Day 7
Three Classes of People
How we respond when God asks for something
c. 1609
Grace to ask for
Lord, make me the kind of person who actually does what You ask — not just intends to.
""If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.""
Matthew 19:21
Composition of Place
Ignatius presents three types of people, each of whom has acquired something — wealth, a relationship, a way of life — that they sense God may be asking them to reorder. Each responds differently.
Points for Meditation
The first class: perpetual intention
The first class wants to get right with God — someday. They intend to deal with the disordered attachment, to make the change God is asking for. But they never do. Life intervenes. The urgency fades. They die with the intention intact and the action untaken. Good intentions do not sanctify. Only choices do.
The second class: negotiation
The second class is willing to act — but on their terms. They will give up the attachment if God lets them keep it in a modified form. They will make the change if it doesn't cost too much. They pray for God to change His mind rather than for the grace to change theirs. This is bargaining with God, and it rarely ends well.
The third class: indifference
The third class has achieved what Ignatius called "indifference" — they are genuinely willing to keep or give up the thing, depending entirely on what God asks. They have no preference. If keeping it serves God, they keep it. If giving it up serves God, they give it up. This is the goal of the Exercises: not heroic sacrifice, but genuine freedom.
Colloquy
Examine yourself honestly: which class do you belong to, in the areas of your life where God is asking something? Ask for the grace of the third class — not the grace to give everything up, but the grace to be free enough that you could.
Remain in silence for a few minutes.
Do not rush to the next exercise.