28 November 2020
Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
“They shall see his face” (Rev 22:4). This is the reward promised in heaven: at last, to look upon the face of God. In this life, we cannot see God directly. It is only by faith that we can know him. Faith gives true and certain knowledge, even though it is not as satisfying as the knowledge that comes from seeing. For example, I know who my great grandparents were, even though I have never seen them. I know what others have told me about them. If I believe what others have told me, then I do truly know my great grandparents by faith, but not by sight, that is, not by experience. In heaven, we are promised, according to Revelation, knowledge of God by sight.
Some of us would rather not wait so long for such knowledge. Some people are so eager to see God, that they ask for an advance. Monks and nuns go off to all sorts of secluded places in order to beg the Lord, without distraction, to make himself known to them. They are the mystics. St. Ignatius of Loyola picked up on the tradition of the mystics and re-packaged it in a format that is adaptable to the lives of busy people. He prepared The Spiritual Exercises as a manual for spiritual directors guiding eager souls on a journey towards seeing God. The Spiritual Exercises is not a book that you pick up and read. It is a process of encounters with a spiritual director, and sometimes it leads to a encounters with God, but only if God chooses to participate. But, will you choose to participate?