Module 3 Lecture: Reign of God

• God Enters History as One of Us

o “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times
and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son,
whom He appointed heir of all things...” – Hebrews 1:1
o The Contemplation on the Incarnation is rooted in God entering history no
longer only as its creator, or through the prophets, but as its dynamic
participant – Jesus

• In the Old Testament, God was always the God of a people, the God for a people, in
the New Testament, it is the drama of God becoming one of us, transforming
negative realities into positive realities.

• Jesus’ Mission is God’s Mission

o If you survey the Gospels, you will notice the summary of Jesus’ mission in
the varied ways He speaks of “proclaiming the Kingdom of God.”
o Jesus’ mission is the Kingdom of God
§ In the Spiritual Exercises, the second week is filled with exercises that
correlates one’s own story to Jesus’ own.
o Jesus is more than a role model; the exercises invite one into deeper
friendship with Jesus.
§ Jesus’ words, deeds, and very Self is the response of God to a broken
world.

• Reign of God is NOT

o Political territory
o Theocracy (Church leader is also a political leader)

• Reign of God IS
o God’s presence and intervention in human history
o Reversal of negative realities
o Restoration of the marginalized
§ God’s preferential option for the poor
§ Consolidation of the sorrowful, fearful, and lonely

• God’s presence and intervention in human history

o “God never appears as God-in-himself, but as a God for history, and
therefore, as the God-of-a-people. ‘I will be your God and you shall be my
people’s is Israel’s confession of faith. In this, an essentially relational God is
proclaimed, who reveals Himself and who is in relation to a people. However
different the traditions of God in the Old Testament may be, they have this in
common: that God is a God-of, a God-for, a God-in, never a God-in-himself.”
• Hearing from Illness and Disability
o The Blind Man Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46-52)
§ They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples
and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat
by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he
began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And
many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all
the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said,
“Call him.” So, they called the blind man, saying to him. “Take
courage; get up, he is calling you.” He threw aside his cloak, sprang
up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want
me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want you
to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.”
o The Healing of the Paralytic (Matthew 9: 1-8)
§ He entered a boat, made the crossing, and came into his own town.
And there, people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child,
your sins are forgiven”. As that, some of the scribes said to
themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” Jesus knew what they were
thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? Which is easier,
to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you
may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”
– he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go
home.” He rose and went home. When the crowds saw this, they were
struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to
human beings.

• Satiation from Hunger

o The Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mark 6: 34-44)
§ When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved
with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and
he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late, and
his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it
is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the
surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they
said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food
and give it to them to eat?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you
have? Go and see. And when they had found out they said, “Five
loaves and two fish.” So, he gave orders to have them sit down in
groups on the green grass. The people took their places in rows by
hundreds and by fifties. Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish
and looking up in heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and
gave them to His disciples to set before the people; he also divided the
two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they
 picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of
the fish. Those who ate [of the loaves] were five thousand men.

• Restoration of the Dignity of the Marginalized

o The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8: 1-11)
§ But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all
the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been
caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to
him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing
adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So, what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could
have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to
write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking
him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you
who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again, he bent
down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one
by one, beginning with the elders. So, he was left alone with the
woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She replied,
“No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and]
from now on do not sin anymore.”
o Zacchaeus the Tax Collector (Luke 19: 1-9)
§ He came into Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a
man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a
wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see
him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So, he ran
ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was
about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up
and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay
at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they saw all this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone
to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said
to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the
poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four
times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this
house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.”

