Ignatian Insights 7: Consolation

Inigo was in touch with what was happening to himself, from the time of his convalescence at the castle of Loyola, after he was wounded at the battle of Pompalona. He could recognize two kinds of movements as he dreamed of the lady of high position, whom he desired to marry, and as he reflected about the life of Christ and of saints. In his ‘autobiography’ he states that some thoughts left him dry, while some others left him happy and peaceful. He was already sifting the movements of his heart, and that would become the foundation of his understanding on the movements of the spirit. But for now we shall concentrate on his understanding on consolation, the movement of the spirit which led him to inner peace and joy.

He goes on to explain this concept when he deals with Discernment of Spirits for Week I. The way he had given the title for this chapter in the Spiritual Exercises is quite interesting. He writes, ‘Rules to aid us toward perceiving and then understanding at least to some extent, the various motions which are caused in the soul: the good motions that they may be received, and the bad that they may be rejected’. The numbers that deal with consolation are 316, 323-24. First let us understand what he means by consolation.

By this kind of consolation I mean that which occurs when some interior motion is caused within the soul through which it comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord. As a result it can love no created thing on the face of the earth in itself, but only in the Creator of them all (SpEx 316:1). It is important that we realize that consolation is an “interior motion” and therefore it cannot be associated with external experiences, and the result is the soul being inflamed with the love of God, leading to love him alone! It is a spiritual experience, which cannot be roused by ourselves. God is the origin of all consolation.

Inigo observes yet one more vital aspect to mean consolation : “every increase in hope, faith and charity, and every interior joy which calls and attracts one toward heavenly things and to the salvation of one’s soul, by bringing it tranquillity and peace in its Creator and Lord” (SpEx 316:4). Therefore when we experience an increase in the evangelical virtues of faith, hope and charity, we know that we are experiencing consolation, and the fruit of this experience will be evident in the interior joy, attraction towards heavenly things, tranquillity and peace. It is not that only spiritual persons experience consolation; at some time or other every one of us go through this kind of experience, though we may not realize that this is consolation.

Every consolation may lead us to desolation, and therefore while experiencing consolation, one should prepare to face desolation (SpEx 323), and one should conduct oneself humbly (324). It is a wonderful feeling to experience consolation, but one should not forget that there is no perpetual consolation; everyone has to go through dark nights of the soul, desolation in the terminology of Inigo. He goes on to show the origin of consolation: without a preceding cause (SpEx 330), by means of a preceding cause acting for the progress of the soul (SpEx 331). Therefore Inigo invites us to examine if the consolation actually proceeds from God, or if it actually comes from the evil one.

Mother Dear...

Spending an hour of quiet moments at Mother's tomb is not only a rare privilege, but also a precious opportunity. I must be honest to accept that I was not a fan of Mother when she was alive; I had my own reservations about her way of looking at reality, and sometimes I had a divergent view. But over the past one year, my appreciation of Mother's works and her life has changed much of my thinking. Going through 'Come Be My Light : The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta"', edited with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, had disturbed me a lot, so much so I had to seek the help of my spiritual director.

I was not much fascinated by the name and fame that she acquired due to her work for the poor and the neglected in society; but I was touched by the simplicity and transparency with which she went through the dark nights of her soul. Even in the midst of darkest clouds, she was able to sight the silver line, and that was her great consolation. She was on the verge of losing her faith in God, and was often assailed by meaninglessness in life, and yet she knew that the hand of God would lead her through. That unshakable faith in God of life is what I often look up to.

As I sit a few feet away from the place where her mortal remains had been buried, I would like to imagine a current passing from her mortal remains to my body, instilling in me, a fraction of the spirit she carried wherever she went, fearlessly standing for what she was convinced; she could not be stopped by anyone, neither soldiers, nor guns, neither religious fanaticism nor regionalism. She was above all that divided the society, and her service flowing out of love for her Lord and Master, made her a sui generis. Today I should be asking myself if my service to humanity is in fact flowing out of my love for the Lord to whom I have committed myself for life!

I look up, and see a stream of people entering into the hallowed ground, touching their heads on the marble stones, which have hugged the saint of the gutters, so that no one can do her any harm, and I feel these people know no religion. Mother Teresa, though a professed Catholic, but to the people of other faiths, she gave not Christ, but His love, service, and ever abounding care and concern. Most often in life, she was able to go beyond the narrow categories we have made for our own survival. Today we will be able to find answer to many of the ills haunting our society, if only we are able to go beyond our narrow religious limits.

