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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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