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Tim Muldoon

Understanding Desire

by Tim Muldoon

With the feast day of Saint Augustine coming up later this week (August 28) I have been thinking about his (likely) influence on Saint Ignatius–specifically, Augustine’s writing about desire in his autobiographical Confessions.  One of his most insightful comments comes upon reflecting on his first experience of heading off as a student to the big [...]

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Prayer Works

by Tim Muldoon

The image of Moses waiting patiently upon Mount Sinai to see the “hind parts” of God as the Divine Majesty passed by is a lovely metaphor for how to understand prayer.  Skeptics will claim that prayer does nothing; you don’t always get what you pray for, and the best it can do is make you [...]

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The Long Ride

by Tim Muldoon

I do some of my best thinking and praying while running or biking.  This morning I considered how biking hills is not a bad analogy to the discernment of consolation and desolation in the spiritual life.  Here’s the idea. Coming to the beginning of a long upward climb can be a daunting experience.  You see [...]

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My Day in Purgatory

by Tim Muldoon

I took my girls to a place called Purgatory Chasm and had a metaphor experience.  Metaphor experiences are of course those things you do which, once they are accomplished, emerge as perfect metaphors for life.  And I tend to encounter them frequently because I look for them, and that, according to my wife, makes me [...]

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Being a Dad

by Tim Muldoon

Over the past two weeks I’ve had the remarkable experience of being a nearly full-time Dad.  My wife has started a new job and has undergone an orientation process that’s taken her away from home for some time, so we’ve found ourselves switching roles. It’s been a profound process of discovery for me.  This is [...]

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Karate and Ignatian Spirituality

by Tim Muldoon

I recently took my girls to the drive-in to see the remake of a film I enjoyed when I was younger–The Karate Kid.  Now, several days removed from seeing it, I find myself struck by how much it resonates with a key Ignatian theme. First, a note for parents: there are some hard scenes for [...]

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A Long, Loving Look at the Real

by Tim Muldoon

The Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt once described contemplation as “a long, loving look at the real.”  As I understand him, he meant that to the extent that we behold the world as God has made it, come to see its contours designed lovingly by a loving creator, we become aware of the presence of the [...]

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Desire and the Church

by Tim Muldoon

During this week of Pentecost I have been thinking about the Church as an institution, a community launched by Christ and gifted with the Holy Spirit.  Our beginning, we profess, is through God’s own activity, and our continuing life is through grace. This was certainly Ignatius’ understanding, a point underscored by Michael Buckley in a [...]

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Ricci Day

by Tim Muldoon

Today marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first Westerner in the court of Imperial China.  He is one of my heroes, not only because I am fascinated by the history of China, but also because his ministry represents in my mind a model for the future [...]

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Behold

by Tim Muldoon

Back in my coaching days I learned to develop a particular kind of vision: I saw details of my athletes’ performance that others would miss.  This one slouched a bit; that one overreached; and so on.  The vision was the product of careful, attentive, even loving work.  What others saw was just a boat full [...]

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