be lost.
A goal must be achievable. Maybe you could have two, one easy, and one that is challenging.
The goal must be measurable and specific.

There’s a lot of info out on the net, including a website set up to help with goalsetting, http://www.mygoals.com. I haven’t spent a lot of time on the site, just pointing out there’s help available.

So, what are my goals going to be?

Keep working on my diet and exercise by maintaining my present weight and making it to the gym at least three times a week.
Set up opportunities to share with people the importance of getting healthy, body, mind and spirit.
Getting a vegetable garden planted by May 1st.
Complete the Spiritual Exercises and start sharing with others about the experience.
Finally start my Sacred Feast dinners, inviting people to my house to share in the cooking and eating of a healthy meal.

So, folks, those are my goals/resolutions I want to keep for the next several months. If you have some goal/resolution you want to work on, post it in the comments section of this post. Let’s cheer each other on!