Book Review - Burning with Love for God

Paul C. DeCelles and M.F. Sparrow's guide to the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, Burning With Love for God, provides rich insight into the ways of God and the spiritual dimensions of love, decisions, and relationships.  Ignatius' original plan was to challenge a new believer in Christ to make a 30-day retreat to discern his calling and state in life, and specifically whether he was called by God to join the order. The framework and methods can be adapted to any believer at any stage of faith, and in any circumstance of life. The primary objective can be seen as empowering the individual, by encouraging a love-relationship with Christ, to be freed from both the bondage of sin and inordinate attachments, so that they can make decisions together with a single will.

Detailed advice addresses many different aspects of the Ignatian retreat; some have been the subject of entire books on their own. The integrated impact of all of these dimensions is intended to produce a fundamental change in the individual's life, even if not choosing to become a Jesuit. After thirty days, a person will have formed the habit of turning to Jesus and discussing with Him as a friend every situation, every decision. Sadly, in modern times, few can spend this much time in seclusion. Hence, each individual believer desiring such a lifestyle must adapt these time-proven principles to their own situation.

Three types of love - implemental, semi-personal, and personal - span the range of how people love God. Some love Him for what He does for them, such as saving, forgiving, protecting and providing for them. Some love Him because of His divine attributes, for example, His perfect love, His unblemished holiness, the beauty of His glory. The meditations' goal is to inspire in us love of God based on who we have found Him to be through personal relationship. The meditations' essence is dedicated contemplation of one of the gospel stories about Jesus, bringing them to life through visualization in our mind's eye of the scene, surroundings, actions, and words of all of the participants. The emotional impact of these visualization opens the door to an affective response to the words and actions of Christ. A colloquy establishes the habit of speaking to the Lord as a friend and hearing His voice. And thus, a personal relationship with Him is built.

The traditional religious paradigm is: God commands, we obey. This is so ingrained into our lives and church culture that to suggest the following is usually viewed as heresy. Just as a child grows from obeying his parents to an adulthood of marriage and making decisions jointly with his or her spouse, so God wants us to grow from merely obeying His commands to jointly making decisions with Him. This is not simply 'my will is to do His will', nor 'His will becomes my will', and certainly not 'I can persuade Him to do my will', but that that through the relationship, we have a joint, merged, indivisible will, because our desires are inextricably fused.

Since this ideal is rarely achieved, the authors explain three decision paradigms. A first-time decision is the direct, unmistakable word of God to our own heart and mind, without prior interaction, of His will for us. We know for certain the first time He speaks, and we make the decision. A second-time decision is based on a series of consolations and desolations, considering how the Lord is speaking to our spirit about the different aspects of a decision, and weighing them until we get a clear sense. A third-time decision is based on a rational assessment of the pros and cons of various courses of action, considered in the light of God's word and the advice of Godly counsellors. None of these models is superior, as God decides which path of decision-making He will lead us.

Other books have expounded on the Ignatian approach to the discernment of spirits. Every believer needs to test the spirits (1 John 4:1) and every believer experiences spiritual consolation and desolations. Ignatius' agere contra strategy is not the only tool for spiritual warfare, but it is effective. Try it out (reviewer's example) - every time a driver tailgates or cuts you off, pray fervently for his salvation. He likely won't start driving like an angel, but you have put a stake in the ground that Satan does not like. A much more challenging discernment is of false consolation that may confuse us, as the devil can masquerade as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:14) This remains one of the most difficult discernments in the Christian life, as even Ignatius wrestled with it in the well-known story of seeking the Lord's will on the exact nature of the vow of poverty that Jesuits were to live.

The bottom line is that every Christian is called to love as God loves, and we ought to strive to.