Gretchen Crowder, Author at Ignatian Spirituality

Nine Reasons to Embrace Ignatian Discernment

Editor’s note: Celebrate the 10th anniversary of IgnatianSpirituality.com with us. For 10 weeks, we’ll be “Counting the Gifts of Ignatian Spirituality” by bringing you special content on our website and special offers from our sponsor, Loyola Press. Learn more here. Every spring, I invite the freshmen to consider how they can more actively engage in their faith lives as they prepare to move into their sophomore year. I wait until spring, because that is when […]

"Faith is not fearful of reason." --Pope Francis, in On Faith - quote next to picture of stethoscope and old book

Wonder and Faith

Gretchen Crowder

“Faith is not fearful of reason.” —Pope Francis, in On Faith Every morning, I walk my son through the hallway of my school on his way to kindergarten next door. And often somewhere along the journey, he discovers a new machine that fascinates him. One morning, it was the printer. “Mom, what’s this white machine?” he asked. “A printer,” I replied. He went on to ask me about every piece of the printer, from the […]

beach ball in swimming pool - photo by Raphaël Biscaldi on Unsplash

Joy in the Lord

Gretchen Crowder

As a couple of lone parents settled in to watch their children’s swim lesson through the glass and perhaps catch up on social media, I sat down nearby with one of my four-year-old twins to wait for one brother’s lesson to end and his to begin. “Mommy, what’s that? There’s a white pole near the pool; what’s it for? There’s a basketball in a bucket; why? The big guy’s in the water with the little […]

Sharing the Wisdom: What I Learned from an Elder - a series at IgnatianSpirituality.com

Sharing the Wisdom: What I Learned from My Grandfather About Art and Dreams

Gretchen Crowder

“Boys, stop throwing that ball in this room! I have one room of nice things. One. Go play somewhere else!” I screamed as I caught a ball just as it came dangerously close to shattering a glass owl vase. As I handed the boys the ball and ushered them out of the room, I stopped to run my hand along the wood grain of the table that held the now-safe owl vase. Its dark-red stain […]

How the Examen Made Me Smile at the Mailbox

Gretchen Crowder

My son recently developed a new fascination with the mailbox. “Mom, how do I get a letter from me to someone else?” he asked one day with tremendous curiosity. We went through the steps: write the letter, put it in an envelope, address the envelope, and don’t forget the stamps. Then one morning my son showed me a picture he had made for his best friend that he desperately wanted to mail. It was perfect […]

The Crumpled Ribbon and a Moment of Grace

Gretchen Crowder

A sweaty little kindergartener came running towards me from the playground one afternoon. When he got close, I noticed he had something crumpled tightly in his hand. He reached out his hand to show me his prize as the words tumbled out of him in one long, continuous breath: “Mommy, a friend spilled her water, and I helped her, and I got to pick this ribbon, and I picked the rainbow one.” As he exhaled, […]