Someone we love is dying. Our neighbor is near 90. Her body has been slowing down for a while now. We are not surprised, but we are grieved. My family’s path crossed hers nearly a decade ago when I was...

This story is inspired by Luke 7:36–50 and John 12:1–8. I bought that expensive perfumed oil for myself. I don’t think I’m wealthy, but I do have enough money to spend on whatever I want. I planned to use the...

We share this excerpt in honor of St. Peter Faber’s birthday, April 13. “Desire what is essential and original,” Faber writes in Memoriale. This sentence gets at the psychological brilliance of the Exercises and how they specifically transformed Peter’s life. Faber...

I keep posted in my office a note from my husband that includes two phrases: “It’s not about you. Accompany them.” I first discovered this note a few months back taped to my computer screen minutes before I began facilitating...

This post is based on Week Eight of An Ignatian Prayer Adventure. In the movie, Steel Magnolias, a famous scene takes place in a cemetery where the mother M’Lynn is surrounded by her four good friends just after she’s buried...

I can still see him: a little boy, barely over one year old, sitting on the lawn in his plaid green overalls surrounded by little plastic Easter eggs, with a smear of chocolate across his cheeks. He had just...

Marina Berzins McCoy writes in her post, The Anima Christi During Holy Week: Jesus’ wounds also serve as a resting place for us. “Within your wounds hide me” speaks of uniting our own wounds to those of Jesus. By placing...

This post is based on Week Seven of An Ignatian Prayer Adventure. Every year, when I read the Scripture passages that recall the Crucifixion of Christ, apprehension begins to creep into my consciousness. I don’t want to remember what they...

The general consensus is that it’s been difficult to engage with Lent this year, because the entire year has felt like a never-ending Lent. Many feel distracted. Most are missing their faith communities. There is widespread fatigue over all...

I imagine that we all have different styles for processing feelings, ranging from total avoidance to sorting through them deliberately and slowly to wanting to jump in and get the issue all solved. While I have taken all three...