Praying with the Jesuits....

One of the many wonderful gifts given to me by really wonderful people back in St. Louis includes Hearts on Fire; Praying with Jesuits. It had been safely kept in my bedside stand for a few months and today, during the couple of hours between the bus journeys and waiting in a government office I started reading (or rather, praying) this book. I was deeply touched by the poetic-style and the utter sincerity of the many wide-ranging Jesuit authors found here.

Although, ideally, the book is meant to be a companionship during the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (or through a more scheduled prayer schedule attempting to capture their essence) my reading today was, at best, haphazard and random in its selection.

One prayer that particularly caught my eye (and made me honestly examine these past few weeks) was this:

The First Principle and Foundation 

(near the end of the prayer)

"...In every day then, we must hold ourselves in balance
before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice
and are not bound by some obligation.

We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,
wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or short one.
For everything has the potential of calling us forth in us
a deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our only one choice should be this:
I want and choose what better leads me
to God's deepening his life in me.

-David Flemming S.J. (former provincial of the Missouri Jesuit province)

My thoughts surrounding why this particular prayer (out of the few I reflected on) caught my eye is really a bit of a longer story in its details but at its essence realizing where my love and relationships with others should head. A reminder for today to re-center those worries and concerns in the promise that all is okay if they're placed near Him.

Peace,

The Inside of a Public Bus here in Guadalajara (Google image)