Reflections on Themes of the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises

We prepare ourselves for our reflection as we recall the Lord’s presence here, now, with us.

At the end of one of the meditations in the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, we are asked three questions: What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ?

Rather direct questions which force us to engage in a little reflection,

travelling back in time, searching for answers.

And like many of us who do things for others, because we were told to do so.

or because we were afraid we might get scolded if we do not do so,

or simply because we never really had the habit, or ever thought of doing things for Christ,-

we come up with answers that are forced. Pilit.

And yet we also know that at the Ateneo,

all of us being partakers of the Jesuit and Ignatian tradition of prayer,

and as we participate in recollections, attend retreats, listen to homilies, sit in our classes-

these questions are asked of us, time and again,

as part of our formation, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly,

by our teachers, by our retreat masters, by the school leadership, sometimes by one another

and in our more secret moments of prayer, by ourselves - the questions:

What have I done for Christ?  What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ?

I know I must give an answer.

But I sometimes, I cannot give an answer.

And then I ask myself, why do I find it hard to answer?

Why do I hesitate?

Why am I silent?

Why a certain unease and discomfort in answering?

Because, I would hazard a guess,

while I may come up with a thing or two I may have done, and am proud I have done it,

I must confess,

with some embarrassment,

that I did it primarily for myself.

Christ never really entered into my motivation for doing this good thing.

I just felt good, that’s all.

Everybody else was doing it, joining in.

It was all part of a class project,

It was part of my daily routine, our weekly schedule.

And just like in the Nike ad, “Just do it!”,

I did it, - because I just felt like doing it!

But for Christ? Never really entered my mind!

But we ask, - Is it really that important?

What difference does it make?

Who cares anyway?

What good is it to me, - this doing things for Christ, - as a student of the Ateneo?

What good is it to me as a person, to think of Christ in my actions?

What good is it to me as one who will do the many actions in my life

that will follow the thousands of choices I will be making,-  in my life as a person?

Perhaps these questions give us the reason for that next stage we go through, - when we make the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius.

Having reflected in the meditation called “The Principle and Foundation,” on who I am as an individual in relation to a God I am meant to praise and thank His goodness to me, and the good He does for everyone,

and having again realized that as I acknowledge who I am before Him, - my nothingness before his overwhelming goodness, kindness, and mercy, and therefore to Whom I render my reverence, awe, and worship,

and having realized and acknowledged that the only response I can rightfully,  dutifully, and worthily offer, -  is to serve Him by doing His will in my life, -

having been given the WHAT that I must do, and the HOW I must do it, I am now given an answer which contains the What, the How and the WHY, - in the person of Our Lord, Jesus Christ!

I am invited to do all as Christ did; I am asked to do all, for His sake, because He asks me to. I am asked to do all with Him, as He did and does with many others like me. I am asked to be like Him, as He lived his life on earth. I am asked to look for His will in my life, what is the Father’s will for me in my life, as He spent his life doing the Father’s will in his own.

In other words, to be like Christ, to think as He thought, to will as He willed, to do as He did,

to act as He acted, and as Saint Paul writes, “to be like Christ is to put on Christ.”

That is what He came for, -  to be like one of us, -  

Reminiscent of the vision St Ignatius had by the banks of the river Cardoner:

The Father who sends His Son into this world,-

to be like one of us, in all things, except sin

to live life as we live life,

breathing, thinking, doing, -

and in all, moved by this great desire

to find, to search, to discover God’s will in His life,

to surrender and offer His life by His sacrifice on the Cross!

And because of which, in faith we are taught, and in faith we believe, -  

that the Father has accepted His offering on our behalf,

and shares the joy, the happiness of Love given, Love received, and Love shared,

even now,

with us.

And He invites us to do the same.-

To follow Him, to be like Him, to do as He did.

To love as He did, to live as He did.

Loving, as Ignatius understands Love, as more than just thinking, intending to do or say good things,  

but Love, -  which is to do good for others,

and living as He did, which is to be good to others.
 

Let us pray:

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Day by day, dear Lord, three things we pray:

To know You more clearly,

To love You more dearly,

To follow You more nearly. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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