Inigo

Although I am not much given to blogging about the saints, today is the feast day of one of my heroes, Ignatius of Loyola is one of my favourites, and it is his feast day today.
I came across his Spiritual Exercises in my twenties I suppose, and I had no idea of their force or meaning. I have come back to them from time to time and found something more each time.
At the moment (and for the last few years) I have not put them aside and they do indeed seem to me a way of understanding what it means to be Christian, and probably what it means to be human.
They are not a 'secret wisdom' (gnosis) but rather a process of making sure that we take notice of what goes on in our lives.
Ignatius noticed that some things console us and other things desolate us. We may make the mistake of thinking that some things perk us up when in relaity they depress us...alcohol for example.
Ignatius reflected a lot about this process, stopping daily to take notice about what was happening in the course of the day. And living out of that reflection.
This, I think, starts to build up a pattern, of understanding and behaviour change and growth which contributes to the intentional life well-lived.
Perhaps today, you might like to stop for 10 minutes and think "What has brought me life?" and/or "What has brought me death?"and to give some thought abouyt how that might affect the next few hours.Then do it again.
I think this works, it is good for Christians. It also works for others!

litany(ii)

Cec, absolute gentleman, encourager and faithful Christian. What a delight it was to know him. At a time when things were low and I felt I was being victimised in public he alone would stand and demand quality behaviour from bullies and respect for all people in disagreements. At his funeral someone commented (not a church person) "Why do Anglicans talk about sin at a funeral?" Cec would have understood well.

Nessie, widow and gentlewoman.  What a great friend she was, and what a faithful worshipper. How sad the demise into Alzheimers.

Toni and David, stalwarts and faitfhful people.  What more need to be said of those who were there before I arrived at my second parish, who were great supporters of church life, and who continue to be so.

John, theologian, pastor and father. A gentle man who died too soon. Who gave to theological education a humanity and hope that it was in danger of losing.

Peter, quiet man and writer.  Throughout my ministry people with mental illness have been given to me to remind me of how delicate people are. Peter was shocked when I publicly thanked him as I left St Paul's for his gift to us and to me of himself

Lyn, ecumenist and vigorous woman of the the church,  what fun and a privilege to work with someone who wanted her church (RC) to be more open and inclusive and to take its failure seriously

Jenny and Linda, intelligent lay women. Who were challenged to respond to the gospel with vigour and rigour and who did.

Margaret, Janet, & Yvonne  students who took the opportunity to hear the voice of God calling them to vocation as priests

The Blesseds Juliana & Patricia, religious, who took the difficult path of reinterpreting what their call meant and who continue to grapple

Kay, faithful woman,  who in a life of difficulty which seemed to be hit with one thing after another, continued to have faith and praise God 

Well, the list just gets longer and longer. I have not missed people off so much as just stopped in mid-air...and there may be a few more tomorrow (All Saints Day)

litany (part1)

Would it be too maudlin, pious or whatever on this Halloween E'en to begin my litany of saints
Tom, reader and arguer, who has muddled along with faith for most of his life, and now finds himself in medium care nursing home a bit bored
Allan, pray-er and writer, my alcoholic friend who amidst a crazy life used to come & pray with me every day; sometimes in a stupor so thick you could almost blow over the limit just breathing in his air. Wrote funny, observant novellae about Australian pub culture. I loved to talk to him. Died Christmas Day 2005 waiting to go to his family's for lunch
Charles and Mary, teachers, musicians and worshippers. Faithfully devoted to each other for decades, without children he gave himself to teaching young children the faith through Sunday School, she to being his faithful companion, friend and spiritual support.
Lillian, mother and struggler. I said at her funeral she had a hell of a life. Which she did like most people of her era. But she loved her children and refused to love one of us more than the other. She never felt she was too old to learn more about Jesus, and she loved to sing.
Martha, matriarch and widow. In a quiet way my grandmother inculcated in her three daughters the importance of being a faithful Christian and a wise mother.
Spencer, priest and scholar. What ever else he may have been (boring old so and so springs to mind) he was a priest who was faithful to his call. He drove like a maniac, and loved to pray and to read. He served as a Bush Brother in outback Queensland and always loved the sense of call that said being a priest is about embracing challenge and loving the people God gives you.
Helen, counsellor. Who has shown me and others the richness and mystery of Christ within through our subconscious and the mystery of dreams.
Philip, troublemaker and director. A priest who has stuck to the truth of paying attention to Christ within and without. This has got him into all sorts of curious places where he couldn't (and didn't) keep quiet.
Laurie, good man and public servant Quiet municipal treasurer and faithful man, encourager of the young. Who encouraged us to grapple with the complexity of right and wrong.
John, pompous know it all priest. Too smart for his own good, he enthused many young people with a vigour for things catholic. Too foolish, ambitious and unaware he boxed himself in to an awful view of life
Keith, priest and scholar. Who when I told him as my supervisor that I'd been done for DUI laughed..and put it into perspective. With a commitment to true catholicism he refused to be intellectually boxed in and set himself in retirement to read through the Goolwa library. He died too young. He challenged us to think hard
Jan, friend. Who allowed me to challenge her complacent faith and who used to walk me to challenge my weight!
Joyce and George, missionaries and priest. Good evangelicals tested by personal weakness, they were of great support in time of difficulty. At her funeral Mark, priest and pastor, said..."She loved Jesus". Testament enough.

Ora pro nobis