10 Pastoral Care Teachers in Honor of Herb Hoff's Birthday: Ignatius Loyola

8th Teacher: Ignatius Loyola

One thing St Ignatius is teaching me is that repentance has dynamics, that requires time and patience.

Do you ever go through seasons when it seems God keeps repeating himself to you? Lately for me, his theme has been “patient discipleship.” Eugene Peterson writes “harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once.” (Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. IVP. 1980. page 11.)  I want my discipleship to be instant. I want the people I serve to grow and mature faster. I am an impatient disciple and i am impatient with other disciples. I do some gardening, and I know garden dynamics refuse to be rushed. Seeds and starts can not be coaxed or hurried. Ripening is not speeded by my impatience. 

Spiritual conversation takes time. Both care giver and receiver almost always want a quick fix. Quick absolution. Quick prescription. Quick deliverance. Quick healing. Quick reconciliation. Quick recovery. Quick trust rebuilding. In our context at Trinity, sacramental absolution or charismatic healing can both be hijacked by our impatient discipleship demands, instead of gracious gifts for our pilgrim way with and towards Jesus.

St. Ignatius, by asking simple questions, has been helpful to me in reflecting on the Gospel and my life in conversation with the Gospels. Towards the end of the day, the examen has been a helpful tool in observing the dynamics of turing toward or away from God. 

Ignatius’ fifth rule from His Spiritual Exercises writes, “In time of desolation never to make a change; but to be firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which he was in the preceding consolation. Because, as in consolation it is rather the good spirit who guides and counsels us, so in desolation it is the bad, with whose counsels we cannot take a course to decide rightly."

Our flesh wants to make an instant decision during times of desolation. Jump in our out of a relationship. Quit or start something. Give up or give in. Ignatius counsels sobriety and slow patience.

From the Loyola Press Website: "One of the things we can do with the time we have before making a decision is to practice discernment. In the Ignatian tradition, discernment involves two key words: consolation and desolation. In her book, The Inner Compass, Margaret Silf provides an excellent description of the role these two words play in our process of discernment.What do we mean when we talk of consolation and desolation? We are really only talking about our orientation, and the bottom line is this: which direction is our life taking us—toward God [consolation] or away from him [desolation]?Here are some of the main symptoms of desolation and the most commonly experienced blessings of consolation.

Desolation • turns us in on ourselves • drives us down the spiral ever deeper into our own negative feelings • cuts us off from community • makes us want to give up on things that used to be important to us • takes over our whole consciousness and crowds out our distant vision • covers up all our landmarks • drains us of energy

Consolation • directs our focus outside and beyond ourselves • lifts our hearts so that we can see the joys and sorrows of other people • bonds us more closely to our human community • generates new inspiration and ideas • restores balance and refreshes our inner vision • shows us where God is active in our lives and where he is leading us • releases new energy in us. 

excerpts from The Inner Compass by Margaret Silf