Take, Lord…
July 31, 2009, 11:23 am
Posted by J. Peter Nixon
Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. St. Ignatius is the author of a number of my favorite prayers, including this one:
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
Loyola Press has a new web site dedicated to Ignatian Spirituality that I had not seen before. Click here to see it. It includes–of course–a blog, DotMagis. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriem!
I wonder how many Jesuits today say that prayer–and truly mean it. I think the most charitable answer is…not enough.
I was going to say a special prayer for our thanks for the Society today, who keep people thinking about their faith in a mature (and charitable) way!
If it wasn’t for a Jesuit retreat and Ignatius’s vision of God interacting directly with us, I wouldn’t still be a Catholic. Happy st. Ignatius Day!
My Jesuit teachers taught me to think, question, ponder and believe that which is believable.
That way of thinking has helped me to not be sucked into so much silliness (or may I venture to say “stupidity?”) that is being foisted on us by many Catholic “thinkers and leaders” today.
I guess I’m having trouble with the “receive all my liberty” part, and how that squares with the Jesuit response to Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which seemed to be closer to “get your damn hands off my liberty, you pope, you.”
Thanks – agree with many of the comments above.
Gee, Mark, just think ….
I just received via email an offer for a discount on the Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits. Good timing, Cambridge! Surely no coincidence. The editor is given as Thomas Worcester. Is anyone familiar with the editor or the book itself?
Mark Proska,
Had you any inkling of Ignatius’ deep understanding of freedom and indifference to one’s own desires and needs, you may be a bit more self-reflective before posting such reprehensible comments about Jesuits. Shame on you for acting the spoiler on the feast of their founder.
May God bless and keep the Jesuits, their charism, and the many, many good men who serve God and their fellow human beings in and through the order.
It’s “gloriam” not “gloriem.”
By the way, this motto is found on the cornerstone of the new cathedral in Oakland, the Cathedral of Christ the Light. On a recent tour I asked the docent why. It was at the request of the bishop who dedicated the cathedral, but I never found out what the story behind it was. I liked seeing it there on a building so determined to be a light to the city, and named for Lumen Gentium!
I think that in addition to remembering the founding of the Jesuit order, we ought also to be thankful today for all the men and women who continue to practice and teach and be formed by the spiritual discipline of the Exercises. Ignatius gave many gifts to the Church, and I find it inspiring that so many people have presented and re-presented the exercises in so many diverse settings.
Mark Proska: the next time you feel the urge to deride a religious order here, pass over it in silence.
Well, I thought my posts were pretty clear, but perhaps not. I think the world of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuit charism. I chose to be educated, way back when, by Jesuits, for crying out loud. But let’s not pretend that the Order, as a whole, is not in a deep funk and doesn’t need a young leader with the courage of St. Ignatious to lead it back to green pastures. I imagine that if St. Ignatius were alive today and saw what has happened, he would shed a tear like the Indian who saw so much pollution in that famous commercial 40 years ago.
I don’t think age has anything to do with the ability of the SuperiorGeneral of the Jesuits (he’s like a decade younger than the pope). Pedro Arrupe was one of the best, though – I especially liked his Men and Women for Others talk.
I join in giving thanks for the Society of Jesus, now and through the centuries.I am particularly grateful for their pastoral care through twenty-five years as a member of a parish entrusted to them in 1794. (The Maryland Jesuits remained together during the suppression,)
No doubt I risk moving the conversation too far off base, but since we are speaking of contributions of religious communities to the Church’s life, perhaps I am not too off-topic in noting a significant series of celebrations planned for this weekend in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The occasion for rejoicing is the 200th anniversary of the arrival from Baltimore in St, Joseph’s Valley of Elizabeth Ann Seton with a small group of followers. The festivities mark the founding date of the first American community of women religious. The events are sponsored by the North American Federation of the Sisters of Charity — The Sisters of Charity of New York, The Sisters of Charity of Convent Station, NJ, The Sisters of Charity of Greensburg, PA, The Sisters of Charity of Halfax, NS, The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
I believe this is a time to acknowledge and honor not only Mother Seton’s daughters but all the communities of women religious, national or international in their founding, who made the Church in this country.