• God’s Preferential Option for the Poor

o Jesus spends more time with the poor and the marginalized.
§ God takes the side of the poor not because they are virtuous or more
virtuous.
• It is because they are poor and need more help.
o “There is nothing meritorious about being poor that might win God’s love.
God’s option for those who suffer is unmerited; it is grace. God takes their
side, not because they are good, but because God is Good.” – Dean Brackley
• Reversing Negative Realities
o God’s kingship is kinship.
§ “Here and Now” and “Hereafter”
o The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast (Matthew 13:
31-33)
§ He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like
a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the
smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of the
plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and
dwell on its branches.’” He spoke to them another parable. “The
kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with
three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

• Theo-Drama
o “All the world’s a stage; and all the men and women are merely players.”-
Shakespeare
o Our brief fame online may last for a day or a week. But our humble, hidden
work, offered to God, done with great love will have effects that resound to
eternity.

• Structures of Sin
o The polluted atmosphere we are born into.
o These are structures of injustice, oppression, and exploitation.
o These are the complex and compounded effects of sin in the world.
o Do not only refer to obvious evils like EJKs.
§ It can also exist in our government, laws, businesses, cultural norms,
etc.
§ These structures cannot sin in themselves. But they can perpetuate
injustices and restrict the ability of people to grow in their full
potential and choice to do the good.

• The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of freedom and a force for liberation.
o Liberation is first and foremost liberation from the radical slavery of sin.
o Freedom many kinds of slavery in the cultura, economic, social, and political
spheres.
o All derive ultimately from sin.
o Prevent people from living in a manner benefitting their dignity,
o Jesus was not a political Messiah.
§ Liberating others from poverty and sinful structures is just one aspect,
one very important aspect of love for neighbor.

• Our Catholic Theology of social justice and love for the poor must always be
grounded in a loving relationship with God, which expresses itself in a relationship
with others.

• “Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? –

Conversion of Hearts
 Module 3 Lecture: The Call and Vocation

• Vocation
o From the Latin word “vocare”, meaning “to call”
o Response to an experience of love and recognize needs of the world.
§ It is not something we merely choose for ourselves.

• Who is God calling us to be?

o Vocational Identity
o Communion with God (Authenticity)

• How does God call us to live?

o Vocational Lifestyle
o Holy Trinity – Communion (True Freedom to Love)

• What does God call us to do?

o Mission
o Share in God’s divine life.

• Universal Call to Holiness

o Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium proclaimed the universal call to holiness.
§ The word “holy” means being set apart, being chosen, and reserved
for God alone.
• When God calls us, He sets us apart from the world to become
like Him.
o “The call to holiness is rooted in Baptism and proposed anew in the other
Sacraments, principally in the Eucharist. Since Christians are re-clothed in
Christ Jesus and refreshed by His Spirit, they are ‘holy.’ They therefore have
the ability to manifest their holiness and the responsibility to bear witness to
it in all that they do.”
o “All in the Church, whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it,
are called to holiness.”

• Religious Sense
o State of life as priest, religious, consecrated, parents and single blessedness.

