Bill Wilson, SJ (email bill090609@shaw.ca)

I have been struggling to develop a contemporary spirituality for myself for a number of years. What is being offered in our churches is a spirituality that presumes a world and a world view that no longer exists. So when I saw an announcement that Louis Savary was offering a retreat in Guelph on The New Spiritual Exercises based on the spirituality of Teilhard de Chardin, I jumped at the chance.
      An Explanation: The Spiritual Exercises were created by St. Ignatius of Loyola primarily from his own experience, to help people develop an awareness of how God is operating in their lives and how God would like them to be and act in God’s world. At the time these exercises were revolutionary and over the centuries they have been a great help to many people in their development of a wholesome spiritual life – but they were created over 400 years ago in a world entirely different from our own.

I have been struggling to develop a contemporary spirituality for myself for a number of years. What is being offered in our churches is a spirituality that presumes a world and a world view that no longer exists. So when I saw an announcement that Louis Savary was offering a retreat in Guelph on The New Spiritual Exercises based on the spirituality of Teilhard de Chardin, I jumped at the chance.
      An Explanation: The Spiritual Exercises were created by St. Ignatius of Loyola primarily from his own experience, to help people develop an awareness of how God is operating in their lives and how God would like them to be and act in God’s world. At the time these exercises were revolutionary and over the centuries they have been a great help to many people in their development of a wholesome spiritual life – but they were created over 400 years ago in a world entirely different from our own.

Teilhard

      Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit, a Paleontologist, who realized that if the Church was to be an agent for transformation it needed to come to understand and accept the discoveries of science and especially the fact of evolution with the ramifications this would mean for dogmas, the view of God and how we related  to Jesus the Christ. At the time many Church leaders did not want to accept the fact that evolution was a reality, so Teilhard was silenced and could not publish during his life time.
      For someone to try and integrate these two mystics and creative thinkers in a book and present this in a retreat, I thought was something I needed to explore and be part of. And I'm glad I did. The people who gathered at Loyola House, A Jesuit Retreat Center, in Guelph were from different parts of the world. It was good for me to experience other people who were on a spiritual quest similar to my own.
      The first thing that “Lou” (as he asked us to call him) asked of us was that we study and pray over the seventeen basic Teilhardian Principles that gives rise to the New Spiritual Exercises. (In this article I do not have the space to do all the seventeen principles  hopefully that will come in further issues) I will deal with the first principle only.
      First Principle  “The discoveries of modern science must form an important foundation to any contemporary spirituality if it is to be true, relevant, and inspiring.” My experience has been that the Church, for the most part, has not integrated the discoveries of science into its prayers or liturgy and so I find a real disconnect between what I am experiencing in everyday life and what is going on in Church.
      I need to feel an integration with my spirituality and my everyday living and this retreat helped me do that.
      Through the discoveries of science God is revealing Godself in ways that previously were unimaginable. God is much bigger, more vast, more creative and more intimate than previously imagined. As the title of one of J.B. Philip’s books states, Your God is Too Small. I find when I accept the discoveries of science I find that my view of who God is and what God is up to is constantly changing and this makes my life much more exciting and much more joyful.

To be continued. Watch for Bill Wilson’s ongoing column on Contemporary Spirituality.