Sustain

We all have “aha” moments—like lightning flashes illuminating dark skies. St. Ignatius famously had his after being wounded in battle. He abandoned his party boy lifestyle and turned toward God.

“It initially led him down a path of religious fanaticism and scrupulosity,” says Tony Cortese, director of Ignatian Spirituality at SCU’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. But what’s wrong with scruples?

Pointing to the experiences of St. Ignatius, Cortese notes: When you obsess over whether or not something was done “right,” you may be scrupulous.

Ignatius found a path to moderation, Cortese says. And though none of us are 16th-century saints, we can work to ensure that we, too, are well enough to sustain our moments of clarity.

“We don’t just act,” he says. “We must reflect. We take care of our inner life so that we are more radically available to our world.”