Small Simple Ways: An Ignatian Daybook for Healthy Spiritual Living by Loyola Press

Religion/Christian Living

$14.95

SO MANY OF US ARE SEARCHING for ways to live healthier and happier lives, to change our perspectives and improve the choices we make. But how can we translate the spiritual lessons of the Christian faith into personal transformation that improves our daily lives?

Whether you are new to the faith or have been walking with Jesus for many years, Wright will show you how God meets us in our specific circumstances and invites us to learn and grow every day in small, simple ways.

sma ll simple ways

In Small Simple Ways, Vinita Hampton Wright invites us to experience that transformation by simply living the Christian life—a “way of proceeding” that moves us steadily forward. Wright shares brief daily reflections to help you discover “God in all things,” recognize the graces of the day, and take simple but powerful steps to grow in faith, hope, and love over the course of a year. She walks you through principles of healthy spiritual living gleaned from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in a welcoming, approachable manner.

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If we only practice our faith on Sunday, how do we get through the rest of the week?

small simple ways an Ignatian daybook for healthy spiritual living

Vinita Hampton Wright is a Loyola Press editor and the author

of many books, including Days of Deepening Friendship, The Art of Spiritual Writing, and Dwelling Places. She leads workshops and retreats on writing, creative process, and prayer.

ISBN: 978-0-8294-4541-1

vinita hampton wright

small simple ways an Ignatian daybook for healthy spiritual living

vinita hampton wright

ÂŠ 2019 by Vinita Hampton Wright All rights reserved. Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright ÂŠ 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from the Spiritual Exercises are excerpted from The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, trans. Louis J. Puhl, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press). Used by permission. Cover art credit: S-BELOV/Shutterstock.com ISBN: 978-0-8294-4541-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019943526 Printed in the United States of America. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Versa 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents To the Reader ...................................................................................v Ignatian Focus: Formation ............................................................. 1 Formation: Weeks 1–4

Ignatian Focus: God in All Things .............................................. 31 God in All Things: Weeks 5–8

Ignatian Focus: The Examen ....................................................... 61 The Examen: Weeks 9–12

Ignatian Focus: Gratitude............................................................. 91 Gratitude: Weeks 13–16

Ignatian Focus: The Two Standards .......................................... 121 The Two Standards: Weeks 17–20

Ignatian Focus: Spiritual Freedom ............................................. 151 Spiritual Freedom: Weeks 21–24

Ignatian Focus: Consolation ...................................................... 181 Consolation: Weeks 25–28

Ignatian Focus: Desolation......................................................... 211 Desolation: Weeks 29–32

Ignatian Focus: Imagination ...................................................... 241 Imagination: Weeks 33–36

Ignatian Focus: Emotions........................................................... 271 Emotions: Weeks 37–40

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Ignatian Focus: The Physical Senses .......................................... 301 The Physical Senses: Weeks 41–44

Ignatian Focus: Reflection .......................................................... 331 Reflection: Weeks 45–48

Ignatian Focus: Love ................................................................... 361 Love: Weeks 49–52

About the Author ........................................................................ 391

To the Reader Small Simple Ways is designed for your daily, forward motion. We often have the sense that we’re not moving forward—that we are not growing spiritually and developing into the people God created us to become. Sometimes we’re stuck, stopped by failure or destructive habits. We might be emotionally overwhelmed or simply out of ideas. We imagine a fresh start, a major shift within that will set us toward inner progress. We forget, though, that God places us in a world of time, divided by months, years, decades, and eons—but also into instants, moments, hours, and days. Days are where we live. And our forward motion happens day by day and step by step. We grow into our God-imagined selves when we embrace this day or moment, making what might seem a minor choice or doing something that often is quite simple. Yet these simple acts and daily steps take us through profound conversion and maturity over time. This perpetual daybook provides fifty-two weeks (Monday to Sunday) structured into four-week chapters. Each chapter has its own spiritual focus, which is a principle of spiritual growth and practice as taught by St. Ignatius of Loyola. These are not exclusively Ignatian principles; any Christian tradition recognizes and uses them, but they may have slightly different ways of talking about them. However, Ignatius’s Society of Jesus (the v