• General Sense
o Life-giving mission

• God calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family,
the Church.
o To accomplish this, when the fullness of time has come, God has sent His Son
as Redeemer and Savior.
o In His Son and through Him, He invites men and women to become, in the
Holy Spirit, His adopted children and thus heirs of His blessed life. (CCC)
• God’s Call in the Bible
o The person God calls objects to the call.
o God gives a sign of His call.
o The person called, leaves everything to follow God’s call.
o Genesis 12: 1-5
§ The Lord said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and
from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you
a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great so
that yours will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse
those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find
blessing in you.” Abram went as the Lord directed him... Abram was
seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai...
all the possessions that they accumulated... in Haran, and they set out
for the land of Canaan.”
o Genesis 17: 15-17
§ “God further said to Abraham: As for your wife Saria, do not call her
Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and I will give her, and I
will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to
nations, and rulers of people shall issue from him. Abraham prostrated
himself and laughed as he said to himself. “Can a child be born to a
man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?”
o Exodus 3: 9-11
§ “The cry of the Israelites has now come to Me; I have seen also how
the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharoah to
bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt.” He answered, I will be
with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you:
when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this
very mountain.”
o Exodus 4: 1-4
§ “But, objected Moses, ‘suppose they will not believe me, nor listen to
my plea? For they may say, “The Lord did not appear to you.’ The Lord
therefore asked him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff’ he
answered. The Lord then said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’ When he
threw it on the ground it was changed into a serpent and Moses shied
away from it.”
o Exodus 4:10
§ “Moses however, said to the Lord, ‘If You please, Lord I have never
been eloquent... I am slow of speech and tongue.’
o Luke 1: 26-38
§ “The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called
Nazareth, to a virgin... and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming
to her, the angel said, “Hail favored one! The Lord is with you.” But
she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of
greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid
Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in
your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him, Jesus. He will be
great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will
 give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house
of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ But Mary
said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have no relations with a
man?’ And the angel said to her in reply, ‘The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, the power of the Most-High will overshadow you.
Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God...
Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done
unto me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.”
o Luke 5: 4-10
§ “After He had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep
water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master,
we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your
command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught
a great number of fish, and their nets were tearing. They signaled to
their partners in the other boat to come help them. They came and
filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. When Simon
Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me,
Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they
had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and
John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to
Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and
followed Him.”
o God never calls the qualified.
§ He qualifies the called.
§ In God’s wisdom, He always calls from the pit not the pedestal.
o Luke 1: 52
§ “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the
lowly.”
o By calling the least in the world, God manifests his Glory.
§ The weakness and poverty of those He calls proves that this work is
truly God’s work.

• Hearing the personal word of God is a greater grace than seeing Him.
o It is one thing to see God, like the many Jews of Jesus’ era, saw Him.
o It is quite another to hear his personal call addressing you.
§ By calling us, Jesus invites us to enter into a conversation with Him.
§ He invites us to enter into the relationship of the Holy Trinity.
§ By calling us, Jesus invites us to participate in His salvific mission and
bring His heavenly kingdom to all people.
o God’s call is the highest honor because it presumes that God considers us
capable of understanding His Word, through the gift of His grace.
§ Everything God says and does bears fruit.
§ Although God can bring fruitfulness on His own, He wants us to
cooperate with Him.
§ His word enters our hearts, and bears fruits through our prayers, acts
of mercy, and service to others.
 o 1 Kings 19: 11-13
§ “God was not in the wind, earthquake, or fire.”

• The Hero’s Journey

o The Call to Adventure à Adventure à Mentor à Crossing the First
Threshold à Ally à Tests and Enemies à The Ordeal à Reward à The
Road Back

• Biblical Figures as Heroes

o The God of the Bible is not a God of safety and security.
§ He is constantly calling us to leave our comfort zones, to go beyond
ourselves, to be more.
o Abraham, David, Saul became St. Paul
o Everyone wants to live for something other than themselves.
§ Egoism is flat, finite, and boring.
§ Altruism is multidimensional, largesse, and exciting.
§ Our world is small when we are the largest thing in it.
• But, to discover I am not everything!
o That is the most enthralling of deductions.
o For it is “the meek that shall inherit the earth” (Matt.
5:5) because they are the only people humble enough
to wonder at its grandeur.
o The human heart soars when it lives for another; when self-denial leads to
self-gift.
§ This is the quintessential attribute of being made in “the image and
likeness of God” (Gen. 1:26)
§ God is not a lone ranger; he is not by himself.
• He is a unity of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
o Each of these persons exist for the other.
o Likewise, our human nature, being an image of the
Trinitarian nature, is fully actualized only when it is
given away.
 Module 3 Lecture: Incarnation

• Will we have resurrected bodies at the end of time? Why or why not?

• Nicene Creed
o I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for
the forgiveness of sins, and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and
the life of the world to come. Amen.

• Apostles Creed
o I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
Amen.

