27 March 2021
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises offers a reflection that presents a way of being in the world that differs from conventional wisdom. In his meditation on the Two Standards (standards in the sense of military flags accompanying an army), Ignatius invites a retreatant to imagine two camps, that of Jesus and the other of “the enemy of our human nature,” personified as Lucifer. The retreatant is meant to listen to the recruitment and instructional speeches of each leader. Lucifer desires his forces to make people first “covet riches,” then to seek “vain honor from the world,” and finally to end with a “surging pride.” The triptych of riches, glory, pride is often cited in Jesuit circles in order to be conscious of their draw and the way in which they define world success.
Jesus offers a different model to all who wish to follow him. He wishes to draw people to spiritual poverty, that is the freedom to consider the use of material goods in the conformity to God’s will. If God would be served further, then Jesus advocates that spiritual poverty might continue to actual poverty. From poverty, individuals should welcome “reproaches and contempt” since they lead to humility, which is opposed to pride. Poverty and humility offer the gateway to other virtues and an imitation of the life of Christ in our world today. It is a logic that confounds any superficial sense of success with seeking that which furthers God’s glory in the world.
This meditation offers an entry way into the logic presented in the Gospel today. Caiaphas believes that one person should be sacrificed for the good of the whole nation. The irony of Caiaphas’ prophecy is that Jesus does die for the good of the whole nation and the rest of the world. Jesus is lifted up as a powerless and disfigured man, and the cross becomes the deepest mystery of salvific fruitfulness. Like the meditation on the Two Standards, Jesus shows us the path of discipleship for the Church is in poverty and humility. As we enter Holy Week tomorrow with Palm Sunday, we are reminded of the path of Christ’s mission, and let us pray for the courage to journey with him.
What is a grace you are desirous to receive from God during Holy Week?