Jesus said to the disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.” (Mt 13:47).
The invitation of God is universal and we are all lured by his invitation of love and intimacy. We long to belong, our very substance and essence as human beings is the reality that our ultimate fulfillment can only be reached in communion with the God who has created us. Yet, though drawn, we can resist being caught.
St Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo, came to a point in his life where he realized that the flame of his desire for wealth, fame, and pleasure was dimming. He clearly felt moved toward “one reality that cannot decay, from which all other realities are derived.” Though he was caught in God’s net and being pulled in, Augustine still sought to wriggle free, for: “Though drawn to the Path, who is my savior, I shied from its hard traveling” (Augustine 2008, 161).
How many of us echo Augustine’s dilemma? We have experienced God in our lives and feel the invitation to be drawn in, yet, we still seek to wriggle free. We are attracted to God but our attraction to other apparent goods still hold priority of place. At a baser level, we may believe that the minimalist approach is easier. God’s path is too hard.
Harder? Yes, but if we follow the will of God he will give us the strength to endure and persevere.
In reality it is more of an effort to work against God’s will, just read the Book of Jonah! May we instead surrender to the current of the Father’s Love and allow ourselves to be caught in the net of his Grace. At first, anxiety and fear will arise, just like being caught in a rip tide, because the pull may appear too strong, his love too pure. When we surrender to the will of God though, the anxiety will subside, the joy and consolation will arise, as we flow with ease and are empowered by the love of the Holy Spirit.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose feast day we celebrate today, resisted God for a time as well but then realized, during his long period of recuperation from a canon ball strike, a distinction between the invitations of the world and God’s. The intoxications of the world brought a momentary high which would then leave Ignatius wanting. “While reading the life of Christ our Lord or the lives of the saints, he would reflect and reason with himself: ‘What if I should do what St. Francis or St. Dominic did?'” (Gonzalez).
The thoughts of Jesus and the saints did not wane and after reading about them, left him with periods of ongoing consolation. The path that Ignatius then walked led him to sainthood and the Exercises he developed have helped countless, including myself, to experience healing and a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus. If you have read my encouragements to imagine yourself in the daily gospels before, you now know that I learned that practice from St. Ignatius. Give yourself some time getting caught in the net of God’s love today, resist the temptation to wriggle free, and offer the Lord all your liberty!
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Photo: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam – In the Ignatian tradition may we do all things for the greater glory of God! St. Ignatius, pray for us!!!
St Augustine. Confessions. Translated by Gary Wills. NY: Penguin Books, 2008.
Luis Gonzalez in The Liturgy of the Hours, vol III, 1975, 1566.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 