Our Ignatian song this week is “Morning Has Broken,” a lovely song of thanks for creation: Morning has broken like the first morning, Blackbird has spoken like the first bird. Praise for the singing, Praise for the morning, Praise for them springing fresh from the world. It sings of gratitude, the spirit of the Ignatian outlook on the world. The editor of an Anglican hymnal commissioned it because he wanted a song that gave thanks […]
Looking for a good book? Fr. Jim Martin at America has some suggestions for books about Ignatian spirituality and Jesuits. I’ve read many of them. Most recently I read David Lonsdale’s Eyes to See, Ears to Hear in connection with some work I’m doing on Ignatian discernment. It is excellent. The Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits is a recent book that I hadn’t heard about. It was published in the U.S. last year. A review […]
Baseball is God’s game, in my opinion. I love the game and I especially like the Detroit Tigers (who are currently barely hanging on to a one-game lead in the American League Central Division). So you can imagine how excited I was to read about a future Jesuit who played briefly for the Tigers. It was back in 1912, the dead ball era, and the circumstances were very unusual, but Joe Travers really did play. […]
“Service” is a central idea in Ignatian spirituality. But what does it really mean? Here is an excellent article by David Fleming, SJ, that unpacks the Ignatian concept of service. Service is humble. Ignatius spoke of being helpful–not something that conjures up “great deeds and great accomplishments,” Fleming notes. Love is the foundation of service, and service is expressed in deeds more than in words. But service cannot be restricted to certain actions: To follow […]
The Ignatian song this week is “In the Presence of the Lord,” a bluesy-rock number written by Eric Clapton, the undisputed master of bluesy-rock. The lyrics are the singer’s simple declaration that “I have finally found a way to live . . . In the presence of the Lord.” The tune is the kind that settles in your head for days. That’s OK, because I hear it as a song of gratitude, which is, of […]
Nearly 50 people entered the contest for free copies of the Jesuit prayer book Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits. This morning five winners were chosen using the random number generator at random.org. The winners are David Romero, Denise, eamonn, Carla, and Kathleen Burkhalter, who says she would buy the book if she didn’t win it. I will be in touch with the winners to get their mailing addresses. Thank you all for playing. To […]
Before we leave the feast of St. Ignatius too far behind, I’d like to mention an excellent article about the many ways that Ignatius Loyola has been seen throughout the ages. A “polarity” of being with Christ and at the same time being active in the world is central to Ignatian spirituality. The author, Ron Darwen, SJ, concludes: Ignatius had an uncanny feel for the big picture. He could see the wood for the trees […]
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola. This is a big day for Jesuits and others in the Ignatian sphere of influence. Here are a couple of my thoughts on his feast. Name a saint. Chances are one idea pops into your mind: Francis (poverty), Vincent de Paul (charity), Therese (simplicity in love). This isn’t so with Ignatius Loyola. Several ideas jostle for attention. He was a soldier, a mystic, a writer, a […]
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Pope Benedict XVI has praised the cosmic vision of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit scientist and philosopher whose work has been out of favor with the Vatican in years past. Speaking about St. Paul’s vision that the world itself will one day become a form of living worship, the Pope said, “It’s the great vision that later Teilhard de Chardin also had: At the end we will have a true cosmic liturgy, where the […]
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