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Ignatian Spirituality in Scotland, No. 7
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IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY IN SCOTLAND
General Editor:
Eileen Cassidy snd, Ignatian Spirituality Centre, 35 Scott Street, Glasgow, G3 6PE
E-mail:
Editorial
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T
he recent revelations about the alleged hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone, to the extent of deleting messages and thus creating for Milly’s parents what proved to be a false hope of her being alive, is a scathing indictment of humanity and human institutions. It raises many questions, some of which are being addressed by the government and the police, but others of which are likely to be ignored.
There is little doubt that new legislation will be introduced to prevent a repetition of such alleged depravity. It may even be that News International’s wings will be clipped re the takeover of BSkyB and by the withdrawal of advertising by prestigious business institutions who are enraged at the allegations. But will this be enough? It seems to me that it will not be enough, because the questions that are unlikely to be addressed concern what is at the heart of this kind of behaviour, how we as humans have reached this point, and what can be done to create a change of heart.
One of the difficulties with the questions above is where to focus attention. To focus on the individual to the exclusion of institutions, or on institutions to the exclusion of the individual is to miss the very important point of the interplay between individuals and social institutions. To accuse individuals and / or institutions, for example, of being motivated by greed, while ignoring the fostering of greed by the advertising industry for the sake of healthy economies at both institutional and national levels, and while having economic success as the main criterion for assessing a nation’s / institution’s ‘health’, is to pursue a dead end. Institutions, including the institution of government, have a formative role and effect in and on society, and that formation can be for good or for ill.
But how are we to define ‘good’ and ‘ill’ and, once defined, how do we exclude the less good from the complex system of decision-making without being accused of letting people down? The answer to this question is related to the raison d’être of institutions. Without clarity on this matter, there will be few guidelines for evaluating actions and making necessary adjustments.
The task that faces society is huge and, when added to the consequences of our actions on the international scene, could lead us into a state of hopeless paralysis. But institutions are made up of individuals, and wherever there is one good person prepared to act out of that goodness there is hope. We Christians have the example of Jesus of Nazareth whose movement was of God and flourished, as Gamaliel predicted it would (Acts 5:34-39), and we have the witness of so many others down through the ages, people who act out of and on behalf of goodness at whatever cost.
In this tradition of witness, St Ignatius of Loyola left the Church a wonderful legacy in his Spiritual Exercises. Through these Exercises individuals reflect on their raison d’être, consider the direction of their lives in relationship to that raison d’être, identify the obstacles from which they wish to be freed in order to express it, and allow themselves to be loved-by-God-into-change. They then accompany Jesus as he expresses his raison d’être, reflect on how they might integrate what he did and what they desire into their lives, and then they go home and try to live it, with regular healthy self-evaluation.
We thank God for this legacy, and pray that those who have benefited from it will be a leaven that helps society address its inner identity.
- - Eileen Cassidy, snd
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10th Anniversary Art Exhibition and Competition
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Trinity, by Paul Bainbridge
The Harpie, by Dawn Archibald
Moving the Status Quo to Terra Nova
by Margot Dunnachie
M
OMENTS of epiphany can be hard to put into words. In mapping the journey of the soul, we often find ourselves relying on pictures, poetry, metaphors or even music to communicate our experiences.
It is therefore, perhaps, fitting that the Epiphany Group chose to celebrate its tenth anniversary with an art exhibition and competition. Artists were invited to enter works on the theme of ‘epiphany’ in any medium for the show, staged in the Resurrection Chapel at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh during the first week in May.
Opening the exhibition, writer and broadcaster Richard Holloway, former Primus of the Episcopal Church, spoke about the power of art to preserve the insights and experiences that easily pass us by: “Art pierces deeply into the meaning of things and shows us something we hadn’t seen before - art is an epiphany.”
The exhibition was organised by three members of the Epiphany Group, Melitta Bosworth, Rachel Inglis and Barbara Buda, who paid tribute to a larger team who helped make it possible. Seventy-one works by thirty-seven artists were submitted, in painting, weaving, collage, photography and sculpture. Thirty works were chosen for the final exhibition.
A judging panel selected the winner, the prize money having been provided by donors. The prize of £1000 was awarded to Paul Bainbridge from Musselburgh for ‘Trinity’, a sculpture made from driftwood and shards of perspex.
Mr Bainbridge, a former teacher, said he made his multi-layered sculpture from wood he found on the beach. “Sometimes you let the wood lead you, like going on an adventure with a found object.” He described the experience of winning the prize as “amazing”. The judges also chose two highly commended entries, ‘The Harpie’ by Dawn Archibald, and ‘Moving from Status Quo to Terra Nova’ by Margot Dunnachie.
Elizabeth South of the Epiphany Group said: “The exhibition is a really wonderful way to mark the end of a year of celebrations; it’s a really colourful and exuberant expression of the tenth anniversary. We appreciate that artists produced so many different and exciting interpretations of ‘epiphany’.”
Crystal Lubinsky made her painting on a beach in North Carolina, using sea water to dilute the paint. She described the work as “an emotional plea to humans from the sea” for environmental stewardship.
Theodora Hawksley’s tapestry of a piece of bark “explores how contem-plative attention to ordinary objects can reveal them as radiant with the beauty of God”.
Wound of Longing, by Theodora Hawksley
Kathleen Amoore’s painting ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desire’ captures the exhilaration of parenthood, while David Grossart’s ‘Madonna and Christ Child’ captures something of its sadness. The painting took on a new resonance, he wrote, when shortly after making it he experienced the loss of a child.