More and more it seems to me their enduring contribution and continuing presence are being passed over, almost ignored. Occasionally on dotCommonweal there are comments expressing gratitude as well as concern for the Sisters. But these are fairly rare. I don’t think that there are any women religious among the presenters and very few women religious join in the conversation.
It is good to see dismay expressed about the recently launched Vatican investigation of the Sisters” communities and the CDFs decision to put the LCWR under close scrutiny.
But is there perhaps a much greater question that is being passed over?
In the 1970s it became clear that the majority of Sisters’ communities were experiencing a significant shortfall of funding to care for their increasingly large numbers of aging Sisters. A bit too slowly, I think, the annual collection for religious women and men was launched. We know that it has been the most successful national collection in the US Church’s history but that even so it has not been able to overcome the enormity of the problem.
Now, I fear, a second crisis is upon us, far greater than the first. and the response again appears to be slow, even close, as far as I can tell, to non-existent. Are the vast majority of communities in the US dying? (Those that are international in scope may still in a number of instances abroad bein adequate to good shape in terms of their futures.) But If I am right, how do we support the US communities in this their painful passage with care, concern, honor, and affection?
Many communities are finding it harder and harder to find among their declining numbers sufficient candidates for leadership positions, leaders whose primary focus must often be to assure the care of their elderly and infirm. As well, we know that a number of communities can no longer maintain their retirement centers. In the best of circumstances, Sisters in their 80s and 90s, after sixty, seventy years of profession, are moving into facilities maintained by other communities. Others are able to be cared for in Catholic-sponsored homes, but an increasing number now live out their lives in non-Church institutions where at best a weekly Mass is celebrated.
Is it time for a nationally coordinated plan that will bring the communities together, no matter their separate origins and histories, into regional clusters that will be able to draw on a greater pool for leadership, entrusted with ensuring full collaboration and decision-making, care of the elderly, and assignment of Sisters still available for various missions and apostolates? (I will justly be criticized for not dealing with the prospects for recruitment, but that is a subject needing full treatment by those far more expert than I, especially the Sisters themselves.)
I like to say that from grade school through graduate studies the best educational experience I had was under the (young) Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethedsa, Maryland in the late 1940s/1950s. And one of the deepest influences in my life and that of my ten siblings was our Mother’s younger sister, who went to Emmitsburg in 1943 at age seventeen to try her vocation with the Daiughters of Charity, and died fifty-two years later on mission at DePaul Hospital in Norfolk.
We may be in a new era for religious life. Note the large numbers of affiliates or oblates who join with various orders, often far more than the numbers of those entering the “main” community. I’m also intrigued as the dickens by the “New Monasticism,” a movement of mostly Protestants (!) forming communities including men and women, couples and singles, who live in tough places and try to make life better for those they serve. The emergent question for religious communities in the RC Church might be how to read the “desires of the times,” by which I mean the yearning of people for communities of mission and commitment. (One of the New Monastic groups has as its motto: “Prophecy, Mission, Contemplation,” or something similar.) My experience has been that women’s communities overall have been better than men’s groups at making affiliates part of the life of the community, but that might be just the particular circles I travel in. Maybe that’s part of the impetus for the visitation of women’s communities–they’re blurring the lines between “insiders” and “outsiders,” much as did this carpenter-turned-rabbi a couple thousand years ago…
Mr Proska, the Suscipe is addressed to God, not to the Pope. Many who surrender totally to God find themselves freed from irrational obedience to earthly powers, and even to the Pope (in the spirit of Cardinal Ratzinger’s well-known statement that freedom of conscience can mean saying No even to the Pope). And yes, Jesuits do still say that prayer and even live it.
I have had some experience with affiliates or lay associates of different groups of women religious and unfortunately for the most part they tend to be on the much older side (55+). If present trends continue, they too will disappear when the sisters do in about 20 years. No, few if any young people seem attracted to most of the “main-line” religious orders in the church today. And few religious orders, in my experience, seem willing to take a searing and serious look at themselves as to why they attract so few new youn people.
