The Order of Things

True confessions. I have a strong proclivity for order. No matter where I am or who I am with, I naturally (and sometimes compulsively) seek to create or recreate order. I suppose I come by it naturally. I learned order from my orderly mother. I’m a “J” on the Myers-Briggs, i.e., someone who prefers structure and order. I raised four children who were less than six years apart. Establishing order was a necessity in our lively household!

Even so, I still get lots of things out of order. In other words, there are occasions when I make some things far too important at the expense of other things that are truly more important. For instance, when I’m with my grandchildren, who naturally undo the order that I so painstakingly curate, I often notice a revving motor inside urging me to shift into “order” gear. If I placate this urge, my tangled attachment to order can sabotage the quality of our time together. And that’s a crime!

St. Ignatius of Loyola described this human tendency to get things out of order as having disordered desires. When we become overly committed to pursuing any desire above a loving connection with God and others, we drift from our “great desires,” becoming alienated from ourselves and God, not to mention those in our family and community. The antidote isn’t to deny ourselves what we desire, but to put our desires in the right order.

To elaborate, here are some thoughts from Fr. Mark Thibodeax, a Jesuit priest and scholar in Ignatian spirituality: 

Probably the most surprising feature of the Ignatian approach is the premise that God’s will can often be discovered in our “great desires.” Much of Christian spirituality presumes that our desires are bad and will lead us to sinful actions. Ignatius believed that our problem was not desiring too much but rather desiring too little. He believed that we sin not because we’ve followed our desires but because our desires are “disordered.” That is, the whole collection of our desires is placed in the wrong order, leaving us to follow petty, superficial desires rather than the great big desires that God has placed in our hearts. What are these “great desires?” Ultimately, they are variations of actions that will lead to faith, hope, and love for God and our fellow neighbor. If we do the work of discernment in our prayer, we will discover these great desires and follow them rather than the petty, superficial ones.

Love of God Orders All Other Loves

Jesus had no qualms about declaring what belongs at the top of the list of our priorities. In fact, someone asked him what should be most important (i.e., what is the greatest commandment), and this is how Jesus responded:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Jesus argued that everything we pursue is secondary compared to the priority of loving God and neighbor as self. The Apostle Paul expressed the same idea. “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13). The greatest commandment. The greatest virtue. Both examples tell us that the order of things has consequences. Whatever pursuits fail to lead us to a life of love undermine God’s desire for us.

But when we get things out of order, what kind of consequences are there? Consider the impact when someone loves money more than they love God and neighbor. Often their families and relationships suffer terribly, not to mention their own character. Even more consequential, consider what happens if a whole nation loves money more than God and neighbor. The result is staggering. The lust that drives greed throws off the entire ecosystem of human flourishing. Whole segments of the population live without their basic needs being met, while those with money and the power and privilege it affords create systems that keep them on top and others on the bottom.

As Jesuit Edward Kinnerk writes,

“Superficial desires—such as those linked with consumerism—demonstrate all too graphically our cultural narcissism, but more authentic desires always lead us out of ourselves and into the human community.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about the order of things as I puzzle over the disturbing state of the church in our country. How can so many Americans claim that ours is a Christian nation founded on Christian values? Is war the result of disordered priorities? Is the degradation of our planet and its natural resources? How about the way immigrants and people of color are mistreated? Do each of these issues reflect our out-of-order desires? It may sound simplistic, as if ordering our desires magically eliminates all conflict—it doesn’t; but it does expose the disorder at the crux of the conflicts we’re witnessing.

Jesus didn’t hesitate to tell those who followed him that the order of things matters. Loving God with all of our being and loving our neighbor as ourselves is to be the top priority of Christ’s followers. Not a sentimental love, or a love in words only, but a practiced love. “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?” (I John 3:17) That, friends, is a rhetorical question.