Our master was despised; the servant ought not be honored.
The master was poor; the servant ought not be rich.
The master lived by the work of his hands; the servant ought not live off his own rent.
The master walked on foot; the servant ought not ride horseback.
The master surrounded himself with the little ones, the poor, the workers; the servant ought not associate with the great lords.
The master was calumniated; the servant ought not be praised.
The master was poorly dressed, poorly dressed, poorly sheltered; the servant ought not roam about well-dressed, well-fed, and well-established.
The master worked and tired himself; the servant ought not look for repose.
The master wished to appear small; the servant ought not wish to appear great.
- Charles de Foucauld
The master was poor; the servant ought not be rich.
The master lived by the work of his hands; the servant ought not live off his own rent.
The master walked on foot; the servant ought not ride horseback.
The master surrounded himself with the little ones, the poor, the workers; the servant ought not associate with the great lords.
The master was calumniated; the servant ought not be praised.
The master was poorly dressed, poorly dressed, poorly sheltered; the servant ought not roam about well-dressed, well-fed, and well-established.
The master worked and tired himself; the servant ought not look for repose.
The master wished to appear small; the servant ought not wish to appear great.
- Charles de Foucauld
As Ignatius sees it, our reflections this week have all been preparations for discernment - the practice of making wise decisions, big and small. We contemplate, or think through:
1) God's Project (Reign) for the world, the great banquet where everyone has enough
2) The example of Jesus, through the stories that have been written about him
3) The fact that both of these require Downward Mobility, the freedom to go radically against the flow of way of the world.
Today Ignatius challenges us to not only be free for poverty, but to prefer it - and actually to pray for it, not for its own sake but because it was the way of Christ and it because it is the best soil for resisting the currents that flow against God's Project.
Once again the road Ignatius sets before us is rocky and fraught with danger. Are we to romanticize poverty?
I hope not.
It is true that some are called to make a vow of poverty: many Christian saints - beatified by Rome or not - made vows of poverty in practice in the service of some greater call. Not all of us are called to such radical lives as theirs - though, Ignatius wants to impress upon us, some of us are, and all of us should be ready for such a call, should it come. This is heavy stuff, and not easily digested.
But there is a call I think all of us might consider: the call to humility, and specifically humility-in-practice, which Brackley calls solidarity. He writes (106):
Humility flowers into solidarity, identifying with others to the point of sharing their suffering... This is the logic of love. Our heart goes out to those who suffer - the way Jesus was moved by the leper, the crowds, and the widow of Nain - and we long to join them. Comfort and respectability are good things. But it is preferable to walk with the poor than without them.
I find it especially interesting that we are still in the section called Something Worth Living For. This invitation to radical solidarity is not intended to be gloomy. It is not bad news. It is not the Law. It is the Gospel! It is the good news! God invites us out of self-centered individualism, out of endless striving for accomplishments that never fully satisfy, out of the ways of the dominant culture. God invites us into a world of community with more than enough for all, and with boundaries far beyond those we normally imagine. We are invited to be "downwardly mobile" because that is where the vast expanses of the global community are in the present age.
Good news... but not easy news!
1) God's Project (Reign) for the world, the great banquet where everyone has enough
2) The example of Jesus, through the stories that have been written about him
3) The fact that both of these require Downward Mobility, the freedom to go radically against the flow of way of the world.
Today Ignatius challenges us to not only be free for poverty, but to prefer it - and actually to pray for it, not for its own sake but because it was the way of Christ and it because it is the best soil for resisting the currents that flow against God's Project.
Once again the road Ignatius sets before us is rocky and fraught with danger. Are we to romanticize poverty?
I hope not.
It is true that some are called to make a vow of poverty: many Christian saints - beatified by Rome or not - made vows of poverty in practice in the service of some greater call. Not all of us are called to such radical lives as theirs - though, Ignatius wants to impress upon us, some of us are, and all of us should be ready for such a call, should it come. This is heavy stuff, and not easily digested.
But there is a call I think all of us might consider: the call to humility, and specifically humility-in-practice, which Brackley calls solidarity. He writes (106):
Humility flowers into solidarity, identifying with others to the point of sharing their suffering... This is the logic of love. Our heart goes out to those who suffer - the way Jesus was moved by the leper, the crowds, and the widow of Nain - and we long to join them. Comfort and respectability are good things. But it is preferable to walk with the poor than without them.
I find it especially interesting that we are still in the section called Something Worth Living For. This invitation to radical solidarity is not intended to be gloomy. It is not bad news. It is not the Law. It is the Gospel! It is the good news! God invites us out of self-centered individualism, out of endless striving for accomplishments that never fully satisfy, out of the ways of the dominant culture. God invites us into a world of community with more than enough for all, and with boundaries far beyond those we normally imagine. We are invited to be "downwardly mobile" because that is where the vast expanses of the global community are in the present age.
Good news... but not easy news!
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