• Affirming Incarnation in the Holy Church

o The apostles and disciples evangelized testified based on their own personal
experience of Jesus while He was alive and when He was risen.
o They saw Jesus as a human being who suffered and failed.
§ Yet, they also saw Jesus as a divine person who worked miracles of
healing, exorcism, and mighty deeds.
o They did not have the language and theology we have today.
§ They witnessed that Jesus was both human and divine.
o Over time, as these firsthand witnesses died, their followers and
communities preserved the traditions and stories of the life of Christ.
o Since these latter people did not experience Jesus themselves, the
relationship of Christ’s humanity and divinity were challenged.
o Was Jesus really human? Or was God, just pretending to be human? Was
Jesus really divine? Or did God just adopt and divinize the human Jesus?
o Docetism
§ Greek word dokein, meaning ‘to appear’, ‘to seem’
§ Jesus did not really have a body.
§ Hologram à Jesus was a supernatural being who only ‘appeared’ to
have one.
§ Jesus is only God. Jesus is not human. Jesus is only present in spirit.
Luke 24 Module 3 Lecture: Reign of God
o Luke 4: 26-43
§ “While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and
said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them,
“Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see,
because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see, I
have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. While
they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them,
“Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.”
 o Gnosticism
§ The body and material world are evil.
• And we are saved when our souls are freed from the prisons of
our body.
§ How often have we felt dissatisfied with the bodies we are born with?
Criticizing ourselves for being too fat, too thin, too girly, too boyish,
etc.?
• For some people, this dissatisfaction with our bodies leads to
eating disorders, self-mutilation, and self-harm.
• In doing so, these people do not just destroy an outer shell,
they destroy their very selves.
o Gabriel Marcel says, “I am my body.”
§ If someone punches your body, they are not just punching something
your own. They are punching you.
o Nestorianism
§ Jesus was born a human being.
§ The Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus at His birth, baptism, or
resurrection.
• It was only adoption, at this point that Jesus became God.
§ Thus, Jesus was composed of two persons; a human person and a
divine person.
§ When the human Jesus suffers, the divine Jesus is not affected.
§ The humanity Jesus was just a mask or a fantasy which God chose to
adopt.
§ But the divine Jesus is not really affected by anything the human Jesus
went through.
§ God is just an actor in a play when He enters into the human world.
§ If God suffered, then this would demean Him.
o Council of Ephesus
§ The bishops affirmed that Mary was the Mother of God and not just
the Mother of the human Jesus.
§ The title is not about Mary at all.
§ We are affirming that Jesus is fully God and fully human.
§ Jesus is one person with a human nature and a divine nature which
are united together in the hypostatic union.

• The Necessity of Incarnation

o Aquinas wrote that Christ’s incarnation is necessary.
§ Not necessary, as in we need food to survive.
§ Necessary in the way that a car is necessary for us to get to Tagaytay.
• We could walk to Tagaytay, but our goal of Tagaytay is
attained better and more conveniently by car.
o God could have restored humanity to its dignity as His image and likeness in
many other ways.
o He could have just snapped his fingers and it would be done.
o But God chose to save us through the incarnation because it would draw us
towards the good.
 o Faith
§ By becoming human, God made it easier for humankind to believe in
Him, to trust in Him and to go towards the truth.
§ God is one of us and this increases our faith and trust in Him.
o Hope
§ Jesus becoming man is the best way God could raise our hope and
show us how deeply God loves us.
o Love
§ Our love for God is enkindled by seeing God’s love for us in Jesus.
o Doing Good
§ It is easier for us to follow God in His good works by seeing Jesus
doing the will of His Father, befriending the outcasts and sinners,
healing the sick, exorcising the possessed, etc.
o Participating in Divinity
§ Christ’s humanity bestows upon us full participation in the divinity of
God.
§ God became man so that man could become God. God raises the
dignity of fallen humanity.
§ We are temples of the Holy Spirit, members of the Body of Christ;
another Christ, another son and daughter of God.
o Withdrawal from Sin
§ When we recognize that God has raised us to such dignity, we are
encouraged to avoid sin so that we do not define such dignity.
o Humility
§ Pride is the greatest stumbling block to our relationship with God.
§ We are humbled when we recognize God’s humility.
§ Despite His omnipotence and omniscience, God desires to become
one of us weak, fragile human beings.

