Frances Correia's blog

Fr Gerry O'Collins discusses Anthony De Mello's contribution to Ignatian Spirituality.

Anthony De Mello is widely regarded as one of the great teachers of Ignatian Spirituality. An Indian Jesuit who embraced the call of Vatican II for congregations to return to the original works of their founders, he promoted new ways of experiencing retreats and prayer.

Recently Fr Gerry O'Collins has worked on the editing and publication of Anthony De Mello's lectures on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, these have been published in the book; Seek God Everywhere.

At Pentecost we are offered an amazing image of the redemption from fear. The disciples had locked themselves into the upper room. We have this image from the early church of a group of people filled with fear of what might happen to them. As I was reading this story again I was struck by many of it’s comparisons to our own time. Recently we have seen the rise of fundamentalist elements in the various world religions. It seems to me that what all fundamentalist points of view have in common is this experience of being fearful, locked in our own upper rooms.

In the early years of Christianity people expected an imminent second coming. They kept hoping that Jesus was about to return and all their problems would be solved. It has been slightly more than two thousand years since the first Easter and most of us don’t expect the Lord's return to happen in our own lifetimes.

The fall of Apartheid and our reactions to it can remind us of that early Christian community. In the first rush of joy we were swept up by the belief that a better life for all was imminent, and we were filled with hope and optimism. Now 20 years later - though our situation is certainly far preferable to life under the old regime - much of that initial euphoria has dissipated and we are living with the reality of being ordinary fallible people led by ordinary fallible leaders.

As we approach 2010 the impetus to establish a safe reliable and controlled form of public transport is nearing its first implementation phase. This week we will for the first time be able to use the new BRT buses in the city centre.

I have been in one of those bad spaces in my life lately where things just keep going wrong.

In the last few weeks our various political parties have been putting out their manifestos. As I read them different emotions are stirred up in me. Primarily anger. The 1994 elections were a time of real hope and enthusiasm for the future. By contrast these 2009 elections leave me feeling despondent. The ANC’s manifesto sounds inspiring in its focus on the alleviation of poverty and its frequent reference to their past achievements. Yet I fear that behind the rhetoric of being there for the poor, they really are and have been a middle class party with primarily middle class concerns.

Christian Theology is all about what we think or believe about God. Christian Spirituality is what we do with that knowledge. How do we relate to God? How does what we believe change who we are and what we do? Within this, Ignatian spirituality is apostolic - it concerns choices, how moment by moment we are being invited to choose to more radically follow Christ in every thing that we do. It’s very practical and is focused not just on our relationship with God but also on our mission as Christians.