But, at the same time, he recognizes that the mysterious human heart is regularly struck by particular “arrows” from God that wound, prod, pinch, heal, and free souls. He, too, is keenly aware of the fickle and confused state of most people’s inner life. Ignatius of Loyola, though, reminds me that this is not the last word on the matter. When we worship, we lose ourselves in what we’re doing, and discover the properly ordered moment of self-reflection to be the moment when we know as we are known by God. ![]() Our inner life, fickle and confused as it is, is marked and shaped and held most fruitfully by the prayers, hymns, and bodily actions that the liturgy gives us “externally” to pray, sing, and perform. It also extends the range of what we understand as “morality” beyond conventional ethical questions about doing the right thing in hypothetical situations of moral quandary, and includes, among the key ingredients of moral formation, the liturgical life. Focusing our moral attention on how our actions shape us, rather than what our feelings are telling us, can be liberating for those who don’t find their feelings either consistent or generally reliable. “You are what you do,” an early mentor told me, and this has seemed to be wise counsel in a world often inclined toward navel-gazing. ![]() I have usually been cautious about wading too deeply into discussion of “interior movements” of the soul. ![]() “The human mind and heart are a mystery but God will loose an arrow at them, and suddenly they will be wounded” (Ps.
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