I try to seek a few quiet moments in her presence, whenever time permits, and what do I seek from God through her intercession? I have been born poor, and had been living like a poor, but there are all the dangers for me to distance myself from the poor I had been growing up. My education, social status (as a religious priest, belonging to a particular congregation), my contacts, all of them have made me a separate class. The poor when they stand close to me, think that I am no more one of them. This is what I dearly seek through the kindness of Blessed Teresa, that I can tell even on the verge of death knocking at my door, that I was born a poor, lived the life of a poor and was dying like one too. What great honor could I then expect?

Blind Faith

In the recent past, I had a taste of what the result of blind faith on persons who are on a different level in human relations can really be. Very rarely do we come across persons, who have absolute trust in every person they come in touch with, including strangers, not realizing how dangerous and suicidal that can lead to. But needless to say, if we are able to create a world where we can blindly trust anyone, we need not look for the heavens then.

Selfishness and greed know no bounds and limits, and every time we trust a person, we are taking certain things for granted, and that is the reasonable risk that we can afford to take in the case of the people with whom we rub shoulders each day. But can we do the same with the people who have but a business or employer-employee relationship? Another important question that we can ask ourselves is : how much can I really trust a person?

Every person before being trusted or claiming trust-worthiness should prove him/herself. There cannot be grounds for trusting a person, if they were not sufficiently trusted. We have thousands of examples around us which show blind faith and trust in persons will invariably lead us to our own downfall. We cannot forget the fact that the world is not as sane and secure as we thought it to be. If there is one honest trustworthy person, there are nine more wicked, selfish, greedy persons around us. And most often we may fall in the hands of such wicked men and women, and may ultimately lose our face.

Every relationship, even if it is a business related, or customer related, is based on certain amount of trust. When I purchase cooking oil, I trust the shopkeeper will not give me adulterated oil, which may only lead to manifold sickness. I also trust the shopkeeper will not take more money than the just price. But can we take that for granted. Even the people who can afford to be cheated, would not take the words of the shopkeeper seriously and pay the money as demanded. The price stamp is made mandatory so that the customers are not cheated, and we have the duty to check the stamp and pay accordingly, and do not give scope for people to exploit our generosity.

What is the kind of faith that God has on the human beings? Is it the blind faith or the kind of faith that scrutinizes and challenges us? Trust is something that is to do with my relationship with the other person. If I prove myself to be trustworthy, I may experience God as one who accepts me with blind faith; but for some others God may also come across as the one who challenges their trust. Here there is nothing which is better or worse. These two are just two ways of relating to a person. But when I know that God trusts me as I trust him blindly, the relationship is in a higher plain than the other, and that is merely a matter of privilege, we can be happy about.

Life's Cruel Laughter!

I did not think that Motiur would call me up; he was the employee of the office I had managed for about a year some years ago, and I had built such a rapport with the staff that many shared with me their personal stories. His call came out of the blue and I was for a moment wondering what favor he was going to ask me. I thought it was a courtesy call just to keep tap of the people who have some say in his job, and that is what he too mentioned that he just wanted to keep in touch with me, though i hardly visit his office. But what he said surprised me on several fronts. He is a young Muslim, who is struggling alone both within and without. In the office, he finds himself helpless like all the others, but now has decided to show that being helpless is not going to help anyone, and has volunteered to be the public relations officer to tie the loose ends.

I had a lot of regards for this young man, who had a flair for writing lyrics, and in one of the modern Bengali songs album that i coordinated to produce, he contributed lyrics for four songs, with my ideas given flesh and blood. He was happy to get an opportunity to explore this field of lyricism and was happy about it. He was a creative person who did not want to waste his life in useless, worthless thinking and talk. But the circumstances did not much favor him, and he was often downcast because he would think one and something else would happen to him, and so he would be chased from pillar to post often. He did not want to get married, because he thought to feed another mouth, and yet another in the later years, might become a herculean task for him, but he could not avoid compulsion from the family.

But while talking to me, he said that he was trying to accept all that life offers him with open heart; including the fact that his wife had ran away from the house they were living in with their daughter, threatening to commit suicide by jumping from the train. I could not believe this would happen to him. The issue is silly though. He wanted to repair the small house, where he had been a tenant for several years, and at the death of the owner has come to own the house. He took his benefits from the Provident Fund and decided to repair the house; but his wife wished him to get a refrigerator and a micro-oven. He could not compromise, and that resulted in his wife running away.

