Inspiring Ignatian Quote #24
This seemed an appropriate (& powerfully thought-provoking) follow-on quote to yesterday’s quote on truth. How can what we do, be wedded to the truth, if we do not know what is that truth? If you believe Jesus’ words, recalled in St. John’s Gospel (14:6), “I am the way , the truth and the life.” . . . then you have the Truth. Period. If you cling to that Truth, it is faith. The underlying premise of the work of our faith groups is basically to be charitable and kind. If we do these works to just help humanity, or do a good deed, or checking off a requirement as a service project, then that work doesn’t come from a true servant heart, therefore not true service and is what Ignatius calls deceit and vanity. It is certainly doing something good, but for the wrong reasons. He lived this deceit and vanity for the first 30 years of his life, before his conversion, so knew the difference.
As a nobleman and soldier, he was prone to what was called ‘vainglory’, a word we don’t hear much any more, but is still very prevalent! It means that he did everything for the goal of becoming famous, desired by many women, known as a valiant soldier, all for his own praise, glory and honor. We see many people who do work in this manner clawing their way up corporate ladders with unscrupulous behavior, or become our leaders (?), ‘giving lots of money to charity’. While the charity is helped, it is not a gift of kindness or compassion, but more perhaps from some guilt or a sense of “should”, or even for a tax write-off. And while there may be good motives hidden within the giving, it does not come close to the giving from a more pure motive of charitable love. Furthermore the recipient can often sense a genuine giver and one who is just ‘going through the motions’.
St. Mother Teresa, was one of modern history’s greatest examples of true charity and kindness, of a genuine servant heart. She reportedly owned only a Bible, a rosary, and 2 sari. She slept in a small cot for a bed, and had a table, chair and lamp at her room in the convent. She was the founder of the Sisters of Charity, and led by example to live in poverty so they had more to give others. She built dozens of hospitals, schools, and homes for women, through her poverty. She held court with and garnered the attention of presidents, kings, queens, rulers of all kinds and stood her ground compelling them to help her in her work to care for the poor souls in the slums of Calcutta. It would be difficult to find any deceit or vanity in this woman or her sisters, although, through her humility, she might have disagreed. They are wedded to Truth, to Christ, in a most profound way, as vowed religious, and, because they trust in this Truth and all His promises, they continue to serve the poor as Mother Teresa did. They don’t just write checks . . . they serve with their whole heart and body.
While most of us are not called to such a radical lifestyle, I’m grateful some are. It’s a reminder for me to give from the heart at my own level of giving and sacrifice. One thing I’ve practiced is what Jesus challenges us through St. Matthew’s Gospel (6:1-4) “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Our church used to issue envelopes for tithing/offerings. They were numbered to correspond to a parishioner, so that they could keep an accounting of the monies collected, and as it became an incentive for tax relief, each parishioner received a copy. This bothered me. It seemed contrary to this very scripture passage. Being the bit of a rebel I have been known to be, I refused to use them, and gave cash. I do see that transparency is necessary for the money coming in/going out . . . so there’s that. It’s a choice. I don’t like when some churches have you walk up and put your envelope in a basket at the altar. To me that is what Jesus is asking us NOT to do!
There have been times when I’ve just reached into my purse to give an offering and not even looked at the amount. There is certainly a different feeling to that type of giving. Trusting in God’s providence both that brought me to that level of being able to give without thinking, without counting the cost, and His continued benevolence, that He will provide me with whatever He deems necessary to do His will. There is such a freedom to that which Ignatius learned later in life.
He spent three days writing out his life’s confession and came face-to-face with his vanity seeking and was mortified at how he had lived his life - and vowed to trust totally in whatever God would provide for him. During his pilgrimage, when he began his approach to the Monastery at Montserrat, he had a garment made of harsh cloth, procured a gourd for water, a journal, and had a walking staff made because his leg was still bothering him and one leg was shorter than the other, making it difficult for him to walk. He planned to reach the statue of the Black Madonna, remove his worldly clothes and don the clothes of a pilgrim as his vow of poverty. When he received bread from begging, he would often take it and share with other poor, sometimes not even eating himself.
Radical change from his previous noble life, now he would serve a new King. It seems most fitting that the motto of his order, the Society of Jesus, (the Jesuits) would become his constant reminder of his prior vanity and deceit . . . AMDG, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, “For the Greater Glory of God”. All work would be done toward this end . . . this Truth . . . in charity and kindness. It is certainly worth thinking about how charitable and kind our giving is. And, is it wedded to the Truth of Christ - being Christ in the world today.