By Matt Gorczyca
My greatest exposure to Ignatian spirituality occurred during the second semester of my senior year at Canisius College, when I finally went on a Kairos retreat. That weekend first exposed me to a more contemplative view of my relationship with God, which greatly stimulated my faith.
A few months later, my family would face the devastation of the sudden passing of my maternal grandfather – a man who instilled in all of us the best example of a quality faith life. Losing the exemplar of how I had lived my faith, right after the incredible experience of the Kairos retreat, threatened to crash a high that I wasn’t ready to lose.
Canisius College students conversing. Featured courtesy of John Reading at Canisus College.
And so I found myself curious enough to explore. While I had been a practicing Catholic my entire life, my faith seemed rather passive up until my time at Canisius. Going on Kairos and being exposed to opportunities to “live” my faith and not just recite it every Sunday was something that more than piqued my curiosity. I now had a friendship with God and not just obligatory visits every Sunday or reciting prayers when I needed something. God was a friend who was in everything I was surrounded by, everything I had encountered, and everything I was going to experience. So I wanted to be active in this relationship, since I had spent the past 20-some years being a mere passer-by.
I happened upon a write-up about the Spiritual Exercises and paid a visit to Fr. Tom Colgan, S.J., who would help me embark on what would be the greatest spiritual journey of my life. During this time the principles of the Spiritual Exercises, like understanding our purpose in the world, managing consolation and desolation, as well as reaching our own inner freedom, gave me the tools to crystalize my own desire for what I wanted to do with my life.
I was now continuing my education as a graduate student at Canisius, where I was hoping to attain the skills and knowledge to begin a career in fundraising and development. While I was learning about leadership, organizational behavior, persuasion theory, and research methods, I was also engaging my faith by asking myself (and God) what my purpose was. These two roads converged: I wanted to make our world better and make the lives of others happier and more successful. So as I engaged my faith through the Exercises, I also engaged my purpose, and this eventually led me back to Canisius in a professional role in the Institutional Advancement division.
Now, in my important role as the assistant director of our college’s annual fund, I am raising the necessary funding for the very resources and experiences that defined my time at Canisius. I seek funds for the academic and service opportunities that engaged my heart and my mind as a student. My time at Canisius was not just about how I wanted to build a better life for myself but more so how I wanted to be my best self and a change agent to improve our community and the world beyond. This philosophy was simmering in me as an undergraduate student, but through the Exercises it boiled over into a more immediate realization.
Beyond my job description, I have a duty to show how we live our Ignatian mission. For me, it is taking cura personalis to a new level. Caring for my whole self is the beginning, but as I do so, it allows a ripple effect for my surrounding community. When I am embracing my Ignatian roots to the fullest potential, I engage others to find their own cura personalis. As a development professional, I advocate for others to have the same (or better) opportunities than I did. On a deeper level, it is about ensuring those who want a Jesuit education to receive one and those who don’t know a Jesuit education to be curious and enlightened by it.
When we together embrace our own purpose, find our own inner freedom, and have the foresight to find meaning in both consolation and desolation, then we truly are building the community that our Ignatian mission hopes to achieve.
Matt Gorczyca is assistant director of the annual fund in Advancement for Canisius College.