Just one of his phrases caught my attention - that was the cruel laughter of fate! He does not believe in fate, but sometimes could not help but console himself that what is destined for him would happen, whether he likes it or not. Life is cruel, often it is so. What can we do when bad things happen to good people? Or when good things happen to bad people? Is there any place where we can complain and get justice? Unfortunately it is the same story with each one of us. In my mother tongue, there is a proverb which says, there is a door-step to every house; each of us have our own stories of confronting the bitter realities of life. It gets filled with riddles for which we have no clue, not to talk about the solution. We find ourselves going in circles!

Today I would like to pause for a while and think of the hundreds of Motiurs I come in touch with each day; I would like to look at their faces, and read the stories that their faces betray. I will not have any answer to them, may not even a sympathetic word, or a pat of approval. In such circumstances, even my silent presence with them can be a great source of consolation. If they are able to get a feeling that in this battle with life, they are not alone, then they will get enough strength and courage to face the tempests that may sweep through their lives. Often I find myself in situations, where I am just helpless, and cannot look up for help from any known quarters. Let me in those moments look up to the endless skies and feel the millions of stars giving me company, whispering in my ears that they too had not much option than be what they are!

Aligned to Appreciation

Tolerance by definition means to put up with, not joyfully though. And when we talk of a harmonious coexistence of people of different faiths and religions, one hears often the word tolerance. We should exercise tolerance towards one another! Now let me throw some light on this ominous concept to show how badly mistaken we are. To start with, what do we tolerate? Frankly speaking, we tolerate those things that we hate; we tolerate loud music at night in the neighborhood; we tolerate smoking in public places and transports; we tolerate bribe-begging public servants; we tolerate the unwanted price hike; we tolerate the offending boss at the office - so point one is : we tolerate persons and things we hate from our hearts.

Tolerance stems out of a compulsion, a necessity, which cannot be avoided. If I am married to a woman who snores joyously all through the night, I cannot run to the judges pleading to revoke the wedlock. I am forced to tolerate her snore, and shortly afterwards I may find myself giving company to her in snoring, driving all burglars away. That is point two : tolerance stems out of a necessity. Point three : the goal of tolerance is directed towards my own welfare. Let the other person go to hell; if I am hale and hearty, that is fine. Point four : tolerance quietly hopes that the other party will one day vanish into thin air!

Maybe I will stop here going deep into the concept of religious tolerance. Many of us even take false pride in claiming that we are on the same platform at the inter-faith prayer meet. Tolerance is more dangerous than passive indifference. Just think for a while, what do we think of people of other faiths, when we share dais with them - 'Fools, they do not know about the only true faith. I wish they all embrace my true faith!' This in other words, is tolerance. Quietly waiting for the other to disappear from the scene. This is fake prayer meet. This in other words is a mockery of the soul of all religions.

Then what is the remedy? How do we approach the people of other faiths? What is the attitude we need to have when we take a step to join hands with people of other faiths? Appreciation. This is the remedy. Perhaps that is the only remedy! What is this appreciation to do with my or others' faith? Maybe I have to start my spiritual journey with a note that I am not the sole recipient of all knowledge and wisdom imparted by the revered saints and sages of my religion. Mine is just one of the many ways to reach my ultimate goal in life. Here I acknowledge that others too have revealed truth, and there may be elements in the faiths of others, which may open up newer vistas for me.

If I forget the time and space while listening to the bhajans by Guru Govind Singh "Koi bole Ram Ram, koi Khuda..." that is something I can be truly proud of. If I can join the Meera Bhajans or the Prasadika of Bengal or the Baul songs of Lalan Fakir, or if I can get into the shoes of the people of other faiths, then there will flower forth a new attitude of appreciation. Here we are no longer outsiders as in the case of tolerance, but are insiders - we share the faith of the other and appreciate it. For a moment we become Hindus, Muslims or Christians, or Sikh! For at the base of all religions, we have the same governing principles, and after all the God of all religions is the same, though the name may vary. That is the true attitude we could have while coming together to share our faith experiences. And it is this attitude that can truly transform the world torn apart by religious fundamentalism, fanaticism and terrorism in the name of religions!