The Roller Coaster of Hope

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.”

They have names like The Python, The Screamin’ Demon, or Dragon Mountain, all meant to attract thrill-seekers at amusement parks. But if I built a roller coaster, I would call it Hope, in recognition that hope is the driving force of our spiritual path. In fact, I think a roller coaster is a perfect analogy for the Spiritual Exercises.

Something drew you to this ride called Hope: the thrill or desire to be closer to Christ? The testimony of others who have ridden it? The desire to experience the best of the amusement park of life?

The ride begins with the Principle and Foundation. Like the height requirement and health limitation signs near a roller coaster, the Principle and Foundation declares the ride of the Exercises is only for those who want what leads to deepening life with God. That is our Hope. Consider, then, the First Week as the turnstiles to enter. Here we practice the Examen and the colloquy and begin to notice the energy within as we are getting closer to the ride. We consider sin and hell and infinite love, the resonance of which leads back to the ride’s namesake: hope that love does indeed defeat despair.

At the front of the line, riders encounter the Call of the King. Which life do you want? To ride the unseen track of Hope with Christ or to exit politely? The decision for following Christ made, you begin the Second Week. Perhaps you take the front seat, eager to see where Hope will take you. Perhaps you go for the back seat, still not quite sure you’re ready for this ride. Perhaps the car is filled with others you know, all hopeful as well. And then the coaster starts its rise.

At first the clickety-clack of the coaster is nothing you haven’t heard before. The stories from the Gospels are familiar, but with the direction to put yourself in them, now you are experiencing this ride of Hope instead of just watching it. The climb up the big hill begins. With a bit of a lurch, you consider the Two Standards and the Three Types of Persons. The climb through the teachings of Jesus is steady. You are getting to know him better, and your confidence is growing since he is riding with you. The view is stunning but also disconcerting. You begin to see more of life from a new perspective. All those details of daily life and stress seem so small down below. Finally, at the top of the hill, in the Three Kinds of Humility, you feel the coaster car slowly let go and acquiesce to the velocity of Hope.

With a roar, Hope sends you hurling into an abyss. Riding through the Third Week of the Exercises inevitably puts you in conflict with the laws of human nature; the gravitational forces pull your body forward and backward, jostling you from side to side. Do you cling tightly to the Holy Spirit’s safety bar? Or with full trust in the divinity of the ride, do you fling your hands up and let those forces throw you where they will? Sometimes the spiritual roller coaster flips us completely upside down. Journeying through the Passion is truly terrifying. Why would anyone want to be on this ride? The speed of the events suggests that Hope is out of control. The coaster twists and turns and plunges into total darkness.

But in the midst of the chaos, Hope rings true to its name. Your senses are fully alive. You enter the Fourth Week ready to experience the joy of the Resurrection and know that you are not alone. In fact, you realize that, in having Jesus next to you and others in the coaster car, the experience of life is completely different than if you were riding alone. There is an exhilaration and a bonding over the shared sensations that only those who have ridden Hope can know. As the coaster rolls into the station, applause and high fives abound for simply having held onto Hope. Courage begets courage.

Knowing the fullness of life this ride offers, with Christ by your side, perhaps you are now eager to ride Hope again and again.

As we begin 31 Days with St. Ignatius, read God in the Details by Shemaiah Gonzalez. Then use the hashtag #31DayswithIgnatius on your favorite social media channels to share the ways you’ve been touched by St. Ignatius and the spiritual outlook that bears his name.