Gerry W Hughes, SJ, the well-known
British Jesuit, author and spiritual guide, spoke to Victor Edwin, SJ for the
Indian Jesuit magazine, Jivan.
Excerpts from the interview:
Religious indifference and
skepticism seem to mark the life of many people in the West. How do Exercises
help people to come closer to God?
In
Augustine's words Deus intimior intimo
meo. ‘God is closer to me than I am to myself'! The retreat-giver can never
have enough practice in listening and so enabling the pilgrim to recognise more
clearly what God is communicating.
How do you use Spiritual Exercises
for promoting ecumenical relations in the UK?
I
never use the Exercises in order to build up ecumenical relations, but I do try
to ensure that all the retreats I give are open to people of all Christian
denominations and none. Then God does the ecumenical work. It is astonishing. I
have learned so much from pilgrims of other Christian/religious traditions
about God, about the power of the Spiritual Exercises. And through making a
silent retreat together, praying together in silence, people across the
denominations find unity.
Can
the Exercises have the space for relating with people of other faiths? Jerome
Nadal was asked in the 16th century for whom these Exercises are suited. He answered,
‘For Catholics, for Protestants and for Pagans' I have done much of this kind
of work and every experience has confirmed the truth of Nadal's words. I have
also worked much with other Christian denominations in giving retreats and in
training others, across the denominations, to give these retreats.
What would you suggest for promoting
Exercises as an apostolic tool in increasingly post-Christian cultures?
Start
doing it. There is an ancient rabbinic saying, ‘Do and you will understand'. To
which one might add ‘Fail to do and you will never understand'.
Can the laity carry forward the
legacy of Exercises in the West?
This
is a most important question. Unless the laity are involved, there will be no
promotion of the Exercises. There is a wealth of spirituality among ‘ordinary
people' across the denominations and outside them. I have encountered this fact
continually in the last 30 years. Spirituality is usually presented in religious
terminology and language which fails to address peoples' deepest longings, so
most people are not aware of their own spiritual gifts. If they do become aware
of them, they are usually unable to find training/openings into this kind of
work, unless they are relatively wealthy and have plenty of free time.
I
know it is possible to involve the laity and train them in passing on the
Exercises to others, and to do it at little or no expense and to organise
non-residential training which does not interfere with working hours. I have
seen it happen frequently. I know many gifted spiritual
directors/retreat-givers who have developed their gifts in this way at little
or no financial cost and in spite of living busy lives.
This
way of working is very hard work, requires much thought, reflection, prayer and
cooperation. The harvest is great: the labourers are remarkably few! This is
important: If we are to do anything effective in promoting the Spiritual
Exercises, we need to begin by facing the facts. Yes, great work has been done
on promoting the Spiritual Exercises in the UK since Vatican II, through
promotion of the individually-given retreat, but as far as the Jesuits are
concerned, it tends to be work with the wealthier and more leisurely sections
of the population. This is not a popular message. But facts speak louder than
words!