Relishing things interiorly

31 July 2017

St. Ignatius of Loyola is a very significant saint.

Born in Spain in 1491, he died around 1556.

He was a proud soldier. Injured in battle, he was helped in his recuperation by certain women.

He came to understand the importance of consolations and desolations in one’s deepest feelings and emotions. These inner movements, he discovered, tell us how God is relating to us.

When he came to write his Spiritual Exercises he imbedded this insight into his advice to us:

“We will benefit far more from the understanding and love aroused by the grace of God within us than from the rhetoric or brilliant insights of a retreat director.

“For it is not knowing much, but realising and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul.”

People today speak of “mindfulness,” “attentiveness,” “consciousness.” Okay in some way I suppose, but God is normally left out of the equation. A shame really, since God is the author and creator of our emotional and conscious life.

Either God is present in our inner world or he’s not. Ignatius believed that God is very, very present within us.

Take a few minutes at the close of each day – or any time of the day for that matter – and look back at the events of the day and your inner response to them.

Humbly ask the Holy Spirit to help you in this divine task. When you find yourself “relishing things interiorly” know that God is close.

Amen.