The Jesuit Guide To (Almost) Everything - James Martin [86]
Lately I’ve been suggesting to people J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy—either the books or the films—as a way of understanding what Ignatius had in mind: on one side, the army of the evil wizard Saruman and his awful Orcs; on the other that of the noble Frodo and his trusty Hobbit, human, and elvish companions. The Harry Potter series—again, either the books or the films—is another contemporary illustration of this kind of battle: on the one side, Voldemort and his evil minions; on the other, Harry and his stalwart friends.
But you need not understand things precisely as Ignatius did to profit from Ignatian spirituality. In his book The Discernment of Spirits, Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V., helpfully sums up the concept of the “enemy” as “those interior movements that would pull us away from God.”
More important than this battle imagery is understanding the way that the two sides operate. In the Two Standards, Ignatius asks us to imagine Christ calling people to his side, to a simple life, renouncing the desire for honors, and desiring a life of humility. In other words, Christ invites us, as he did with the rich young man, to enjoy a life free of attachments.
Ignatius then invites us to imagine Satan advising his “uncountable devils” on how to ensnare men and women through attachments. This same clever literary technique—advice from an experienced devil to his younger counterpart—was used, centuries later, by the British writer C. S. Lewis in his book The Screwtape Letters.
The enemy works like this, says Ignatius: first by tempting people to desire riches, which leads to honors, which often leads to an overweening pride, the gateway to a gamut of sinful behavior. As any Jesuit will tell you, the shorthand phrase is “riches to honors to pride.”
The process is insidious because riches and honors are seductive. I know this from personal experience.
From the Spiritual Exercises
Here is Ignatius speaking about the progressive dangers of not living simply, in the Spiritual Exercises. In the section known as the Two Standards he asks us to imagine Satan giving advice to his minions about how to tempt human beings to pride:
First they should tempt people to covet riches (as he usually does, at least in most cases), so that they may more easily come to vain honor from the world, and finally to surging pride. In this way, the first step is riches, the second is honor, and the third is pride; and from these three steps the enemy entices them to all the other vices.
Over the past few years, I’ve published several books and have written articles for newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. Consequently, I’ve been invited to speak in a variety of places as well as on radio and television. Overall, I’m happy that others find my writing helpful, especially since the work of a Jesuit is supposed to “help souls.” The more people who read books about the spiritual life the more chance that at least a few more souls will be helped.
Speaking on television and radio is also valuable not only because it helps sell books, and therefore helps more souls, but because you can talk about God with millions of people—more than I could in a Sunday homily. (It’s also fun.) John Courtney Murray, an American Jesuit theologian who worked as adviser to the Second Vatican Council, once said that the Jesuit should explain the world to the church, and the church to the world. Working with the media is one way of doing this.
But there is a danger. Even though I try not to let this go to my head, all those things—books, articles, media appearances—are what the larger culture considers as “success.” They are one example of what Ignatius meant by “riches.”
In the wake of these occasional successes comes praise from family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers.