Living Ignation
“All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.”
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatian prayer is personal, it’s life changing….it opens the way for our humanness to come into contact with God – the Creator, our Redeemer, the Lover of our soul. St. Ignatius of Loyola encourages us to find God in everything. He is in nature, in our daily routines, in our vocation, in our conversations and interactions with others, in our car while we navigate traffic. Ignatius said “All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.”
Ignatian prayer, personally, has shown me how to find God based on the movements of my heart. I start prayer every morning with settling myself in the presence of God. I have a prayer space within my house where I can look outside and, in the summer months, I will periodically sit on my back porch. Whether I can tangibly feel Him or not, I know He is near me. I then open the daily readings and, as I read His word in scripture, certain words or scenes will create movements in my heart. As I sit in these moments, I can feel and know the drawing of the Lord by His peace, joy and love that He places in my heart.
Ignatian spirituality encourages striving for the “greater good” (magis) and caring for oneself and others (cura personalis) through prayer and reflection. God has drawn me to care for others as a spiritual director and I am on staff at both Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat House and Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality. As I walk with others on their unique spiritual journey, I meet them where they are at in their life. I direct them through the lens of Ignatian spirituality and discernment of spirits. I assist them in seeing God in their life and how God is drawing them down the distinctive path that He created specifically for them.
I see and find God in every person I sit with in direction, whether they are in consolation or desolation, whether they pray every day or not, not matter what religious beliefs they hold in their heart – God is in all of it. Our God is an ever Creating, ever Loving and ever Merciful God so He meets each and every human where ever they are in the journey of life in this world. I find great joy, peace and consolation being with a person as God touches their heart and soul and reveals Himself to them.
I leave you with this quote from St. Ignatius that sums up the Lord’s great desire for relationship with us……“We must speak to God as a friend speaks to his friend, servant to his master; now asking some favor, now acknowledging our faults, and communicating to Him all that concerns us, our thoughts, our fears, our projects, our desires, and in all things seeking His counsel.”
Mika Rizzo