A very fine parishioner of mine who is a former religious brother said to me recently that he feels to have been a collateral damage of the renewal of religious life in this country (entering in the late 1970′s and leaving 20 years later). He saw his community of brothers to basically have abandoned any form of common life let alone regular, communal prayer. I would think this is his experience is not singular.
I worry about views that draw on anecdote to support one’s preconceptions.
While I’m curmudgeoning (another thread),. I also worry about repeated and repetitious last posts (not this thread.)
Bob–
I think my argument is based on far more than just an anecdote. In fact a prominent women religious who is a university professor expressed very similar views as mine. Look at many associates of religious orders today and then tend to mirror very much the vowed members of the communities: middle-class, white and aging. Not a whole lot of new blood here. I wish I were wrong. In fact I would love to see evidence to the contrary. I would love to see the mission and ministry of these communities continue well into the future, but I fear that their sunset is not too far away. And the Church will be much more poorer for it.
Mr. O”Leary–
I only wish the Jesuit order would free itself from its irrational obedience to earthly powers! I have no doubt that there are Jesuits who live the prayer. But I get back to my original post–not enough of them.
Typical that Mark would bring up Ex Corde Ecclesia which is the rallying cry for the Cardinal Newman Society when it is not reeling from its own prodigious errrors. We should remember that the antidote for Ex Corde was put in place years ago by Ted Hesburgh who experienced such nonsense from power oriented curia officials. All that Hesburgh used to do was place a call to Paul VI to get such monkeys of his back.
Ex Corde is more a power move and control than a constructive document. It surfaces periodically as that right wing emerges from its latest embarrassments.
Bill–
It seems to me that your tone (“the antidote for Ex Corde”) is precisely the habit of mind that St. Ignatius was asking God to protect him from (“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty”). I think, unfotunately, that far too many current day Jesuits are closer to you on this than they are to St. Ignatius.
Mark,
Then you are criticizing Hesburgh also whom John Tracy Ellis called the greatest American priest. Ignatius and Hesburgh would have gotten along quite well. It is fantasy that makes Ignatius a slave to misleading leaders.
Bill–
I’m not real familiar with the life of Ted Hesburgh, so perhaps I am in fact criticizing him indirectly, but I’m always willing to learn something new. Can you give me an example of how he has lived the Ignation plea to “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty”? From what I know of him, he would have thought that prayer a sign of weakness.
Hi Mark,
Again, it seems you are confusing the Lord with the Pope and papal directives. Perhaps in your mind they are one and the same, but the more perfect Catholic tradition is careful not to conflate them or confuse them.
Also, it doesn’t seem at all clear to me what it is you are indicting the Jesuits for specifically. Independent thought? Disobedience to the pope? Their works?
From their works, overall, it seems to me they are doing quite well in challenging times. The educational institutions they founded, even when no longer staffed primarily by members of their own community, are flourishing. The parishes of which they have charge are flourishing. Their members continue to make significant contributions to scholarship and spirituality. The charism of the Exercises is being widely shared among lay people as well as religious. They have extended their ministries both via the Jesuit Volunteer Corps for young adults, and a corps of volunteers in mission from among the able retired community. I may need to be updated on the numbers here, but from what I’ve heard, in today’s reduced circumstances of vocations to religious orders, they are holding their own. This is no small achievement.
So.. What “green pastures” did you have in mind? This all seems rather green to me…
Hi Rita–
Perhaps by worldly standards they are flourishing, but when the K of C needs to fight to have crucifixes on a Catholic college, I would call that floundering, not flourishing. When the reaction to the Vicar of Christ and Ex Corde is a pure power play, rather than the Ignatian prayer to “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty”, the Society is floundering, not flourishing. It almost seems that people in academe are embarrassed by the “men for others” nature of Ignatius’ prayer–they seem to value “academic freedom”, whatever that means, as the greatest good. That’s not a sign of flourishing for a religious society. Hence the need for someone withinin the Society to summon the courage to lead them back to verdant pastures. I would never bet against the charism of Ignatius to make that happen. However, turning a blind eye to the need only creates another obstacle.
