“Forming a Practice of Hope” is a monthly guide that will be published throughout the 2025 Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. It is designed to spark a personal spiritual practice that is flexible and doable and is meant to be a road map that examines dynamics of the creative life and spiritual life. Read the other monthly guides here.
Autumn imagery is among the most iconic and evocative of the entire year. The changing colors of the leaves, apple picking in orchards … and of course “pumpkin spice” everywhere you look. It is harvest time. We mark this time with special celebrations as we store up the good things that the land has produced by our labor and God’s providence.
The act of harvesting calls to mind one of the basic principles of St. Ignatius’ “Rules for Discernment”: encouraging us to notice the different interior movements. Ignatius points to different “seasons” of the heart: consolation and desolation. Among his insights, he reminds us that when we are in consolation, we can ready ourselves for future desolation. We can bolster ourselves for that change of seasons by storing up consolation.
The act of harvesting calls to mind one of the basic principles of St. Ignatius’ “Rules for Discernment”: encouraging us to notice the different interior movements.
He defines consolation as “every increase of hope, faith and charity, and all interior joy which calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one’s soul, quieting it and giving it peace in its Creator and Lord.” Desolation is the opposite: “disturbance in [the soul], movement to things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from the Creator and Lord.” It is what Twyla Tharp would describe as a “rut”:
“A rut is when you’re spinning your wheels and staying in place; the only progress you make is in digging yourself a deeper rut. A groove is different. The wheels turn and you move forward effortlessly.”
In the creative process Tharp warns that we can fall into ruts very easily, and we should expect that this would happen so we can have the right disposition for it. “It’s going to happen sometimes: Despite all the good habits you’ve developed … there will come a time when your creativity fails you.”
Storing up our consolations strengthens us and gives us a foundation to return to when the next desolation tries to derail us.
So let’s get back to harvesting. St. Ignatius’ reminder helps us know what to do when we are in consolation … and when we are in desolation. When we are in consolation, we are asked to be aware that desolation may not be far away. Storing up our consolations strengthens us and gives us a foundation to return to when the next desolation tries to derail us. Going back to our store of consolation we have evidence that grace has proven itself in our lives, and it will continue to be something we rely on to get through the ruts. “When you’re in a rut, you have to question everything except your ability to get out of it,” Tharp writes.
Harvesting the graces of our lives helps us to do that.
Work story:
I have worked on many shows at La MaMa, especially in the Ellen Stewart Theatre (formerly known as the Annex). In the lobby of that theatre is a collage of many of the “family photos” of productions and actors who performed in that building: André De Shields, Bette Midler, Danny DeVito, Harvey Fierstein, F. Murray Abraham and others. When rehearsing became demanding and brought up many of my own judgments or doubts about the work or the process or any other challenge of collaborating with others, sometimes those frustrations were teetering on desolation. On a break I would go out to the lobby and stare at the collage. Knowing that these talented folks struggled with some of the same issues in doing their work would fill me with enough energy to go on. It was almost as if the consolation of their fruitful work was stored up in those photos and those memories.
Life story:
I received an email from a former student of mine who was now back in her home country. She had taken my acting class. After returning home, she became interested in being an educator and she volunteered at a center for students with developmental disabilities. While she was assisting in an art class, a nonverbal student began screaming and throwing clay. She said that at this point, her stored up experience from acting class kicked in. She wrote to me saying that “a phrase from your class echoed in my mind: ‘What do you want?’ The very question I had asked myself countless times during acting class!! I began observing the child more closely — his body language, his gaze, his habits — and gradually, something became clear. His gestures were not random. They were desperate attempts to communicate. The moment I stopped trying to manage his behavior and instead listened — truly listened — with my eyes, I saw his objective!”
This insight gave her a way to help this student. As I read the email, I said to myself, “store this up for the classes you are teaching now.”
We never know how something we do for another person will bear fruit. But when we see the fruit we can harvest it and remember the grace.
Further investigation:
Read Twyla Tharp’s chapter entitled “Ruts and Grooves” in her book “The Creative Habit.”
To explore more about Ignatius’ insights in the discernment of spirits, read this fine article, “Some Ignatian principles for making prayerful decisions,” by Warren Sazama, SJ.
- Pick up something that reminds you of the moment of consolation that you find yourself in … a stone, a leaf, anything you can take with you as a reminder of the consolation.
- Draw a picture of a moment of consolation. It can be expressionistic or realistic. Notice how the drawing of it helps store it up in your memory.
- Accent your journal with your favorite color highlighter. Wherever you have recorded a consolation, draw a star in the margin. When you need to go back to consolation look for these stars.
- Do an Examen were you focus solely on the consolations of the day. Ask for the grace to remember these when you need them.
- Create mantra: a verse of Scripture, a line of a poem, a single word that reminds you of a particular consolation.
- Look back over some of the practices you have established in prior months and harvest your favorite ones.
- Make a playlist of songs that remind you of graces you have received.
- Dedicate a special space: on a shelf, in a folder or box, etc., where you can store up letters or cards or printouts of emails that consoled or encouraged you.