All those in the exhibition stand in a long tradition of artists using their gifts to express ideas and experiences, and an equally long tradition of the Christian church encouraging and supporting the Arts. Madonna and Child, by David Grossart
But it is, perhaps, the title of Margot Dunnachie’s highly commended work which lingers: ‘Moving from Status Quo to Terra Nova’. In one sense, this is the journey of all seekers and guides in spiritual direction. The Epiphany Group’s tenth anniversary is a special milestone on its own journey towards new challenges and possibilities.
- Susan Mansfield
(Susan is a writer and Arts journalist)
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Ongoing Formation:
A Six Day Training Retreat for Spiritual Directors
at the Coach House (Inverness)
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n response to requests from those who had recently completed our course in spiritual direction, we designed and ran a programme which comprised 3 days being a retreatant and 3 days being a guide. Participants were invited to commit to both 3-day events which took place in November 2010 and March 2011. For the guides, this time also included group supervision and some tuition on the place of desire and recognition of movement and countermovement. They also explored reasons for offering particular biblical passages in relation to where the Spirit seemed to be moving their retreatant.
To become more aware of God’s presence at work within and among us we shared a time of silent meditation at the beginning and end of each day. Time was set aside for guides to reflect on their own experience, and also to share together as a group. They also contributed to the running of the Coach House by helping in the kitchen or garden for an hour each day, thus having an opportunity to feel part of a team.
Group supervision each day followed the guide’s personal reflection, so that the immediacy of the director/retreatant session could be closely examined in order to gather insights about process and their responses. Theoretical input using scenarios from spiritual direction sessions gave opportunities to learn in more depth aspects of some of the dynamics of the Exercises. The daily meetings with a retreatant then offered the possibility of using the insights recently learnt, if appropriate.
From our reflection and the feedback received about this new course, several things seem to be significant. The continuity of the process became very apparent in two ways. Firstly, the daily meeting with a retreatant highlighted for the guide the primacy and immediacy of the Holy Spirit at work in another’s experience. One participant wrote: ‘The director, in a sense, is the least important of the trio of directee, God and director. It was amazing to give my directee a reading and to see where God led the person in the time before I next saw them. Even giving a ‘wrong’ reading was used by God in a way that helped the directee’. Secondly, the value of the tightly focussed residential time scale enabled insights to be harvested.
We would like to share with others this way of extending the training of new spiritual directors, and next year hope to provide an opportunity for those who are interested to participate in a similar short and worthwhile course. In addition, we are exploring the possibility of a follow-up event based on some further needs expressed by this year’s participants.
- Joyce Ferne and Ruth Flockhart,
The Coach House Kilmuir Trust, Kilmuir, Inverness
www.coachhousekilmuir.org
Driveway to the Coach House
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GPRL Reaches Galloway
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had just arrived home from a day away when the phone rang. A voice I didn’t recognise said hesitantly, “I’m not sure why I’m phoning you …” For the next half hour we spoke about the proposed GPRL course (Growth in Prayer and Reflective Living) which was being offered in Galloway for the first time, and whether the caller felt this was something for her. I’m pleased to say that it was.
A favourite description of a Christian is a thirsty person who has discovered where to find water and tells others, as did the Samaritan woman, featured right (Chester Cathedral). The idea to run the course was inspired by my own positive experience seven years earlier. Having just moved back to Edinburgh and been bereaved, I was in an unhappy place and unsure of God. I’d just heard of GPRL and decided to give it a go, not knowing what to expect. I discovered a God who accepts and loves me as I am and is calling me to become the person I’ve been created to be. I just wanted to tell people in Galloway where to find this water.
After an agonising wait to reach the minimum number before the deadline, the course went ahead in October 2010, with tutors Alison Moody, Sr Margaret Fielding and me. We met monthly in a venue in the centre of Galloway on Friday evening and all day Saturday. A positive spin-off of this arrangement was that participants came from far afield, even Burnley in Lancashire. There were 19 participants and, despite the harsh winter, we managed to keep going without cancellation.
Alison and Margaret stayed with me on the Friday night and we quickly got into the routine of a last-minute run-through of the weekend’s sessions, followed by a meal and departure for the venue. After the Friday session we prepared the following month’s material and allocated tasks. An occasional glass of wine helped this go smoothly!
The course went far too quickly. What stands out for me is the energy and enthusiasm of the group. I also remember my surprise at the long list of negative images of God the participants rattled off at top speed! It took some time to coax out the positive images.
I discovered my inner baker during GPRL. I decided that the participants deserved something more substantial than a few ginger biscuits at their tea break, so one month I baked a cake. The enthusiasm with which it was greeted inspired me to produce more ambitious cakes in months that followed. One participant told me at the end of the course how comforting it had been to have cakes baked specially and that the chat before tea-break came to include, “I wonder what Rachel has baked for us this month?”
I was extremely pleased with the course, but I leave the final word and impression to some of the group whose commitment and experiences are what made it a success:
· The whole course has been full of spiritual riches.
· GPRL has been a delightful discovery of Jesus in new ways in my own prayer experience and in others. The companionship of others, both course participants and leaders, has been welcoming and refreshing. GPRL gives you prayer techniques to look into your faith and learn to accept that God has already accepted you as you are - no alterations needed. Desirable? Maybe. Necessary? No!’
· It was an accepting group, a loving group in the best Christian sense. We didn’t have to ‘be’ anything. - Rachel Inglis
Kirkcudbright