Take Courage

We reach now Saint Ignatius' classic, and I'd say famous, Rule Five. I love speaking about Rule Five, and I would say this: if you were to forget everything else that we are saying about the Spiritual Exercises—you won't, but it's just a way of making a point—I would beg of you, please, never forget Rule Five.

Rule Five will get you safely through almost any spiritual darkness you may ever encounter. And it reads as follows: In time of desolation, never make a change. Eight words that have blessed men and women for five hundred years: In time of desolation, never make a change. When you are in spiritual desolation, never change anything in your spiritual life.

So if I fill out Ignatius' words a little more, what he's saying is this: When you know that you are in spiritual desolation, don't ever, while you are in spiritual desolation, make any changes to anything you had planned to do in your spiritual life before that desolation began. So, for example, here is a man who has it on his calendar to go to Confession at 4:00 in the parish on the coming Saturday. And this is his usual routine periodically—Saturday Confession. And then, let's say during the week, something difficult happens at work or there are some problems at home, and he doesn't really respond well to these.

He's letting his prayer slip. He doesn't feel God's closeness, doesn't feel much energy for spiritual things. And now it's Saturday morning, and he's remembering that he planned to go to Confession at four. And he finds himself thinking, you know what? I don't know that I'm really in the best shape to go to Confession today.

Maybe it’d just be better for me to go next week when I’ll be better prepared. Okay. Two questions. Is he in a time of spiritual desolation? Heaviness of heart in the spiritual life.

Yes. Is he in a time of spiritual desolation, thinking of changing a spiritual proposal that was in place before the desolation began? Yes. And whenever the answer to those two questions is yes, Ignatius' answer is very clear: In time of desolation, never make a change.

What should this man do at 4:00? Get himself to Confession exactly as he had planned. And if he does, very likely, that Confession itself will break the burden of the spiritual desolation. Of course, the enemy will try to get us to change our spiritual proposals in time of spiritual desolation. Here is a man who—well, let's make it a woman.

And she prays for twenty minutes with Scripture at seven in the morning, let's say every day, and that works well for her. And let's say again, something in the family hasn't gone well. Maybe she's worried about some physical things—whatever the human vulnerabilities are. And now some spiritual desolation has come in there. Prayer has been slipping.

She doesn't feel God's closeness. She's trying, but it's hard. And she gets up this morning and something in her just says, I don't know. You know, she thinks about the prayer at 7:00 AM. It just seems too difficult.

And she finds herself thinking, you know what? Maybe I'll do it after work this evening. Two questions: Is she in a time of spiritual desolation? Yes.

Is she in a time of spiritual desolation? Thinking of changing a spiritual proposal that she had in place before the desolation began? Again, yes. Whenever the answer to those two questions is yes, what does Ignatius tell us in Rule Five? In time of desolation, never make a change.

And very likely, if the woman does pray at seven as usual, that's going to do much to lift the burden of the spiritual desolation. So I beg of you—we could go on with this—but I beg of you, please never forget Rule Five. If you want, I'm going to say those eight words again. You can say them out loud with me if you wish: In time of desolation, never make a change.

Let's do it once more. In time of desolation, never make a change. And those eight words will bless you forever. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to Ignatius for Rule Five in my own life and how many poor decisions I have not made because of Rule Five, and you'll find the same thing as well. Our text this time is Jesus walking on water, and this is in Matthew 14:22–33.

So again, we pray for an intimate knowledge of Jesus so that we may love Him more and follow Him more closely. And we let our hearts find peace, slow down a bit, and become aware of the gaze of love in the Lord's eyes as He looks upon us as we begin this prayer. Then He made the disciples get into the boat and precede Him to the other side while He dismissed the crowds. After doing so, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone.

Meanwhile, the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. He came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage."

It is I. Do not be afraid. Peter said to Him in reply, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.

But when he saw how strong the wind was, he became frightened. And beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did Him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

And now we're there, the other side of the lake. The 5,000 have been fed. Evening has fallen. And I hear Jesus send the disciples across the lake in the boat, and I see them go. And with great goodness, Jesus also sends the 5,000 home.

And now he is alone, and this is one of those times when we are privileged just to glimpse the deep mystery, the deep love, the deep source of joy in the Heart of Jesus. That's what prayer means for Him: communion with His Father. And He is alone now, up on the hillside under the night sky. And reverently I watch, I accompany Him as He goes into the hills to pray. And now I watch Him pray.

In some way, I sense the deep joy in His heart, in His communion with the Father, the thrill of mutual love between the Father and the Son, which draws Him into prayer. As the quiet hours of the night pass, hour after hour, He is deeply enveloped in prayer. I'm going to interrupt the commentary for a moment just to say, if we ever want to know what prayer most deeply is, we see it here. And our prayer is just to share in this. We are so privileged to share in this.

In silence and with reverence, I watch now this mystery of prayer, of the deep communion of Jesus with His Father. But in the boat, the disciples are struggling. As the night hours pass, the wind and the waves are against them, and they struggle. That struggle is familiar to me too in my own life, when I want to progress toward a goal and things don't seem to work out. And in some way now, I'm there with them in the boat.

I see their tiredness. I hear their disheartened words. And you and I have spoken words like this at times too. But Jesus does not leave them alone, does not leave us alone. He comes to them, walking on the water.

He approaches them, but they don't recognize Him. And these are the times when Jesus is right there in our lives, but we haven't seen Him yet. And so they're terrified. They cry out in fear. And quickly He speaks to them as He does to us.

Take heart. It is I. Have no fear. Take heart. It is I.

Have no fear. I hear Him say these words to me, and I listen to them again and again and again. My heart responds. And I see the courage in Peter. Lord, if it is You, bid me to come to You on the water.

And I ask for that same courage from the Lord to come to Him when I sense His call to step out of the comfortable, to step out of the boat, not to hold back. And Jesus replies; I hear His invitation, "Come," invitation to Peter and to us. I see Peter leave the boat and begin to walk on water with his gaze fixed on Jesus. And I watch as Peter becomes aware of the wind, of the human insecurity of his position. I sense his courage fail and his fear rise.

He begins to sink and he cries out, Lord, save me. I too have cried out in fear at times. And immediately, the Gospel tells us Jesus responds. And their two hands meet: the hand upstretched in fear of Peter as he sinks, and the divine hand stretched down to him, which grasps his, holds him up, and saves him as it saves me. O man of little faith, why did you doubt?

O man, O woman of little faith, why do you doubt? Why do we doubt? I asked Jesus for a simple faith and a great faith. Jesus and Peter join the others in the boat. The wind dies down.

Peace returns. And they lift their hearts in adoration. And I join with them as I too say, truly, you are the Son of God. I'll conclude with just a very brief quotation from one who knew Blessed Solanus Casey, this man who died in 1957 and was a porter for so many years at Saint Bonaventure in Detroit. And he said words to her that she never forgot and was able to quote long after.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.

Every day you will wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God. And that's what prayer can do. May God grant us increasingly that blessing as we continue to pray with the Exercises. Amen.