Home 
Family Joann Heaney-Hunter Column “Finding God in All Things” Ignatian Spirituality and the Domestic Church
Main Menu
CatholicIreland.net News
Ireland's Marie Collins addresses top bishops and religious at anti-abuse symposium in Rome
Marie Collins (pictured) yesterday addressed bishops and religious from around the world who ....
72-year old parish priest retires and is replaced by ... 71-year old.
A 72-year old Co Wexford parish priest who has just retired has been replaced by a man who is ....
British more tolerant of cheating than 10 years ago: study
British people are more likely to say that dishonesty and other forms of wrongdoing is more ....
| “Finding God in All Things” Ignatian Spirituality and the Domestic Church |
 |
 |
 |
|
For the last 25 years, "domestic church" has been a synonym for Christian family life. From John Paul II's Familiaris Consortio to recent works on marriage and family, domestic church has been used to describe families in their rich diversity as they make Christ present and serve as microcosms of the larger church community. The theology of domestic church emphasizes that God's presence is not limited to institutional structures or positions within an ecclesial framework; rather, it honours God's indwelling in the midst of ordinary family life. Moreover, it serves as a powerful reminder that the smallest ecclesial unit is not the parish, but the home. In this essay, I will view domestic church from another vantage point – Ignatian spirituality. In the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius reminds those following him to find God in all things, and declares that one who is attuned to God's presence can encounter it in life's events – positive and negative, great and insignificant, extraordinary and simple. I believe this spirituality finds unique expression in the domestic church – a setting where people in the context of family relationships have numerous and varied opportunities to find God in all things. In the events of family life such as loving encounters or challenges to growth, there is evidence of God everywhere if we know where to look. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises perceive spiritual life not as an abstraction, but as a loving encounter with a God intimately involved with each person. The eminently practical spirituality presented in the Exercises forms a blueprint for discipleship in the midst of the world, and can be a lens through which we view family life as a centre of faith. Ignatian spirituality provides an engaging way for families to understand God's presence in their lives, and can help families experience God by: • Pointing out God's love for them • revealing a path toward discipleship • highlighting Christ's sacrifice on the cross and the meaning of human suffering • proclaiming the joy of the resurrection • providing ways to contemplate God's presence in the world • encouraging surrender of one' life to God These elements can provide a framework for families living as domestic churches in the world. Ignatius first invites individuals to experience God's love, an enduring reality even in the face of failure and sin. Family life, also, provides countless opportunities to experience God's love, and the potential to help others do so as well. In the midst of conversations and daily activities, for example, adults and children alike may encounter God's abiding love. Conversely, family life makes us aware of sin and imperfection in ourselves and others; but also reminds us that God's love, and by extension, our own, can transcend sin and failure and move toward its perfect expression. Acceptance of each other despite imperfections and sin is a concrete manifestation of God's boundless love for us in the midst of family life. Secondly, Ignatius encourages individuals to accept Jesus' gracious invitation to discipleship, which also can be perceived in family life, where members teach and heal as Jesus did, and by doing so, live as disciples. In families, we exercise the call to discipleship as we try to make the teaching and healing presence of Jesus a constitutive element of each day's events and encounters. A third element of Ignatian spirituality is its focus on Jesus' suffering and death, a result of human sinfulness. In the Exercises, one contemplates Jesus' physical and emotional pain as he lived his final days. Likewise, today, pain can be found in the lives of the many families who suffer from miscommunication, inadvertent or deliberate hurtful action, relationships destroyed by substance abuse, domestic violence, or poverty, and numerous other crosses. As we contemplate the crucifixion of Christ, it is impossible not to reflect on the pain of all too many families in the world today, and try to find ways to bring their suffering to an end. Despite the reality of suffering and death all around us, Christians believe that God has the final word. In the Exercises, Ignatius invites individuals to experience the resurrection, God's gracious affirmation of Jesus' life. The resurrection also can be revealed in families, who manifest Christ's risen presence daily. This happens, for example, when a sibling puts his sister's needs before his own, or a mother works to build up rather than tear down a child or neighbour, or when a father reconciles with an estranged in-law. When families work through difficulties to grow in love, when problems are resolved in ways that foster respect for all, when individuals let go of destructive element sin their lives and relationships, Christ has been raised from the dead. Family life, filled with "deaths" and "resurrections" becomes a locus for experiencing the paschal mystery. Finally, Ignatian spirituality encourages people to contemplate God's life and love in the midst of the world, and offer a response to it. We live in a graced world; as Gerard Manley Hopkins put it, a world "charged with the grandeur of God." Families experience this in numerous ways including the birth of a child, the celebration of accomplishment, the enjoyment of time with each other. When families are attentive to God's presence within these ordinary, sometimes overlooked experiences, they become more aware of the treasure within them, and may grow in their ability to nurture it within their hearts and homes. Upon experiencing the abundance of God's love, they may respond by surrendering to it in gratitude and love. Likewise, in family life, we can absorb, cherish, and relish God's love in our lives, and may desire to give back, to be thankful for, to surrender lives to God's gracious presence. Transformed by God's love in their lives, families can be visible signs of grace in the world, embodiments of Christ – in every sense of the word, a domestic church. As professionals, we have spent the last 25 years exploring the meaning of domestic church in contemporary society. I believe that Ignatian spirituality provides a fresh perspective on this reality, and sheds new light on God's intimate, unconditional love for us as individuals and families. As symbols of God's love in the world, families have the chance to make God's love real in the midst of daily life. Ignatius mapped out a strategy for findings to God in the midst of ordinary life. Joann Heaney-Hunter Ph.D Reprinted with permission from Family Perspectives Journal, a publication of the National Assocation of Catholic Family Life Ministers. |
© All material on this website is copyright of the Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry, Archdiocese of Armagh
Search
CatholicIreland.net Features
