Father Don briefly reviewed the story of St. Ignatius and reinforced the world wide appeal of his Spiritual Exercises. Terry (destined to be the star pupil of the class) surprised Father with the fact that the Twelve Step Program in Alcoholics Anonymous as well as some of the reflective practices in nursing are based on the Ignatian way.
He then opened our study with this simple question;
“What is it that everyone wants in life?”
I immediately blurted out health as I scratched my bald chemo head.
Father was about to chide me for answering too quickly when Terry came to the rescue with,
“We all want happiness.”
“Exactly Terry. First and foremost, we want happiness and that’s exactly what God wants for each and every one of us,” Father boomed, forgetting that we were a class of two, not two hundred.
“God wants us to be happy,” he repeated enthusiastically.
“But, but,” I stammered. “How can I be truly happy when I have cancer and my backyard is constantly being ripped up by raccoons and wayward squirrels.” (Yes, I’ve tried nematodes.)
Father just chuckled when I raised these objections.
“Mike, I can see we’re in for a long ride,” he replied playfully, like a chess master toying with a tyro.
Hey, where’s your compassion Father? I wanted to yell.
But deep down, I knew he was right. All of us want to be happy. It’s in our DNA.
He gave us a collection of readings to take home on topics such Why do I believe in God? God and Creation, and Finding God through Nature.
Most of these readings seemed to be aimed at non believers and I was beginning to think that Father had missed the mark with this initial reading list. In hindsight, I realize that he was just making sure we were all looking for seats in the same theatre.
When we got together a month later, Father asked us to consider two questions.
1) Who am I?
2) Why was I created?
Terry, a disciple of the Baltimore Catechism, recited the answer to the second question with ease.
We were made by God to know, love and serve Him through knowing, loving and serving one another.
Over the past few months, Mike 2.0 has become aware of this call to serve and to enjoin the journey with others as they walk along their own road to Emmaus.
Now, let me leave that first question, Who am I? with you for awhile. The answer that Father Beaudois suggests may surprise you.
“Everybody in the world is seeking happiness…
and there is one sure way to find it.
That is by controlling your thoughts.
Happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions.
It depends on inner conditions.”
Dale Carnegie
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