By Annie-Rose Keith
Connecting Creed and Life
Editor’s note: For 2025, the Office of Catechesis’ weekly Connecting Faith and Life column will be renamed Connecting Creed and Life. As a way of celebrating the 2025 Jubilee Year and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the focus of Connecting Creed and Life will consist of reflections on the Nicene Creed that seek to relate aspects of the Creed to daily living.
I liken working for the church and being Catholic to going on a long, meandering treasure hunt for a trove that will only be found in heaven. Worth it, right, for the prize of eternity in paradise with the King of the Universe? We’re 2,000 years old! Not only do we have a lot of stuff and are credited with moving society and culture forward with patronages of the arts and sciences, but many individuals have devoted their entire lives to digging into the mysteries in which our faith holds the key. Through the saints, we’re given the means and the example to commune with God especially through ways of prayer.
St. Ignatius of Loyola is credited with developing what’s come to be known as “Ignatian” prayer. Meaning, practitioners of this specific brand of spiritual conversation are invited to meditate on specific verse or verses from scripture. Practitioners place themselves in the scene of the verse of focus. For example, a popular verse to meditate on is Parable of the Lost Sheep found in the book of Matthew. The apostle writes, “Then Jesus told them this parable: ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shouldersand goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep’” (Matthew 15: 3-6). Ignatian prayer invites us to put ourselves in the meadow with the sheep. This makes sense because we, as members of a parish, are often referred to as “a flock” by our pastors, the media, etc. Which one of the sheep are we? Are we staying with the 99 while the shepherd goes after the lost sheep? Are we the sheep that runs away? … Are we the sheep that follows the shepherd to go after the lost sheep? Lots of options for reflections here with this particular form of prayer! It’s also a nice accompaniment to this, our Jubilee Year of Hope, especially when meditating on the above parable. Jesus is always going to come after us, no matter how lost we may become.
Our church rests on the two pillars of scripture and tradition, which in themselves, are connected. They are not completely separate from each other. We as members of the Body of Christ are separate in our bodies, but one in our baptism. The Holy Trinity is separate in forms, yet one in God. Furthermore, every time we are at Mass we are actually at Calvary because of the meaning and importance of memory from our Jewish brothers and sisters. In this context, Ignatian prayer can be applied to historical events in the life and development of our Roman Catholic Church. As we dig in to this year of Jubilee and revisit pivotal councils in the history of our faith, I’m excited to imagine the room where the early fathers of our church formulated the words to disseminate the Trinity to their flocks. How was the Holy Spirit moving in that room? How did they know the Holy Spirit was moving? How do we know the Holy Spirit’s moving in the room? Friends, I humbly submit that Ignatian prayer is not only a fantastic prayer tool, but an opportunity to dig deeper into the hope that comes from following Jesus and his church.
Annie-Rose Keith is the Director of Faith Formation for Resurrection Parish in Evansville. A native of Southern Illinois, Annie-Rose enjoys dabbling in various creative outlets like painting, music, crochet and graphic design, and spending time with her husband Joe and children, Juliana and Theo.