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Jim Manney

A Meditation for Labor Day

by Jim Manney

The Call of the King is a meditation in the Spiritual Exercises that invites us to join Christ in his work of healing the world.  Christ is a king leading an army, but he’s a leader who works alongside his troops.  He says, “I want to overcome all diseases, all poverty, all ignorance, all oppression [...]

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Asking for What We Want

by Jim Manney

Something to think about | Often we tell ourselves, or we are told, in an effort to quell our desires, to look at all the good we already have.  We can be made to feel guilty and ungrateful for desiring what we want.  But if we do suppress our desires without being satisfied that God [...]

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His Life Was Good but His Thinking Was Bad

by Jim Manney

One of my favorite characters in fiction is Konstantin Dmitrich Levin in Leo Tolstoy’s great novel Anna Karenina.  Levin is an intelligent young aristocrat with a powerful conscience and a strong thirst for truth.  He abandons the Orthodox Christianity of his childhood and seeks an answer to the meaning of life.  He finds none.  For [...]

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Franz Wright’s Gratitude

by Jim Manney

Here is a deeply moving poem of gratitude by Franz Wright, a poet who draws on his work with addicts and the mentally ill. One Heart It is late afternoon and I have just returned from the longer version of my walk nobody knows about. For the first time in nearly a month, and everything [...]

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Friendship and Romance

by Jim Manney

Fellow blogger Tim Muldoon (see his post on desire below) has written an excellent article about what’s needed to help young people form the intimate bond that sustains marriage.  Dating is passe.  The hookup culture is the norm.  Young people “stumble from one defective friendship to another without a strong sense of how to deepen [...]

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Praying on the Go

by Jim Manney

George Anderson, SJ, often prays this lovely prayer by St. Theresa of Avila on his morning subway ride: “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Nothing is wanting to the one who possesses God. God alone suffices.” Read his reflection on praying on [...]

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Commentary from Mirada

by Jim Manney

Mirada Global is a multilingual Web site that compiles articles from Jesuit publications in North and South America. It covers a variety of subjects, from religion and politics to culture and ecology. The magazines that contribute content include America, Criterio (Argentina), Mensaje (Chile) and Accion (Paraguay).  Mirada Global is edited by Antonio Delfau, S.J., and [...]

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Attention, Reverence, and Devotion

by Jim Manney

Something to think about | In what I believe to be the best, most succinct description of how to live a life attuned to God’s presence, Ignatius counseled his young novices to do the following. First, bring focus to your life by taking the time to listen to others and to see what lies before [...]

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How Ignatius Recovered from Depression

by Jim Manney

Many people suffer episodes of depression.  Ignatius Loyola was one of them, according to Joseph Munitiz, SJ, and we would do well to study how he recovered. Ignatius’s bad time came at Manresa, not long after his conversion, when he was assailed by scruples and doubts.  Fr. Munitiz sees in this the classic signs of [...]

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When Do You Pray?

by Jim Manney

At “This Ignatian Life,” Megan Bensley has a lovely post about praying in everyday life.  She remembers the times in the past month when she intentionally turned to God: Laying in bed after the alarm went off, in the shower, on the subway, at PETCO, after I tripped but saved myself from falling, watching my [...]

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