JESUITS Magazine: “Introducing Carlos Aedo”

by Henry Frank

Carlos Aedo is the Executive Director of the Office of Ignatian Spirituality (OIS). Prior to beginning this role in June 2021, he was OIS’s Director of Hispanic Ministries. In a recent conversation, Carlos shared his thoughts on the Ignatian Year, parenting, and discovering who we really are as children of God. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of JESUITS, a publication of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus.

The theme for the Ignatian Year is “to see all things new in Christ.” What do you think that means for our spiritual lives?

I think it means two things. First, it is a reminder that Christ is the center of our spirituality. Yes, one goal of the Spiritual Exercises is to help us make decisions, but it is fundamentally about friendship with Christ.

Secondly, I think that we are invited to open our hearts and minds to allow God to transform us. The call to conversion is ongoing. We are never finished being converted.

Ignatius was a pilgrim, peregrino in Spanish, which literally means “a walker” or “a wanderer,” someone always on the move. As “pilgrims” in the Ignatian sense we are never done, never settled.

What is the invitation of the Ignatian Year for those us who aren’t Jesuits, but are inspired by their spirituality, mission, and way of proceeding?

First, it is an invitation to both lay people and Jesuits to deepen their faith. Remember that Ignatius began his spiritual journey as a lay person. He felt these spiritual movements and started learning from them. Ignatian spirituality was created by someone who knew the structure and messiness of being a lay person.

The second invitation, from my perspective, has to do with mission. I think the Ignatian Year encourages us to reflect on our mission as lay men and women. How can we become better teachers, better lawyers, better accountants, better stay-at-home dads?

What would you say to someone interested in going deeper with Ignatian spirituality? Where would you encourage them to begin?

First of all, if you have the desire, thanks be to God. Paying attention to desires is so important in the Exercises. The desire to go deeper is God's grace in the first place, and we should celebrate that.

There are two things that we encourage members of our Hispanic/Latinx ministry to do, and I think these are useful for everyone.

First, learn to be quiet and value silence. St. Teresa of Calcutta used to say that babies grow in silence. The moon and the stars move in silence. Growth happens in silence. So, let us learn how to be quiet.

My second suggestion is to pray the Examen. We humans can have selective memories. In the Examen we ask God to help us remember. Developing this habit of memory helps us realize who we are and who God is inviting us to become.

You once shared a story about how when your kids are bored, you tell them to go and do something for others. What is the lesson you are trying to teach as a parent, and is there an Ignatian lesson there for the rest of us?

My daughters are 11 and 14. When we see them mopey and bored, we say, “OK, go do something for someone else without expecting anything back.” When you are in that state of mind, you make terrible decisions. You need to get back to who you really are.

We believe that we are created by God in God’s image, and we are created to love. As you recognize that, you begin to see everything in new ways. You can say, “Oh, this is who I am. I'm not that mopey teenager who felt indignant because her parents said ‘no.’ This is who I am, because this is God.”
It is essentially the Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises.

Of course, it does not always work. You rarely get anything right on the first attempt. Repetition is key to Ignatian spirituality. It begins with the desire for something more. I have that desire for my children, and by repeatedly serving others, they will develop that desire. They will build friendships and begin to see themselves from God’s perspective.

We discover who we are as we move forward. We keep going. We are pilgrims, after all.