05.12.2016
In Ignatian spirituality one of the most cherished paths to discernment that our Jesuit fathers taught us is to invite ourselves into the Gospels, and forgetting all dogma and orthodoxy, just place ourselves in that story’s presence in such a way that we go fully with the flow of what we see, hear and feel – because right then and there our Lord himself speaks directly to us, gracing us with his living Gospel.
Today this is what I saw, heard and felt: a beautiful and powerful whisper again from my Lord, chairman, CEO, bro and buddy, Jesus Christ:
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in the Lord’s presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
And in that same spirit of discernment, this is the prayer the Lord whispered directly into my heart:
Lord, help me to see when I can bring a paralyzed brother or sister in their helplessness straight to you; and Lord, help me to see when I am that helpless paralytic, to have the grace and humility to allow others to bring me straight to you.
AMDG. 12+ years of Jesuit tuition still paying off to this day…
