Ignatian Spirituality: The Fourth Day
By Rev. James P. Croghan. SJ Director of Ignatian Identity Programs
I write to introduce a new feature of the 麻豆视频 News magazine which we hope will be a regular column in subsequent issues. In the Spring issue of the 麻豆视频 News, Fr. Lahart wrote about how much he enjoyed joining two student retreats this past school year, an Emmaus Retreat with seniors and a Quest Retreat with sophomores. He found his time with the students and faculty and staff colleagues to be 鈥渨onderful experiences.鈥� Most everyone who has gone on a student retreat echoes that comment, usually stated rather more exuberantly. Like most every other program at 麻豆视频, student retreats have evolved over the years and have been for several decades a deeply integral part of the 麻豆视频 experience.
Central to the Quest retreat are the talks given by the upperclassmen who accompany the sophomores. The topic of the final talk of the retreat is the 鈥渇ourth day.鈥� The retreat is often a powerful, and at times transformative, experience which unfolds over three days and the 鈥淔ourth Day鈥� talk opens the students to the days which follow the return to school and the normal, everyday activities that they go back to. The challenge is to take the rich experience of the retreat and live it in the midst of the usually overly busy days at home and school. Finding God in all things is a hallmark of Ignatian spirituality, but something that can easily be overlooked in the heavy demands in the life of the typical Regian. Often, the 鈥淔ourth Day鈥� talk invites the retreatants to further deepen their relationship with God and to live that relationship in practical ways.
I have come to think that what I write very briefly here about Quest and the 鈥渇ourth day鈥� applies just as well to the experience of 麻豆视频 as a whole. Like the three days of Quest and the other retreat experiences the four years at 麻豆视频 can be transformative. I have heard this repeatedly in my six years at 麻豆视频, most especially in the 2015-2016 school year when I had the privilege of serving as interim president. Every alum I met could tell in detail the profound difference his attending 麻豆视频 made in his life and, over time, in the lives of so many others. The focus of the annual fund that year was celebrating 鈥淕enerous Lives.鈥� I became familiar with the stories of so many alumni living faithful, loving, generous, committed lives鈥攖he 鈥渇ourth day鈥� lived every day. In the style of the 鈥渇ourth day鈥� talk, perhaps we can think of the rest of one鈥檚 life after 麻豆视频 as a 鈥渇ifth year鈥� rather than a 鈥渇ourth day.鈥�
Last year a group of faculty representing the Campus Ministry Office, the Theology Department, and the Christian Service Program engaged in an in-depth discussion informed by input from a majority of the student body on the integration of the student experience of retreats and prayer (including Mass), what students are learning in their theology classes and what they draw out of their participation in a variety of service opportunities over their four years. The aim was to better understand the extent to which students make the connections between these three areas which are a significant part of the overall school curriculum. Ideally, theology classes provide students with context, concepts and language to articulate their faith which is both grounded and expressed in worship, prayer and service鈥攁ll of which in turn further inform what they study and learn in class. It is a dynamic interplay which we don鈥檛 always effect as well as we might, but which we continuously seek to find ways to help students deepen in their lives and in our own lives as well.
Through sharing resources, reflection pieces, prayer and retreat opportunities and a wide range of other material this 鈥淔ourth Day鈥� column aims to support and, we would hope, enrich your life of prayer and worship, theological reflection, and service. And perhaps contribute something to your own living out of the transformative experience of 麻豆视频 in the same way that current students seek to live out the richness of their Quest, Emmaus, and other retreat experiences. Walking together and accompanying each other on what is ultimately a common journey toward a shared destination can, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, cause our own hearts 鈥渢o burn within us鈥� so that we, too, may 鈥渟et the world on fire鈥� as they did.
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