Welcome to the second day of the First Annual People for Others Blog-Alogue (blog dialogue). Today my colleague Tom McGrath, author of Raising Faith-Filled Kids and co-author with Bret Nicholaus of The Meal Box, responds to my question with another question. Clearly he’s been hanging around Jesuits too long. Tom writes:
Paul:
You got our blog-alogue off to a great start by responding to my question, “What’s the one personality trait in St. Ignatius that you most admire?” Constancy? That’s a great quality to raise up in a culture that likes to keep it’s options open.
One of the questions you put to me connects to a trait I admire in Ignatius so I’ll give that one a whack. You asked, “How do you know God loves you?” Not to get too Bill Clinton on you, but it depends on the meaning of “know” y’know? I struggled with the essence of the question of trusting in God’s love for many years until I accepted that there are many ways of knowing beyond the cerebral. Once I was willing to give credence to the wisdom of my body, my intuition, my heart and my soul I realized I have always known God’s love. The main question is whether I will accept it or not.
Which brings me to Ignatius. The trait I admire most in him was his willingness to question his own mental processes and to explore and integrate what he learned from his emotions, his desires, the whole range of his experiences. For someone with a reputation as a cerebral sort, Ignatius offers a great method of welcoming the whole person, fully human and fully alive.
So, Paul, how do you know God loves you? Inquiring minds want to know.
Tom
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Welcome to the First Annual People For Others Blog Dialogue [Blog-alogue] between your genial host and Tom McGrath, author of Raising Faith-Filled Kids and, with Bret Nicholaus, of The Meal Box. Over the next several days, I will answer a question from Tom. He will respond either by reacting to what I wrote or by responding to one of the questions I have already given to him.
The first question Tom asked surprised me a little: “What’s the one personality trait in St. Ignatius that you most admire?”
Hmm. His constancy. After being injured by a cannon ball at Pamplona, he took quite a bit of time to consider what to do with the rest of his life. Once he decided to follow Christ as a pilgrim, however, he never seems to have faltered or looked back.
He made mistakes, (letting himself get to a Howard Hughes-level of unkemptness at one stage and considering murdering a Muslim for a perceived slight against the Virgin Mary are two examples that spring immediately to mind), but his love for, and complete dedication to, His Lord Jesus Christ never changed or lost any ardor.
As someone who has trouble committing definitively to vanilla icecream over strawberry, I admire people who make their choices and stick with them through thick and thin.
Blog-logue, part deux, Blog-alogue, the third, Blog-alogue, IV
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