By Errol Fernandes, SJ
The final meditation in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is usually termed ‘The Contemplation to obtain Love.’ It is sometimes translated as ‘The Contemplation to attain love.’ The verbs “obtain” and “attain” are synonyms and mean ‘to get something or achieve something especially after great effort.’
From what Ignatius says in his explanation of this meditation, there is nothing about effort and nothing about achieving. The second prelude makes this abundantly clear. “It will be here to ask for interior knowledge of so great good received, in order that being entirely grateful, I may be able in all to love and serve His Divine Majesty”. It is, therefore, about becoming aware or mindful about what God keeps giving and gives generously. This is why I prefer to call this meditation as ‘The Contemplation to become aware/mindful/conscious of love.’
When you see it this way, it is clear that one makes no effort. Rather one opens one’s eyes, mind and heart to see, feel and experience. The proclamation of Jesus, the parables he told and the miracles he worked all point to one indisputable fact which is that Jesus revealed God as a God of unconditional love.
Accordingly, God does not expect humans to “do” anything to “obtain” or “attain” that love because it is given freely and gratuitously and without reserve. John puts it succinctly in his first letter when he says, “We love BECAUSE he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19) and a few verses earlier “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us… (1 Jn 4:10)
The four points made in this meditation have been linked with the four weeks. I see in them a beautiful summary of the four weeks and therefore an apt conclusion to the ‘formal’ retreat.
If in the first week of the Retreat we are invited to meditate on how we have been redeemed i.e. to move from creation to personal salvation, in the first point of the contemplation we are invited to see how God dwells in creation and find his love everywhere and in everything. The awareness of my sin and the fact that I am a sinner, and yet, loved by God humbles me to realise that though all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), like me they are loved by God and so are also redeemed.
Like the elder son in the parable of the Prodigal Father, they wanted a reward for “being good” (Lk 15:29). What was the use of being good and doing good if they would not be commended for it?
In the words of Teilhard de Chardin, “There is nothing that is only profane in all creation for those who know how to look”. It is with a heart filled with gratitude, that I offer back to God what God gives me. The generosity and magnanimity of God so fills my being that I cannot but proclaim my ‘Suscipe’ and say “Take Lord receive…..
In the second week, God enters creation in order to redeem it (Heb 1:1-2; Mt 1:21). God dwells in creation and within us. The second point of the Contemplation invites us to SEE God dwelling in the whole universe, in creatures, in things and in me. By becoming like us in all things, God has graced our humanity and made it sacred. I realise that I am saved not because of my merit or goodness. Rather I am saved because of the goodness of God. This experience moves me to becoming forgiving, loving and accepting BECAUSE God acts this way with me. Like the Psalmist, I too am able to proclaim “Great is your name Lord. Its majesty fills the earth” (Ps 8).
In the third week of the Exercises, we meditate on how God through Jesus “labours” in our world. The parables, sayings and miracles of Jesus are part of his Mission. This Mission statement is explicated by Jesus in his inaugural discourse in the synagogue at Nazareth (Lk 4:18-19). In these verses, Jesus has a one-point agenda. It is to save. No matter who the person is, no matter how far he/she may have gone from God, Jesus will bring them back if they let him (Jn 1:12).
However, not everyone was happy with Jesus’ way of proceeding. They wanted to ‘earn’, ‘merit’ and ‘obtain’ their salvation. Like the elder son in the parable of the Prodigal Father, they wanted a reward for “being good” (Lk 15:29). What was the use of being good and doing good if they would not be commended for it? When Jesus insisted that they did not need to earn God’s favour because it was given freely, when he proclaimed that their goodness flowed out of their being loved unconditionally by God, they could not accept this “good news”. They rebelled against this proclamation and decided that it was blasphemous. The penalty for blasphemy was death (Lev 24:16).
The call of the contemplation then is awareness of the love of God which is itself a gift of God. The awareness leads us to find God in all things and all things in God.
God did not send Jesus to die but to save (Jn 3:16). However, if salvation for the whole of creation could be obtained only by the death of Jesus, God would allow it because his love for the world was so great.
Taking a cue from the life, mission and death of Jesus, the third point of the contemplation invites us to fearlessness. It encourages us to do good with no expectation whatsoever. It summons us to be prepared to face the consequences like Jesus did and to never give up, but to keep on doing good.
In the fourth week, we realise that death is not the end. The 16th century poet John Donne summed it well, when he ended his sonnet on death in these words, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally and death shalt be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”
The resurrection of Jesus draws us to believe in a God who gives life. Thus, in the fourth and final point of the contemplation, we move from the work of God to God himself from whom every good gift comes (James 1:17). In this giver, there is no change. He and his love are constant. In the words of the German mystic, the challenge is to focus not so much on our action but on our being, because if our being is good, then our works would shine forth brightly. The call of the contemplation then is awareness of the love of God which is itself a gift of God. The awareness leads us to find God in all things and all things in God and to say, like Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”
Fr. Errol Fernandes, SJ (BOM) serves as the Superior and Chaplain at the Shrine of the Infant Jesus, Nashik Road, Maharashtra. He can be reached at errolsj@gmail.com.