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Mindful Eating
The other day I saw a tease on the front page of the New York Times that pointed to an article about the Buddhist practice of mindful eating, paying attention to each bite you take, meditating on its...
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What do you want?
What do you want? That’s right. What do you want from God? Fame? Fortune? What is your deepest desire? It seems like a question we’d only get after rubbing a magic lamp. But the truth is, God asks us...
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Lenten Practices
Lent is always a funny time. For some it becomes a kind of second-chance for new year’s resolutions. For others it’s a chance to give up sweets or set a goal to lose weight or exercise more. One of my...
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Ritual at Death
The other morning I got myself out of bed to go to a 9am weekday Mass at a local church just a few minutes from where I live. When I got there I noticed there was a cantor and organist present. Odd, I...
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Catholic Mass & Time Travel
With the start of Daylight Saving Time on Sunday, I got thinking about time travel and how the Catholic Mass is literally a time machine of sorts. I remember when I was living as a Jesuit at Georgetown...
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First World Problems
I’ve been rather amused lately by the First World Problems Internet meme. They are complaints only people of privileged circumstances experience. Urban Dictionary says they are “problems from living in...
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An Ignatian Reflection on Palm Sunday
Every year we celebrate Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. It celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, the crowds buzzing with excitement. All four gospels have a Palm Sunday account....
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Command: Activate
There’s something exciting about newness, isn’t there? I just had a major life change and have been transitioning into a new job and life situation. It’s exciting. I could have just sat around but then...
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Agere Contra
Saint Ignatius knew our human tendencies well. He was a lover of the world and fell easily into lust and vanity. The pulls he felt toward such things he called the “evil spirit”. We can tend to stick...
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Inculturation: Can accommodation effectively evangelise?
Inculturation Throughout the history of Jesuit missionary work we find evidence of our modern term “inculturation”, otherwise known as “accommodation”. This concept not only helps missionaries meet...
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“Doing” for a Cause
The other day in church the person making the announcements at the end mentioned a couple in the parish who was raising money to adopt a child from China. The adoption expenses for a foreign child are...
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The Plus Sign
There is a gem in Ignatian spirituality that often goes unnoticed. It’s sometimes called the plus sign. And it’s not just a spiritual practice, it’s a good life practice to have in all your...
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The Heart & The Gut
With the amount I talk about feelings and the importance of “using your heart” or “paying attention to your gut” I tend not to think about the bodily language we use to describe feelings. But feelings...
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Dreams & Imagination
If you know me well you’ll know I love Disney; mainly the theme parks because I worked at Walt Disney World several years ago. There are few people who wouldn’t say that two of Disney’s cornerstones...
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The Gifts of the Spirit
Here is an excerpt from a piece I wrote on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit for Pentecost (this Sunday). You’ll find the full article (link below) has an Ignatian slant. “On Pentecost Sunday, God breathed...
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Gratitude
Today, ask for this grace: I ask for the gift of an intimate knowledge of all the things which God lovingly shares with me. Filled with gratitude, I want to be empowered and moved to love and serve...
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Inception Prayer
When I first learned about the Ignatian style of prayer I found it came rather easy for me: Read a passage of scripture where there are characters and scenes (like in the gospels), then close your eyes...
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The Prayer of “Yay!”
This one church I usually go to for Mass has a beautiful music ministry led by a very joyful pianist. At the beginning of each Mass she greets and welcomes the congregation with a smile in her voice....
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The Ignatian Way: Contemplative in Action
Reading: Mark 6:30-34 This gospel passage captures a beautiful Ignatian spirit. Let’s jump to the punchline: Stop. Reflect. Then go back to work. Then repeat. The world we live in is a hurried world of...
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Prayer by Thought
One of the hardest ways of prayer is not imaginative prayer. It’s not lectio divina. It’s not even trying to listen to God’s voice. One of the hardest ways of prayer is praying for other...
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Ignatian Spirituality for Kids
July 31 is the feast of Saint Ignatius. His spirituality, drawn from his Spiritual Exercises and his lived experience, is known for its practicality. Ignatian spirituality is used by people of all...
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God Provides
Readings: 2 Kgs 4:42-44; 1 Kgs 19:4-8 I love stories that capture the personality of God. We begin with a story from the Second Book of Kings which was in the lectionary a couple weeks ago. The story...
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Reading Your Heart
In the sixth season of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother there’s an episode called “A Change of Heart”. The story goes like this: Marshall’s dad recently died because of a heart attack so Marshall and...
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Not Quite a Do-It-Yourself Spirituality
Take a look at this short but great wisdom about Ignatian spirituality from Adolfo Nicolás, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits): Fr Nicolás says that Ignatian discernment is...
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Spiritual Relish
At the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, Saint Ignatius gives advice to the spiritual director who is leading a retreatant through the Exercises. In Ignatius’ time retreatants wouldn’t have a...
