Seeing God in All Things
Some Catholic and Hindu Insights
Keywords:
Saint Ignatius, Seeing, seeking, and finding God in all thingsAbstract
The invitation of Saint Ignatius to see, to seek, to find God in all things is multidimensional. The quest to see God in all things can be naturally extended also to seeing God in the religious traditions around us. In a climate of true interreligious exchange, we can learn from saints and mystics in other traditions methods to see God in all things, and can also evaluate us in the light of their experience of God everywhere. Shrivaishnava Hindu tradition of South India and its visionary texts from the medieval era demonstrate us something of the Hindu version of “seeing, seeking, and finding God in all things”. This facilitates us to move to a new, deeper and more intense moment in interreligious encounter. The mutual gaze and mutual recognition of God’s presence will affirm the best insights of our traditions, and also open us into an entirely new interreligious moment.
References
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Clooney, Francis (2010) “Uruvelippatu: A Tamil Practice of Visualization and Its Significance in Srivaisnavism,” The Journal of Oriental Research (Madras) p. 81-82, Dr. V. Raghavan Birth Centenary Commemoration Volume, pp. 209-224.
de Guibert, Joseph (1972) The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, Chicago: Institute of Jesuit Sources, p. 45.
Documents of the 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (1995), “Our Mission and Interreligious Dialogue,” paragraph 5, in turn citing, John Paul II, “Address to the Leaders of non-Christian Religions,” Madras, February 5, 1986 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 78 [1986], pp. 769 f.)
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Homann, Frederick (tr) (2003-2007) Annotations and Meditations on the Gospels, Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press.
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