DAY XIII: "Having Nothing Yet Having It All" (JULY 30)
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Ignatius in tears |
There is a story told of a very rich landowner and slaveholder. One night he dreamed that the richest man in the valley would die the next day. Immediately he instructed one of his slaves, a man with a deep love for God, to harness the horse and take him to his lawyer's office in the city. At their arrival, the master signed away a portion of his property over which he and a rival had fought for years. He giggly confided in the slave that he could rest happy that night, as his land transfer meant he was no longer the richest man in the valley, his enemy was. The next day he climbed back into the carriage to head towards home. But no body was on the driver's seat, because the richest man in the valley had already died.
Do not be deceived like the rich landlord who thought that having money was having wealth. It was St. Paul who wrote to an affluent church of Corinth the line, "to have nothing yet have it all." Ever in human history, the enemy of human nature has been at work 24/7 to mislead. St. Ignatius calls our attention to this "false lover" once again who hides its blackest sins and does things always in secret. Like a malignant virus, this false lover constantly mutates to appear different and desirable each time to its target host previously infected with its old virus strain. If we do not have the habit of good soul hygiene and discernment of spirits, our soul will sooner or later succumb to the disease.
II. Second, be humble always. Humility is poison to the Devil. He is master of deceit for he would always lord it over his own angels that he is right and God is wrong. A humble heart is not self-conceited, it is other-oriented. The first saint to write about degrees of humility was St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of western monasticism, he prescribed the twelve degrees of humility. In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius had three degrees but all-encompasing. St. Ignatius once told about being praised by his companions. "Those who praise me, scourge me," he said. This is not a form of false humility, but self-denial at its deepest degree. He placed every one far above him and reputed himself the least. He once quipped, "Every one in the house sets me an example of virtue, I am only scandalized at myself... Each of my brethren possesses the qualities which I am devoid of, there is not one who is not a cause of confusion to me. I never have occasion to treat of the things of God with the greatest sinners without receiving much profit for myself."
III. Third, be grateful always. If humility is poison to the Devil, gratitude is the final nail in the coffin. For Ignatius, to be grateful is in fact, first, acceptance that we are under an obligation to someone. It is always good to be grateful, it is the door to the divine. Secondly, gratitude cannot be kept in secret, it naturally bursts forth. The most thoughtful among all hearts is the most grateful heart. Being all-knowing, God is a thoughtful God and that makes Him a grateful God. Ultimately, the model of a grateful heart is the Sacred Heart of Jesus who thinks of us with much affection and gratitude each time we do not fall astray. Just imagine what He would do the moment He sees one of us getting lost, he would not hesitate to lay down his life for us, like the Good Shepherd towards his sheep. "Considering by the light of Divine goodness," St. Ignatius says, "that of all evils and sins, ingratitude is in my judgment one of the things most deserving of abomination in the sight of God."
All these three ways are intertwined. To lose everything which this current pandemic is now trying to do to us, as Pope Francis said, could be a moment of grace for personal conversion. "Having nothing, nothing can he lose" (Henry VI, Part III, III, iii, 152). There is no room for ingratitude in the heart of that person who, despite having lost everything, realises one's truest treasures in life. There is neither room for self-entitlement which is a wrong way of receiving a gift. This is an attitude that most of us adhere to in some form or another. In the church's parlance, this is "clericalism" or that assumption that we deserve the good life, that our efforts should be rewarded. But when all is taken away from us, the truth comes out, we deserve nothing.
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