Which Standard will we choose?

Happy Easter!

As a Jesuit School, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius permeate our spiritual formation. Recently in a class I teach, we had a discussion on St. Ignatius' Meditation on the Two Standards, one standard of Christ, our supreme commander and Lord, the other of Lucifer, the mortal enemy of our human nature. Saint Ignatius asks this question: Under which standard do you follow, the standard of Christ or the standard of Lucifer?

The underlying question the class was wrestling with was why do humans tend to be mean/destructive/hurtful to each other. The examples of people following the standard of Lucifer certainly make the news more and often and have a more serious impact on our life and our world. Overall, I do not believe that more humans gravitate to the Lucifer side. I believe that we all have a powerful innate capacity to do good. However, I strongly agree with St. Ignatius that there is a battle going on in each of us and that all of us have the capacity to do incredibly good or incredibly evil. Lucifer is anxious to seduce us to follow his standard. To avoid falling under his influence we need to choose to actively follow the standard of Christ.

Turning to the words of Pope Francis:

“The first step that God takes toward us is that of a love that anticipates and is unconditional. God is the first to love. God does not love because there is something in us that engenders love. God loves us because he himself is love, and, by its very nature, love tends to spread and give itself. God does not even condition his benevolence on our conversion. If anything, this is a consequence of God’s love.”

I pray that we allow the love of Christ to enter our lives and our country as we celebrate Easter knowing that life never ends and love never dies.

May this Easter be especially full of love for us all as we rejoice as people of God.

Author: Mike Earsing, President