Editor’s note: Throughout July, we’re hosting 31 Days with St. Ignatius, a month-long celebration of Ignatian spirituality. In addition to the calendar of Ignatian articles found here, posts on dotMagis this month will explore the theme of “Hope Through the Twists and Turns.”
A few days ago, I was on a longish bike ride with some friends. It was a beautiful early morning, and I was enjoying the first long ride I’ve done since the weather changed after the long winter and nearly nonexistent spring. Between the affable chatter among the four of us, there were stretches when we’d hit hills and valleys, inevitably leading us to spread out. Cranking slowly up hills, while sweating and breathing hard, would yield to peaks when we would pick up speed and then descend, careening, downwards. Exhilarating.
One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about long rides is the time to think. Especially when I’m working hard to climb a hill, time slows down. My body is working hard, and the actual distance I cover during those stretches is miniscule. Conversely, when flying down a hill, wind rushing, I disappear into the pure experience of speed. What a metaphor for consolation and desolation! I think about life and how there are times when we are working hard with little to show for it and other times when we zip through life effortlessly.
It is on those long upward climbs that I think about the virtue of hope in the midst of life’s twists and turns. Sometimes—maybe even frequently—we experience life as a chore. We work and work, exhausting ourselves in the process. And if we had no hope that all this life-work was for some good, the experience of it would be, in a word, despair.
But “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5) Hope is possible through the twists and turns of life, because we know that our labors are not in vain. Our life-work, when done with love, is a participation in the redemptive mystery of God’s action in history.
My prayer today will be for perseverance in hope: the willingness to suspend my judgment of how things are going in favor of hoping for the good that the Lord will bring forth through my faithful living. May your kingdom come!
How are you Tuning In to God’s Voice? Reflect with Jean Heaton in today’s featured article for 31 Days with St. Ignatius. Then share how you find hope through the twists and turns of life with the hashtag #31DayswithIgnatius on your favorite social media channels.
Thanks Tim. “Our life-work, when done with love, is a participation in the redemptive mystery of God’s action in history” – Very soothing.