• The Humanity of Jesus

o The Temptation of Jesus. Matthew 4: 1-11
§ “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the
devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was
hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son
of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said
in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every
word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to
the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and
said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is
written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their
hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord,
your God, to the test.’” Then the devil took him up to a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their
magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you
will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord your God, shall you worship
 and him alone shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him and behold,
angels came and ministered to him.”
o The Agony in the Garden. Mark 14: 32-42
§ “Then they came to the place named Gethsemane, and He said to His
disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with Him Peter, James, and
John, and He began to be troubled and distressed. Then He said to
them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep
watch.” He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed if it
were possible the hour might pass by Him; He said, “Abba, Father all
things are possible to You, Take this cup away from Me, but not what I
will but what you will.” When He returned, He found them asleep. He
said to Peter, “Simon are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for
one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Withdrawing again, He prayed,
saying the same thing. Then He returned once more and found them
asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open and did not know when
to answer Him. He returned a third time and said to them, “Are you
still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of Man is to be handed over to the sinner. Get up, let
us go. See, my betrayer is at hand.”

• Docetist Tendency for the Miraculous

o Disembodied faith
§ Purely in the spiritual realm.
§ Not connected to daily life.
§ Subconsciously, seeking God’s answer in only miracles and spectacles,
we neglect to see how it is present in people, events, and experiences
of our lives.
o There are no coincidences, only God-incidences.
§ God works in the affairs of our daily life; we just need to open to His
presence speaking to us.
§ He is not just the God of miracles, He is also the God of small acts of
love, gentleness, and humility.
o God also works through our family, friends, experiences, and events. God
works through science and psychology, etc.
§ The mere fact that our world is intelligible, can be investigated,
tested, and understood is the sign of an intelligent Creator.
§ And God is present and works through His creation.

• Incarnation in Ignatian Mysticism

o “Here I recall how the Three divine Person gazed upon the vast sweep of the
earth, around the whole globe, fully peopled. I recall how, watching the
multitude sinking down into Hell, they make the decision deep in eternity that
the Second Person should become human in order to save the human race.
And so, when the fullness of time came, the Diving Persons sent the holy
angel Gabriel to our Lady.” (102)
 o Ignatian Contemplation
§ The retreatant composes the place by imagining oneself in a scene
from the Bible or in God’s presence and participating in that scene.
• In this manner, we allow God to speak to us through our
imaginations.
§ The God who created the world we can comprehend is the same God
who created us and our imaginations.
• If God can speak through other people and events around us,
then surely, He could also speak through or imagination.
§ Using our imagination in prayer means that we can trust that our
imagination can lead us to the One who created it.
• It is not a mere flight of the imagination; a fantasy producing
pleasant feelings.
• Rather, the retreatants are moved by the Holy Spirit to have
an intimate experience of a direct encounter with Jesus, with
His life and work, in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
§ Retreatants experience becoming disciples.
• They move from interior experience to lived experience.
• Seeking internal knowledge of Christ, who became incarnate
in history, gazing on Jesus; they listen to His words, gestures,
feelings, and internal dispositions, to His way of living the
mission from the Father.
• Savoring each scene in their hearts, trying to receive some
benefit of these things.
§ They become aware of the internal effect the contemplation and
what the encounter with the Lord has impressed on their hearts.
• They apply the contemplation ton their concrete existence and
those around them, in the service of God’s kingdom.