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The Power of No
About a year ago Freakonomics had a podcast called “The Upside of Quitting“. It showcased a number of stories of people who found positive consequences of quitting. In our society—in fact, from our...
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A 10-minute Retreat
The other day I made myself get away from my laundry and list of things to do at home for a brief evening walk to the pond near my house. I needed some time with God, a little retreat from my normal...
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A Song and A Smell
The human memory is a fascinating thing. Studies have shown that it can be pretty faulty at remembering details. Courts have recently publicly acknowledged that eyewitness testimonies can be unreliable...
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God in the Bathroom
You may find this odd, but one of the best prayer times for me is whenever I make a visit to the bathroom. Whether it’s in the shower or during a quick midday biological break, I find it’s one of the...
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A New Year’s Resolution Purpose
The human race has searched endlessly for the meaning of life, and our individual purposes. In his newest book, A New Earth, spiritual author Eckhart Tolle speaks a lot about purpose. The Spiritual...
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5 Ways to Find God in All Things
Finding God in your surroundings and in your life can at times be a challenge. We know the Examen prayer is one of the best ways to find God in your everyday, but there are a few other ways to become...
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Finding God in Near-Food-Poisoning
I have found God on mountaintops and in produce, but not long ago I had an unexpected encounter of God: amidst the pains and fears of imminent food poisoning. I was in Florida for a conference for work...
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I’m Just Experimenting
Two years ago when I spent five months as a hospital chaplain in a Clinical Pastoral Education programme we were encouraged to experiment with our ministry. It was a safe place to try new things,...
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Magis
I think life is pointless if you don’t strive for greater things. It’s what propels civilisation forward. During Walt Disney World’s Millennium Celebration back in 2000 one of their theme songs was “We...
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Playback Theatre
“Tell me a story that’s been significant to you in the past year.” “Well,” I said to the conductor. “I was in religious life for two and a half years and left last February.” I told her about my...
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Can I call God a friend?
I was speaking to someone who clearly had a great reverence for God. “You can’t call God a friend or your buddy,” he said. “You’ve got to have respect and fear of God.” For this person, he could not...
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Repetition
If you’re like me you love change and new experiences. “In with the new and out with the old!” people like us might say. But Saint Ignatius says, “Woah, how about going back to the old again? You might...
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The Little Details
“Consider the lilies,” Jesus said. That line has always been a great supporter of Ignatian spirituality’s main feature of awareness. Jesuit Anthony de Mello always spoke much about awareness as a way...
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Your Own Spiritual Exercises
During the beginning of Saint Ignatius’ journeys, after he had laid his sword before the altar of Our Lady of Montserrat and had taken the clothes of a beggar, he made his way to a cave in Manresa for...
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If It Doesn’t Work, Don’t Use It
One of the ways I know a spiritual director is good is if they give me a suggestion for prayer and then tell me that if it isn’t helpful or fruitful, to throw it out. This part of Ignatian spirituality...
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The Power of Ritual
Why is it that tea becomes my beverage of choice on silent retreats? Perhaps it’s its calming nature and subtleness that fits with the mood on retreat. The thing is, at home, tea is just not quite the...
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Buddhism & Ignatian Spirituality: Parallels
One of my friends considers herself a Buddhist Catholic so in my curiosity I took it upon myself to read more about Buddhism, something I knew little about. After some reading of Buddhism for Dummies,...
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Water Offering
In her book, My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging, Rachel Naomi Remen shares about a beautiful daily Tibetan ritual. You take a small bowl and slowly fill it to the...
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Relishing the Moment
My wife and I recently enjoyed our honeymoon at a beachside resort in Jamaica. It was a week of fond reminiscing of the graces of the wedding day, the liturgy, the people present, and the entire...
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Impermanent Things
This was originally posted 31 May 2012. “All things are passing.” We’ve heard this before, maybe when someone dies, or a relationship fails, or we lose a job. It’s usually said to bring comfort. But it...
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Reaper and Sower
The Reaper and Sower, From the William Morris Gallery There’s an E.E. Cummings poem I came across the other day called I Am A Little Church. There’s surely a lot one can get out of it, but I was...
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Opting for the Poor
One recent night, a person I had never met diverted me from visiting my favorite Saturday night spot—my pillow. After I had a drink with friends, a woman named Leslie asked us for some help. Lacking...
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The Extended Examen
A few weeks ago I was sitting with a friend talking about how things have been going over the last few months. We both recently made major transitions where we moved across the country and began life...
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Experiencing God
This is a guest post by Paul Buggy. From Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anguskirk/2870271049 For so many years I have sat in the pews while a person up front, who obviously had a very real and...
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This Lent, “Keep it 100″
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 6:1 “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” is a new...
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