Jesuits) has specialized in helping people grow spiritually by focusing on these principles and developing spiritual practices related to them. Formation: Weeks 1–4 God in All Things: Weeks 5–8 The Examen: Weeks 9–12 Gratitude: Weeks 13–16 The Two Standards: Weeks 17–20 Spiritual Freedom: Weeks 21–24 Consolation: Weeks 25–28 Desolation: Weeks 29–32 Imagination: Weeks 33–36 Emotions: Weeks 37–40 The Physical Senses: Weeks 41–44 Reflection: Weeks 45–48 Love: Weeks 49–52 The year of weeks is structured around these principles. In addition, each day connects the broader focus with an aspect of Christian character and/or action. The book cycles through these topics every two weeks: Compassion

Gratitude

Courage

Humility

Creativity

Integrity

Discernment

Joy

Good Habits

Openness

Generosity

Wisdom

For example, Mondays will help you take an action of compassion or gratitude, Tuesdays an action of courage or humility, and so on. Every Sunday there is a prompt for resting. In this way, Small Simple Ways will help you practice Christian traits and actions systematically through one year. The structure may sound complicated, but really it is simple and builds upon repetition, which makes for forming good spiritual habits. The work of bringing together focus, concept, and practice was done in the writing of this daybook. For you, the reader, the work is one short reading every day and one suggestion for action. Often, the action is simply a prayer, meditation, or exercise to help you engage with your life and the God who loves you. Small Simple Ways proposes to do three things: • inspire you to recognize grace and opportunity in each day; • challenge you to take one action every day to live out your faith; and • accompany you with encouragement, suggestions for the next step, and reminders of God’s presence, mercy, and abiding love. Grace and peace to you on this marvelous journey through another year, one day at a time!

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Ignatian Focus: Formation Our spiritual formation is the result of many factors beyond our control, such as where we were born and the events that influenced our families, cities, or faith communities. But we are also formed by intentional actions and habits. As children, some of us learned to pray regularly, and perhaps as adults we choose to continue habitual prayer. We choose the kinds of information we gather through our reading, television watching, social media consumption, and community involvement. That information can deeply influence the kind of people we become. Moving forward, whether spiritually or in a more general sense, happens when we deal with big events and major challenges. But it happens at a more profound and lasting level through the small, daily involvements we choose. Spiritual teachers from many traditions have emphasized the importance of our habits and daily choices. The Christian saints grew into holiness through habits of prayer, humility, reflection, and service to others. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to remember that our formation is not about being perfect right now but about growth in small increments. And when we fail, we simply try again to do what we intended and move past the failure. In The Ignatian Workout, Tim Muldoon offers this description and encouragement: Ignatius wrote about . . . spirituality as a practice, a regular endeavor through which we come to build our lives on the 1

love of God—to order our lives according to God’s plan for us. Its focus, then, is not primarily ourselves but, rather, God. In naming his spiritual practices “exercises,” Ignatius sought to suggest something about how we ought to approach them: as undertakings we must repeat again and again in order to progress slowly toward a goal. We can see spiritual exercises, then, as a part of regular maintenance for the soul. If we practice them, we will give ourselves the chance to know God more intimately and to know God’s will for us.

All sorts of habits can become formation for us—habits as complex as multistep meditations using Scripture or as simple as drinking a glass of water every morning, slowly and with gratitude. Each one of us chooses what best benefits us here and now.

Monday

Compassion: Becoming We think of compassion as a character trait, and we assume that some people are just naturally compassionate. But any virtue requires that we practice it until it becomes a trait in us, until it resides easily in our personality. How can we practice compassion, which is a deep sense of being with another person and of caring for that person’s welfare? Try this: When you see someone today—a person you know, or a total stranger—silently ask, What is this person’s struggle today? The struggle may be apparent: a bad cold, fatigue from caring for two small children, stalled traffic when everyone is on the way to work. Then offer this simple prayer:

Help that person through the struggle.