• Contemplation to Attain Divine Love

o Be mindful that love consists of deeds and not words.
o Love entails constant, generous mutual sharing between lover and the
beloved.
§ This describes the way God loves.
§ And the point of this contemplation is to enter upon the way God
loves.
o The point is not to obtain God’s love, or to learn to love God.
§ It is to know how to love the way God loves and to love God and
everyone in that way.
o Four Points on How God loves.
1. God gives gifts.
2. God remains present in the gifts He gives.
3. God remains present in you, for you are also a gift.
a. Your creation is a gift of the Father to the Son and the Holy Spirit.
b. Your redemption is a gift of the Son to the Father and the Holy
Spirit.
 c. Your sanctity and adoption as a child of God is a gift of the Holy
Spirit to the Father and the Son.
4. God keeps acting through the gifts He gives. God continues acting
through you. God shares the divine Self, giving and receiving. You are
united yourself with the beloved in to learn what the beloved Lord is
doing, and to do it with Him.

• Living the Incarnation

o Peter, James, and John had a mystical experience of Jesus in all His glory.
§ They see Jesus, conversing with Moses and Elijah.
§ They see the heavens opening up, they hear the voice of the heavenly
Father.
§ After this numinous experience, Peter asks Jesus if they should make
tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.
• This implies a desire to stay on the mountain, to stay in that
glorious moment.
§ But Jesus calls them to go down, and to journey with Him towards
Jerusalem, to continue His salvific mission.
o After an intimate experience with God, we must be willing to go forth, to
journey with Him, to serve Him, to proclaim His kingdom through love and
service of our neighbor.
§ This is the goal of all Ignatian prayer, to become contemplative in
action.
§ To incarnate our experience of God in our actions.

• Ignatian Contemplation
o Remember that you are in the presence of God.
o Relax and open yourself to the Lord.
o Read and reread the Gospel passage slowly.
o Imagine the scene, the details. Use your senses.
o Place yourself in the scene.
o Relish God’s presence. Respond to Him.
o Reflect on what moved you deeply.
o Rest in God’s presence.
o End with an Our Father.
o Bible Passages
§ John 1: 35-39 (The First Disciples)
§ Mark 5: 25-43 (Jairus’ Daughter)
§ John 13: 1-17 (The Washing of Feet)
§ John 32: 1-19 (Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples)

• “Trust God. He is with you.”

 Module 3 Lecture: Ignatian Leadership

• Humility
o Not excessive low self-esteem.
o Not excessive high regard for oneself.
o Accepting who we are as broken, sinful, beloved children of God.
o Not concerned with the opinions of others, whether good or bad.
o Grounded one’s worth in God’s love.
§ Thus, a humble leader is not pressured or threatened by the
greatness of others.

• Freedom
o Adaptive Leadership
o Ignatian Indifference
§ Do not covet riches nor poverty, honor nor dishonor, esteem, or
contempt.
§ Only desire what will be for the greater glory of God, love of neighbor,
and salvation of souls.
§ Let go of disordered attachments to material things, to comfort, to
prestige, or even to work.
§ Willing to relinquish everything we have out of love for God.

• Freedom and Adaptive Leadership

o St. Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci
§ Adaptive Leadership
• Sensitive to the needs and conditions of the communities they
are serving.
• Apply their values to the concrete situation of the people.
• Encourages greater participation of members in looking for
solutions.
• Discerns and collaborates with others and leads by bridging
with others.

