Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his Rules for the Discernment of Spirits is talking about why we find ourselves experiencing spiritual desolation (e.g. that feeling of disturbance or darkness of soul, which makes prayer very difficult). He writes: “There are three principal reasons why we find ourselves desolate. The first is, because of our being tepid, lazy or negligent in our spiritual exercises; and so through our faults, spiritual consolation withdraws from us…” (The Ninth Rule). His first explanation of why we might feel this distance from God and lack in fervor for the things of heaven is simply that “it’s our fault”—we stopped praying.
St. Ignatius’ Rule makes sense. If we stopped praying, why would God “reward” such bad behavior. It would be the equivalent of a student who didn’t turn in his homework assignment and the teacher saying, “Great job!” It doesn’t make sense. In the spiritual life, as in our everyday lives, there are consequences for our actions and we shouldn’t be rewarded for bad behavior.
The Book of Judges recounts the sad cycle of the Chosen People’s behavior, which looks like this: the people turn to other gods, the Lord allows them to fall into the power of their enemies, God raises up a judge to deliver them, they return to the Lord and prosper, the judge dies, the people relapse into sin, and their enemies regain control again. God is not to blame for their problems—rather they are to blame for abandoning God.
Sometimes we want to blame God or other people for our problems, but it’s likely the problems are the result of our own fault or our own bad choices. People might complain about the different problems going on in our country today, but God didn’t turn away, we did. Sin is our offense against God. The good news is that all that is needed is repentance and conversion. We can turn back to the Lord at any moment—which is our decision to make. It doesn’t necessarily mean that all of our suffering will go away, but God will provide all the strength we need to be steadfast in time of trial. Even in the trials, we can be assured of His love. It will help our struggles make sense.
Reflection by Fr. Paul Sheller, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections