Beacons of Business - 29

[Guest guest]

Sairam Sisters and Brothers,

We will continue with Andrè L. Delbecq, D.B.A., Director - Institute for

Spirituality and Organisation Leadership, J. Thomas and Kathleen L. McCarthy

University Professor, Santa Clara University, Alameda, CA, USA

---

"After I stepped down from my post as Dean, the Jesuits held a meeting of their

Western province and I was invited to attend the conference. The Jesuits were

gathering to respond strategically as a religious community to the new

challenges society was facing at the end of the century. The Jesuit retreat

master sketched multiple and seemingly unsolvable challenges. Then he said,

"Now, let's go pray."

The conference was held on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los

Angeles. I observed these holy men finding quiet places along a bluff on which

the campus is sited and moving into stillness. Before this time, I had never

engaged a meditation practice, and I had never been inwardly still. I was a

classic hyper-A personality. So in contrast to the Jesuits, I was pacing up and

down while observing these men in perfect stillness. I prayed, "God, these men

know something I don't know about prayer. Teach me." I'd never seen people

practice such complete quiet and stillness. They came back to the next session

inwardly composed, whereas I was anxious.

As a result of this experience, I felt drawn to take a retreat based on the

Ignatian exercises, feeling that this formative experience in the Jesuit

tradition would help prepare me for more worthy prayer. I knew I was still a

spiritual child. Yet I had enough sense to know that prayer really mattered and

that I needed to learn how to engage in it. I was inspired by these men, whom I

could just sense that their ability to engage compassionate actions was built

on prayer. I believed that prayer would be the path leading to a deepened

spiritual journey."

© Global Dharma Center 2004

http://www.globaldharma.org