Teach me your way of looking at people: as you glanced at Peter after his denial, as you penetrated the heart of the rich young man and the hearts of your disciples. I would like to meet you as you really are, since your image changes those with whom you come into contact. Remember John the Baptist’s first meeting with you? And the centurion’s feeling of unworthiness? And the amazement of all those who saw […]
Consolation and desolation are key ideas in Ignatian discernment, and they are not easy to understand. Abbot Joseph has a good post about the nuances. Even for those who are serious about the spiritual life, it is good to make the distinction between subjective feelings and objective reality when trying to discern one’s spiritual state as consolation or desolation. If you are grieved over your sins, don’t call it desolation, for this grief is the […]
Ignatian spirituality calls us to join Christ’s work in the world–now, today. It looks eagerly for the coming of the Kingdom. A song that captures this mood of expectant faith is “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield. Mayfield wrote it in the midst of the social unrest of the 1960s. He was inspired by Martin Luther King’s speech at the March on Washington, and you might say that the song gives musical expression to to […]
If someone you know is looking for direction in life, point them to “How to Discern the Elements of Your Personal Vocation” by Peter Ryan, SJ. It’s an excellent essay that sets forth “points to bear in mind,” the first of which is that “sincere discernment infallibly succeeds.” Another point is that we “discern only what to try.” After all, we do not know the future, and we could die at any moment. The real […]
This lovely painting by Robert Gilroy, SJ, is part of a series of 27 paintings on themes from the Spiritual Exercises. The images are displayed on Fr. Gilroy’s website, which also includes an material on praying with art.
I’m the kind of person who shuts out advertising. I often hit the mute button when commercials come on TV, and I never click on on-line ads. So I was surprised to find this video so enlightening. It’s called “Life lessons from an ad man” by an advertising executive named Rory Sutherland. Sutherland talks about the importance of “intangible value.” He wants us to see new value in what we already have. In other words, […]
Yesterday the US House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the six Jesuit priests and two women murdered in El Salvador in 1989. The dead are Jesuit Fathers Ignacio Ellacuria, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, and housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and her daughter Celina Mariset Ramos. The occasion of the resolution is the 20th anniversary of the murders on November 16. Read the resolution here.
In his autobiography, St. Ignatius Loyola wrote of himself in the third person as “the pilgrim.” As David Fleming, SJ, writes in What Is Ignatian Spirituality?, “Ignatius looked at his entire life as a pilgrimage. His journey seemed for a time to be a meandering one. For many years he pursued a goal indistinctly seen by him.” “To Be a Pilgrim” is a hymn that captures this Ignatian spirit of pilgrimage. The words were written […]
The daily Examen is the most familiar and widely-practiced form of Ignatian prayer. Millions of people pray it every day. Philip Shano, SJ, takes it a step further. In a recent article in Review for Religious, he discusses his experience with praying the Examen in groups. He is talking about the Examen in a religious community, but I don’t see any reason why other groups with a common purpose and identity couldn’t use it too […]
Marko Rupnik, SJ, is a Slovenian Jesuit, based in Rome, whose dazzling mosaics adorn churches at Fatima and Lourdes as well as the Pope’s private chapel. His latest work is the mosaics in the chapel of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. The mosaics were unveiled earlier this year. Fr. Rupnik works in the ancient tradition of sacred iconography. Mosaics on the walls of the chapel depict events in salvation history. A huge 28-by-44 foot mosaic […]
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