Authentic Spirituality

“An authentic spirituality is a simple spirituality.”[1]
 

I

’ve been reading this book recently, feeding my growing interest in Ignatian spirituality, and the profundity of just this one sentence seems immense.  I’ve often thought it true that the simpler something can be done, or made, the better; great, complex projects or other contrivances usually seem to lead to great difficulties, if not absolute failure.  What’s true in the world can be no less true in our spiritual lives, the simpler the better.

What do I mean?  Well, for example in lectio very often 10 minutes is better that both nothing and an hour.  These days, it’s hard enough to find 10 minutes to sit down, focus, and just soak in God’s Word – an hour is impossible and even attempting such a thing can be disastrous.  Prayer doesn’t have to be difficult, just sit down and talk to God.  Perhaps more importantly, when you’re done talking, take a few minutes to listen to what He has to say.

It’s quite simple really.

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[1] From God's Voice Within: The Ignatian Way to Discover God's Will by Mark E. Thibodeaux  (Kindle E-book, Location 70)