What is life all about? That is the central question Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits in the sixteenth century, wanted to address, according to Jesuit scholar David Fleming. Fleming offers his own sense of what Ignatian spirituality brings to the table. Fleming says, “Here is Ignatius’s answer: a vision of God for our hearts, not our minds.” (17) Fleming tells us the answer to what life is all about is a vision. It reminds me of the biblical passage, which tells us without vision a people perish. That always seemed true to me. And so it is I can agree with the sixteenth century Spanish saint. Visions lead to life.
Visions typically are future tense. While we might talk about visions we had in the past, they are just that. They are relics of the past. We may have accomplished that vision. We may have fallen short. It guided action for a while---maybe a long while. A vision born of the past might still be relevant, but it is relevant only because there is still some unachieved, future aspect to it. A vision has to live---has to inspire---to continue guiding individuals and organizations.
Some visions are more limited. For example, a kid may have a vision of going to college one day. That guides the young student and, perhaps, the family to work, study and plan through the years leading up to college. But when the young adult gets into college, then the vision is achieved. It no longer is operative. No doubt, it will be replaced with a different, bigger vision, like graduating from college and getting a good job. Nothing wrong with that. Most parents hope this will be true.
But making it to college, gradating and getting a job does not satisfy the deeper question which opened this inspirational reflection: what is life all about? Surely there is more to life than a college degree and a good job. Many of us have managed to do both of these things and we know that is not sufficient to a good life. Iganatius knew this, too. That is why he points to a higher, more noble vision.
He claimed human beings need a vision of God. I agree. But what does this kind of vision offer? In the first place a vision of God offers a vision of a big picture---perhaps the biggest picture possible. A vision of God is a self-transcending vision. It means that there is more to the picture than just my self---sometimes felt like a tiny self. If I think of the world, indeed, the universe, I cannot get my mind around it because it is too expansive. Even if we limit the world to the earth alone, I am just a tiny spec on what seems like an endless landscape of green, desert mountain and ocean.
A vision of God paints a big picture, but puts me in the picture. But there is more in Ignatius’s answer. The vision of God is a vision for our hearts, not our minds. This says to me that the vision of God is a whole-person vision, not just an intellectual vision. As adults, we deal with ideas all the time. Even the use of language is an exchange of ideas. We use words to describe things. And that is good. And of course, we use words to describe our vision of God. But ironically, we use words to say that a vision of God is more than words. It is more than fodder for our minds. It is for our heart.
Certainly in the Hebrew notion of human beings the “heart” is the way we imagine the whole person. The mind represents part of the person---the brain and thinking part. But the heart is the whole person. Without heart, no one would even be. Heart includes mind, emotions and the spiritual. The vision of God is about this whole person. And in that sense, life is about the whole person.
The God of the vision turns out to be an amazing God. In the words of Fleming describing how he understands Ignatius, the vision of God is “a depiction of the Creator as a superabundant giver.” I adore that image of God as a superabundant giver. It makes God a lavish God---giving exuberantly to the creation and to all of humankind. God is one who gives gifts and gives out of the divine abundance. It is a theology of abundance. This contrasts with the theology of scarcity which too many people I know seem to prefer.
Some people recoil at the idea that God is such an abundant giver. Some of us are so stingy we want something from God, but we don’t want this for everybody. I hope we can all learn to go with the superabundant giver---the lavish God. With this we are positioned to see what the vision of God asks of us. Again, Fleming puts it well. God is one who “gives gifts that call for a response on our part, a free choice to return ourselves to him in grateful thanks, and love.”
In effect God wants relationship and wants that relationship to be our free choice. We receive the gifts and learn to say thanks. And our thanks lead to our love. We learn to love God and to love all of God’s creation---including our fellow human beings. We might say that God’s love intends to beget love---our love. As we learn to do this, we simultaneously begin to learn what life is all about.
Visions typically are future tense. While we might talk about visions we had in the past, they are just that. They are relics of the past. We may have accomplished that vision. We may have fallen short. It guided action for a while---maybe a long while. A vision born of the past might still be relevant, but it is relevant only because there is still some unachieved, future aspect to it. A vision has to live---has to inspire---to continue guiding individuals and organizations.
Some visions are more limited. For example, a kid may have a vision of going to college one day. That guides the young student and, perhaps, the family to work, study and plan through the years leading up to college. But when the young adult gets into college, then the vision is achieved. It no longer is operative. No doubt, it will be replaced with a different, bigger vision, like graduating from college and getting a good job. Nothing wrong with that. Most parents hope this will be true.
But making it to college, gradating and getting a job does not satisfy the deeper question which opened this inspirational reflection: what is life all about? Surely there is more to life than a college degree and a good job. Many of us have managed to do both of these things and we know that is not sufficient to a good life. Iganatius knew this, too. That is why he points to a higher, more noble vision.
He claimed human beings need a vision of God. I agree. But what does this kind of vision offer? In the first place a vision of God offers a vision of a big picture---perhaps the biggest picture possible. A vision of God is a self-transcending vision. It means that there is more to the picture than just my self---sometimes felt like a tiny self. If I think of the world, indeed, the universe, I cannot get my mind around it because it is too expansive. Even if we limit the world to the earth alone, I am just a tiny spec on what seems like an endless landscape of green, desert mountain and ocean.
A vision of God paints a big picture, but puts me in the picture. But there is more in Ignatius’s answer. The vision of God is a vision for our hearts, not our minds. This says to me that the vision of God is a whole-person vision, not just an intellectual vision. As adults, we deal with ideas all the time. Even the use of language is an exchange of ideas. We use words to describe things. And that is good. And of course, we use words to describe our vision of God. But ironically, we use words to say that a vision of God is more than words. It is more than fodder for our minds. It is for our heart.
Certainly in the Hebrew notion of human beings the “heart” is the way we imagine the whole person. The mind represents part of the person---the brain and thinking part. But the heart is the whole person. Without heart, no one would even be. Heart includes mind, emotions and the spiritual. The vision of God is about this whole person. And in that sense, life is about the whole person.
The God of the vision turns out to be an amazing God. In the words of Fleming describing how he understands Ignatius, the vision of God is “a depiction of the Creator as a superabundant giver.” I adore that image of God as a superabundant giver. It makes God a lavish God---giving exuberantly to the creation and to all of humankind. God is one who gives gifts and gives out of the divine abundance. It is a theology of abundance. This contrasts with the theology of scarcity which too many people I know seem to prefer.
Some people recoil at the idea that God is such an abundant giver. Some of us are so stingy we want something from God, but we don’t want this for everybody. I hope we can all learn to go with the superabundant giver---the lavish God. With this we are positioned to see what the vision of God asks of us. Again, Fleming puts it well. God is one who “gives gifts that call for a response on our part, a free choice to return ourselves to him in grateful thanks, and love.”
In effect God wants relationship and wants that relationship to be our free choice. We receive the gifts and learn to say thanks. And our thanks lead to our love. We learn to love God and to love all of God’s creation---including our fellow human beings. We might say that God’s love intends to beget love---our love. As we learn to do this, we simultaneously begin to learn what life is all about.
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