St. Ignatius of Loyola loved to ask: “How are you doing right now?” When I first heard that St. Ignatius asked this, especially when meeting someone for the first time, I felt this huge “how nice” wave rising within the core of my being.
As people of the 21st century, often we become so engulfed in our busy schedules. We are intent on trying to figure out which beep or ring to answer first, and we forget about the being part of our existence.
True happening: one day I was in my office and the phones were ringing—cell phone and land line—and the e-mail alerts beeping. After just a few moments of “silence,” the phone rang, and I absent-mindedly picked up the computer mouse to answer the phone! Thank goodness no one responded on the other end of the mouse. I then realized I needed to step back and take a moment just to be. If St. Ignatius had been in my office at that moment, I am quite certain he would have asked me, “How are you doing right now?”
Part of human nature is to take things for granted. By asking the St. Ignatius question, we invite one another to reflect on the goodness as well as the struggles within and around us each and every day. Those who take the time to really listen are also enriched by the response. We then create that human connectedness that is bonded and sustained by God.
Albert Schweitzer sums up the need to be there, present to the “God-Space” within our own persons, as well as present to others by saying, “Sometimes our light goes out, but it is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled the light.”
So as St. Ignatius would ask, “How are you doing right now?”
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Celebrate the spirit of Ignatius with 31 Days with St. Ignatius, hashtag #31DayswithIgnatius.
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