The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius have been a true gift in my life.  Some aspects of the Exercises have been easy for me to embrace and others have been quite challenging.  My trust in God helps me to accept the grace of the challenge.  I have been often challenged to enter into a space of indifference, of spiritual freedom.

Kevin O’Brien, S.J., in The Ignatian Adventure, describes Ignatian indifference not as an unfeeling lack of concern but rather holding all of God’s gifts reverently, gratefully but also lightly.  Fr. O’Brien reminds us to embrace God’s gifts or let them go, all depending on how they help us fulfill our vocations.

Despite the turbulent times in which we live, I have recently been experiencing a profound sense of Ignatian indifference.  Although people sometimes confuse indifference with complacency, indifference is not a passive abdication.   I am guided to be attentive to God and indifferent to created things.

In today’s Gospel from Luke, Jesus shares with the crowd the parable of the Sower and the Seeds.  This parable brings to mind Ignatian indifference.  Jesus explains the parable to his disciples that the seed is the word of God.  Some seeds are taken away by the Devil, temptations create rocky ground so the seeds can have no root, and the thorns represent the anxieties, riches and pleasures of life. Yet a generous and good heart can truly hear the word of God and bear fruit.  This parable helps me continue to be attentive to God by orienting my life like rich soil to hear and accept the word of God.

Today I pray for a generous and good heart.  I pray to be aware of the temptations of life such as social media, 24 hour news cycle, fearful gossiping that do not allow the word of God to take root.  I continue to pray for the grace of indifference when worries about friends and family and community abound and pull me away from God.

I pray the Ignatian Suscipe:
"Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my whole will, all that I have and all that I possess. You gave it all to me, Lord; I give it all back to you. Do with it as you will, according to your good pleasure. Give me your love and your grace; for with this I have all that I need."