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Growing Strength Spiritual Direction as a Source of Healing in the Wake of Trauma The time-honoured art of spiritual direction can help or hinder people as they heal from traumatic experiences. This critical appraisal encourages practitioners work with sensitivity to discover the positive approaches that foster resilience. Download this article in PDF format by clicking here Vulnerability and Virtue in the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises The dynamic of the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises leads from vulnerability to growing virtue as we become aware of the forgiveness of God. The freedom to love is rooted in our recognition that God shares our vulnerable nature through the cross. Was Jesus Abandoned This theological analysis rejects the notion that God abandoned Jesus on the cross. It releases us from a bundle of unsettling theologies and demonstrates how, in not abandoning Jesus, God reveals that he will never abandon anyone with important repercussions for our understanding of pastoral practice. Noticing Hibakusha The survivors of the first nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki are reminders of the necessity of recognising human fragility both within and without. It is only by acknowledging that God shares that fragility that we can hear the good news proclaimed to all those who suffer. Spirituality and the Arts: The healing nature of poetry and jazz The endless play of art in life, exemplified by jazz, is a reflection of the indefatigable human spirit. New Narratives: Dementia, Arrupe, and Living the Suscipe Prayer Pedro Arrupe’s surrender to God in the face of a suffering is the inspiration for this meditation on how to accompany those who suffer from dementia. God can make use even of the involuntary surrender of memory, understanding and will in order to bring patients and carers closer to Godself. The Perennial Vitality of the Ignatian Examen The connection between the Examen and the autobiography of St Ignatius creates a deeper understanding of the inner workings of this prayer. Watson shows how God made use of the trauma that Ignatius received to fashion him anew, and shows how we can receive the same healing in our own lives. Has the Pandemic Changed the World of Spiritual Accompaniment Forever A hallmark of Ignatian spirituality is its capacity to adapt to circumstances of person, place and time. The new context of the pandemic was the cause for a reevaluation of the use of technology in spiritual ministry. Perhaps surprisingly this has opened up new frontiers in practice and formation for spiritual directors. Bursting out in Praise: Faith and Mental Health A former Jesuit novice describes his journey through mental ill health to arrive at the discovery of the affirmative work of the Holy Spirit at work within each of us. From the Foreword Foreword Last summer's film Oppenheimer tells the story of the designer of the first nuclear weapon. It reminded us of the fragility of human life before the means we still have at our disposal to destroy ourselves. Yet even in the darkest moments of human history, hope has sprung anew, strength has been received and we have been able to walk forward in confidence. The human spirit was made indefatigable, nourished by the hidden well-spring of God's life. Each of the articles in this issue touches upon the theme of resilience, a growing strength in the face of adversity. With God at our side we stand forever at the threshold of hope. In the wake of the first nuclear attack in Hiroshima, Pedro Arrupe searched through the wreckage of the city and tended to the surviving victims. Based on his work with survivors of trauma, Robert McChesney invites us to notice and respond to these hibakusha who lived with the continuing impact of what they had experienced. He shows how, through the incarnation, God reveals the desire to walk with all those affected by violence. Later Pedro Arrupe's own suffering after his stroke gave him the opportunity to discover for himself that he was, more than ever, in the hands of God. Mary Cohen draws out spiritual inspiration from his self-surrender for sufferers of dementia and their carers today. Bill Watson's empirical approach to the Examen Prayer is the fruit of many years of helping people to implement it in their lives. His work has been based on a profound insight into the connection between the prayer and Ignatius' own traumatic past. The prayer encouraged Ignatius to heal from the spiritual trauma of a ruptured relationship with God. A critical appraisal of the role of spiritual direction in recovery from trauma enables Berry Bishop and her co-authors to show what helps and hinders in spiritual ministry. They argue that the role of the director is to build a spiritual home where life can be received once more. In an article reprinted from our online sister journal Thinking Faith, Gavin Murphy found that the Jesuit novitiate was not, in the end, the home where he would flourish, but in his surprising journey to mental well-being he finally arrived in the same place. The First Week of the Spiritual Exercises is one place where we can acknowledge our human fragility before the love of God. In an exposition of the role of vulnerability in virtue ethics, Woo-jung Kim argues that as we look upon the cross we recognise that God shares our vulnerable nature: The culmination of this revelation of God's vulnerability is Jesus dying for us on the cross. When we understand this vulnerability, we can recognise our own vulnerability, as our nature reflects God's attributes and participates in God's nature. Although some theologies have claimed that God abandoned Jesus on the cross, Robert Green argues that God neither abandoned Jesus nor does he forget any one of us, with important implications for pastoral ministry. Two of the articles here tackle the positive and negative impact of the global pandemic. Annemarie Paulin-Campbell's experience of the online ministry of spiritual direction helped deepen her understanding of how Ignatian spirituality can be adapted to time, place and person. The pandemic brought to light a human fragility that could easily make us feel uncertain about the future of humanity. However all the articles in this issue give us cause for hope. We walk with growing strength, reassured by God's continuing presence even in the midst of adversity. Gerard Garrigan makes the following invitation: Let each one of us live our own improvised lives in this extraordinary time with the delightful originality with which our loving God created us in his glory with joy, with verve, with zest, with hope and, most of all, with swing. Philip Harrison SJ EditorPhilip Harrison SJ Please click here to subscribe to The Way, | ||
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