• Consolation
o Secular leader is someone who inspires and encourages his people.
o Ignatian leaders go beyond merely inspiring others.
§ Not bland optimism and positive thinking.
§ Does not disregard the realities of suffering and difficulties we face.
o An Ignatian leader leads with the joy and hope arising from the Passion,
Death, and Resurrection of Jesus.
§ This is the source of the Ignatian leader’s joy and consolation.
§ It is the experience of God’s love in Jesus, that gives him spiritual
consolation.
o And this spiritual consolation enables him to bring God’s consolation to the
people he serves.
 o New Testament
§ The disciples of Jesus were devastated by Jesus’ suffering and death.
• They had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah.
o But this hope was dashed by the tragedy of Good
Friday.
o Yet, on the Road to Emmaus, the disciples finally
recognize him and realized that their hearts were
burning within them.
§ The first Christian communities lived in the consolation of the Holy
Spirit.
• And the fruit of this consolation was generosity, love, joy,
peace, and patient endurance.
• Yes, consolation is God’s comfort in tribulation. But it is also
clarity and zeal for mission, inspiration to act, joy and courage
under fire.
o The joy of an Ignatian leader is communal.
§ He is called to bring this joy to others.
§ Consolation is contagious.
• Think of celebrating milestones with our family and friends or
attending a fiesta or birthday party.
o These are opportunities for us to experience joy with
others.
o The Eucharist at Mass is the greatest source of our joy.
§ For in this Holy Communion, we are united with Jesus Himself.
§ And through Him, we are united to one another.
§ In this communal worship we rejoice in the truth that good will
triumph over evil and death.
o Joy indicates that love is active, operative, and present.
§ Joy is the manifestation of God’s grace in our lives.

• Consolation and Contemplatives in Action

o God’s consolation and serving our neighbors go hand-in-hand.
§ For it is receiving God’s loves which enables us to love others.
§ That is why Ignatian leaders are called to be Contemplatives in action.
o Contemplatives in Action spend time in self-reflection and discernment to
look within and make sense of their experiences.
§ They then take action for the greater good, informed by this reflection
and the movements of their soul.
o Reflective Leadership
§ Self-awareness and self-knowledge about one’s authentic self, one’s
strengths and weaknesses.
§ By paying attention to our inner movements, we grow in knowledge
of ourselves.
• And armed with this knowledge, we can strive to act with
more humility, patience, generosity, and compassion.
• When we know our faults, with the help of God’s grace, we
can home in on them in order to overcome them.
 o Contemplatives in Action have an intimate relationship with God.
§ Analogous to a friendship that develops over a long time between
two people.
• They are aware of each other even when they are apart or not
engaging directly with each other.
• Although they may not be talking, at some deep level they are
in touch with each other.
o This is the relationship a Contemplative in Action has
with God.
• We allow the Spirit to transform us into people who are more
like the images of God we are created to be – that is, more like
Jesus, a true Contemplative in Action.
o Oscar Romero
§ Passivists
• Believe that they cannot or should not intervene, hoping that
God will act and bring liberation all by Himself.
§ Activists
• Secularized perspective
• God is remote.
• As if He handed over complete responsibility for history to
human beings; thus, they anxiously and frantically try to move
history forward.
§ Jesus’ acts within history hand-in-hand with his Father. His attitude
is simultaneously one of total trust on one hand and utmost
commitment and co-responsibility on the other.
• Jesus knows that everything is in the hands of the Father who
watches over the birds of the air and the lilies of the filed
(Luke 12: 22-33); but He also knows that the work of the
Father is meant to come to pass through His own work.

• Sense of Direction
o Principle and Foundation
o Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
o Magis
o Ikigai

• Discernment
o Whether the inner movements in our hearts are from the Good Spirit or the
Bard Spirit.
o Choosing between two or more options.
§ It is not choosing between good and bad.
§ Means of deciding which course of action is in line with God’s will for
our lives.
§ Graced seeking for God’s salvific action in the world.
o Seek to find God in all things.
§ How is God present?
§ How is God at work?
 § How is God’s providence active?
o The way Ignatian leaders pray, reflect, and discern in their personal lives
naturally influences the culture of their community.
§ This encourages the community to pray and listen to God’s spirit
moving within the community.

• Communal Discernment
o Ignatian leadership is based on mutual trust.
o God also risks trusting us.
o Ignatius presumes that God communicates to everyone.
o In Ignatian leadership, the leader is not the only means to God.
§ Ignatian leadership presumes that God is present in any conversation,
and therefore, that both parties may be surprised by what happens as
a result of the exchange.