Spiritual Gift of the Week
We ask for the grace of a personal encounter with Our Lord.
Mary, Mother of Mercy, intercede for us, your daughters. Amen
Spiritual Instruction of the Week, Part II—Presented by Lindsay Nagy
Christ made manifest the love of God.
Let us practice fully opening our hearts to receive this love and make it manifest in our lives.
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Last week I asked each of us to reflect on what we were “tuned into.” Half- joking about the influence that our favorite television programs have on our lives, I reminded all of us how we feel when our hearts aren’t tuned into the heart of Jesus. When we become self-focused, distracted, or we allow negative thoughts to rule our lives, how quickly our spirit begins to unravel and we become flooded with feelings of despair, self-doubt, and disconnection with others. We were created to be in union with perfect love and to reflect it to each person we encounter. In order to do this, we must practice receiving God’s love first. For most of us this is a self- discipline that will take a lifetime of devoted practice.
The first practice we reflected on was contemplative prayer, or Resting in Silence. Quieting our minds, and fixing our gaze on Jesus whom we know loves us. We offer up our hearts to be transformed and purified by his love. This kind of prayer can be practiced anywhere, but is especially beautiful in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. A beautiful description of contemplative prayer can be found in the catechism.
Today we will reflect on the final three practices aimed at helping us keep our hearts open and fixed on God’s Love. The following were based on a post on Ignatianspirituality.com by Marina McCoy. All of these require “surrender to Gods action over our own”.1
2. Be Attentive to Everyday Acts of Love
Another way to think about this is being attentive to everyday acts of God. “All around us people are acting in loving and generous ways.”2 Tuning into all of that love can make a powerful impression on our hearts. This makes me think of a movie I like called “Love Actually”. One of the opening scenes takes place at a major airport over the holidays. Hugh Grant narrates this heartwarming scene as loved ones are reunited. Couples embrace, children run and jump into the arms of parents, older parents are greeted affectionately by their adult children, and people hold welcome signs and balloons for soldiers returning home. In his charming British accent, he says something like “Love IS actually all around us”. He is so right. I’m not saying hanging out at mobile regional will help us tune into God’s love, or fill up our spiritual tanks, but one way to recognize Gods love for us is to witness it manifested in the love exchanged between family and friends.
Colossians 3 tells us, Christ is “all things and in all things”. This means that he, “gives himself with and in everything. He is at work ceaselessly in creation to lead us to himself. Every aspect of creation reflects the divine beauty, love and goodness.”3 As we experience the world, it is important to pray constantly for the spirit of God to enlighten and bring awareness to these gifts of himself- of love. As we move throughout our day with thankful hearts we reflect on gifts of Nature, man -made gifts like beautiful architecture, people that we encounter-a smiling store clerk or a friendly stranger, our own loved ones, our own talents- special gifts that he has
bestowed upon us for his glory, the sacraments, our church, the Eucharist. Heightened awareness to these gifts keeps us focused on the goodness of creation and the goodness that we were created for.
3. Let Go and Surrender to Loving Here and Now
We all have the temptation to “give and receive love in our own ways of choosing, but if we are open to change, we make room for love to flow.”4 I believe that many people are attracted to Christianity but get overwhelmed by what they think it means to be a good Christian. Many shy away out of fear that they can’t measure up, or they are fearful of the surrender that Christianity requires. St. Therese of Lisieux shows us in her “little way” that sainthood is truly attainable for all of us. We all remember the story of the annoying, grumpy nun who Therese endured silently- even though she nearly drove her insane scraping her false teeth during prayer time. Therese resisted the temptation to turn to the nun in anger and ask her to stop. Therese’s quiet endurance was an act of love. This type of love can sometimes take on a merciful tone. For instance, maybe we practice smiling cheerfully at the grumpy checkout clerk, and addressing her by name and thanking her for bagging our groceries. We never know
where people are in their lives, what they are struggling with, so taking the time to make a simple friendly connection could do so much to turn their day around. This may mean taking the time to listen thoughtfully to your husband when he goes on and on about a hunting or fishing story or in my case a football player. This may mean taking the time to help out a friend in need even when we don’t feel we have time. Silencing the litany of excuses that the enemy whispers to keep us from doing God’s work, leaves us free to be Christ for others right now. St. Therese shows us that we can reflect Gods love in little ways by accepting our daily challenges and personal connections with a spirit of love and mercy.
4. Give away love without expectation of return
Our Christian faith is filled with these kind of paradoxical teachings. “The more we give away of ourselves, the more room we leave for God to enter in”.5 Loving in this way also teaches us to be charitable, another pillar of the Christian life. Thomas Merton wrote, “True happiness is found in unselfish love, a love which increases in proportion as it is shared. There is no end to the sharing of love, and, therefore, the potential happiness of such love is without limit. Infinite sharing is the law of God’s inner life. He has made the sharing of ourselves the law of our own being, so that it is in loving others that we best love ourselves. The gift of love is the
gift of the power and capacity to love, and, therefore, to give love with full effect is also to receive it. So, love can only be kept by being given away, and it can only be given perfectly when it is also received.”6 St. Catherine gives us beautiful imagery to describe the ideal human soul. She wrote that the soul is “like an empty jug that must stay near the fountain of love” It is in our emptiness that we are filled and fulfilled. It is only divine love that has the power to
accomplish this for us.
In 2 Corinthians Paul says, “For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God”. Through the life and teaching of Christ, God reveals the truth about our capacity to love and our ability to be Christ for others. It is so much greater than we could ever imagine. It is with confidence and faith in this love that we pray for a deeper awareness and receptivity to Gods love so that our lives can become a love story that reflects Christ’s. Let us pray with confidence the prayer of St. Ignatius:
“Take Lord and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will-all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. All is yours; dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me only your love and grace; this is enough for me.” Amen
1 Marina McCoy, “Receptivity to God’s Love”, Ignatianspirituality.com
2 Marina McCoy, “Receptivity to Gods Love”, IgnatianSpirituality.com
3 Tom O’Hara, S.J., At Home with the Spirit
4 Marina McCoy, “Receptivity to God’s Love”, IgnatianSpirituality.com
5 Marina McCoy, “Receptivity to God’s Love”, IgnatianSpirituality.com
6 Tom O’Hara, S.J., At Home with the Spirit
7 Marina McCoy, “Receptivity to God’s Love”, IgnatianSpirituality.com
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