Jim's Books
Reflections
Go Set the World on Fire
Ignatius often ended his letters to Jesuits going to the missions with the expression ite, inflammate omnia—“go, set the world on fire.” What did he mean by that? Maybe it...
Reflections
Not What You Expect
What does God’s voice sound like? In my experience, like nothing I was expecting.
A while ago I was having some very bad days. I had too much work to...
Ignatian Prayer
The Imaginary Boy
The other day I came across a passage in a novel that brought me up short. The book is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. The writer describes the thoughts...
Reflections
Taking Advent Seriously
Years ago, I gave up on Advent. It was hard to maintain the Advent frame of mind (quiet longing for the coming of Christ) in the midst of the...
Reflections
The Gratitude List
A friend of mine was stuck in traffic in New York City late on a summer Friday afternoon. He was really stuck—sitting in his car on a narrow east-west...
Ignatian Songs
Finding God in Music
There’s something thoroughly Ignatian about finding God in music. St. Ignatius’s spiritual approach mostly bypasses the concepts and ideas stuffed into our heads and strives to touch the heart...