The place of freedom in the Exercises is very important. It seems to me the Jesuits know a great deal about this, and handle freedom responsibly on the whole (there are exceptions in any human community, of course).
I would reject your imputation that my assessment of institutions as flourishing suggests merely a worldly sense of the term. Numerous individuals benefit religiously and spiritually from these institutions and their religious sponsorship. I speak from the experience of having worked at several of them.
The exercise of mission to others is a large component of many of these endeavors, and they have an evangelizing force that often far exceeds the reach of more didactic approaches.
Your mention of the K of C and the crucifixes suggests to me that we may be talking about style here, and this new style of engagement with the surrounding culture, which the Jesuits generally exemplify, is what irks you or what makes it difficult for you to see genuine accomplishments. I would recommend John O’Malley’s book What Happened at Vatican II for an excellent description of the style that emerged from the Council and its impact on the church.
Back when the print issue of Commonweal was revealed on line, I urged some consideration of Bishop Weakland;’s book, “A Pilgrim in A Pilgrtim Church” which was extensively reviwed in the issue. I think it would still be most worthwhile.
Muchof the work underscores the tension between the Romanista/curial view of how things should operate (and how that view came to fight against the VII opening of the windows) and the views of the older VII prelates and those who admired them and the head of many religious orders (except Lefevbre.)More self goverrnance, the ability to question and grow
were met with stern opposition by the curialists.
I think Mr. Proska is quite the Roman curialist himself. so of course he sees the SJs through that frame.
Many others here will continue to see it quite differently, and that’s part of the impasses that will continue to haunt the Church.
I also want to say to Anthony that his experience is anecdotal and many other folks have different experiences.
Much of the conversation here makes me fear that more dark clouds lie ahead in the visitation of our nuns and possible promulgation of “loyalty oaths”,etc.
As I listened to the news this morning, I just become more and more convinced that tactics of power and control by either force or top down implementation only weaken the credibility of a message.
Ultramontanism is taking a heavy toll on Catholic consciences and the vitality of the Catholic Church. The true Jesuit spirit is an antidote to this.
The Fourth Vow, for example, expresses a readiness to serve in missions at papal request; it is not a charter for silent and uncritical embrace of every Roman decision, even unwise and destructive ones like Ex Corde, as some would like it to be.
Joseph:
Haven’t the Jesuits historically generally opted to advance papal prerogative whenever it was proposed for consideration at Councils beginning at Trent? This seems to be a fairly entrenched pattern.
Don’t get me wrong I respect many aspects of Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit contribution to mission work. I just think that ecclesiology has historically been a strength.
Mark:
You admit that you’re “not real familiar with the life of Ted Hesburgh,” but that doesn’t stop you from declaring, “From what I know of him, he would have thought [the Ignatian] prayer a sign of weakness.” What is it that you know of him that leads you to conclude that he would have considered the prayer “a sign of weakness?”
Gene–
I could be wrong, but I thought he had something to do with the Land O’ Lakes statement. In that case, I figured his prayer would be more like “Give me, Lord, all the liberty I deserve”, which would have St. Ignatius roll over in his grave.
Mr.. Proska continues to let us know how much better he knows the mind of Ignatius than the members of the Society.
I’let Bill M. defend the Land of the Lakes statement.
For most here, folks like Cardinal Bernadin, Father hesburgh and many good SJs as well remain the heros of a Church in deep difficulty.
But what the hey, we’re just those terrible “Commonweal Catholics.” – oops, that’s another thread.
Mr Nunz–
You can feel free to take shots at me all you want–I know people of a certain political stripe tend to resort to that when they have trouble making an argument on the merits–but the fact is no one in here has even attempted to address the disconnect between St. Ignatius’ beautiful prayer and the “others for me” approach of those who are see “academic freedom” as the holy grail.