I don’t know about you, but I find I spend much of my day making certain I have the right plan, working hard to execute that plan, and trying to keep control of all the variables that might get in the way. By the end of the day I can be pretty tired and emotionally exhausted.

St. Ignatius advised a nobleman of his day, “do what you can, without afflicting yourself if you cannot do all that you wish. You must have patience and not think that God our Lord requires what man cannot accomplish. There is no need to wear yourself out, but make a competent and sufficient effort, and leave the rest to Him who can do all He pleases.”

This reminds me of a saying attributed to Ignatius, “work as if everything depends upon you and pray as if everything depends upon God.” I am pretty good at the first part of this saying, but the second part is often hard for me. In the gospel, Jesus invites me into the comfort of “letting go and letting God….”

—David McNulty serves as Assistant for Operations at the Chicago-Detroit Jesuit Province.