For  man of 96 years, Fr. Rodney Kissinger, SJ, is wired in.  Eight years ago, he began conducting a version of the Spiritual Exercises by e-mail.  Fr. Kissinger thinks that St. Ignatius himself would have embraced e-mail.  He points out that Ignatius was one of the most prolific letter writers of the sixteenth century, and did much counseling and spiritual direction with his pen.

For the New Year, Fr. Kissinger is offering an online retreat on his website.  Presentations will be posted every Tuesday and Friday.

Fr. Kissinger admits that his digital retreats don’t have the benefit of face-t0-face personal contact between retreatant and spiritual director.  But he says that has at least one advantage.  “It stimulates more initiative, responsibility, and independence on the the part of the retreatant,” he says.

Last week the New York Times published an article that must have surprised long-time readers of its Travel section.  It was a Brooklyn woman’s account of her five-day retreat at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.  I’ve seen lots of retreat houses.  I’ve made a retreat at Wernersville myself.  It was enlightening to see the place through the eyes of a secular New Yorker who didn’t really know what she was getting into.  Read the piece here.

We conclude our seasonal retreat with one final week-starter reflection. In the coming days, take a few moments to evaluate your experience with the entire Advent and Christmas retreat. Perhaps you would like to share something at this time in the comments.

Thank you for your participation in this retreat.

Christmas Time, Second Week: The Manifestation of God in Jesus Christ

Petition: Ask for the grace to be led by the star, the light from above, and to take this light to others.

What was it that first drew your heart more consciously toward God? Perhaps a glimpse of the mystery— something you did not understand but intuited in a moment of deep peace—or of profound relationship with another person, or of awe and wonder in some aspect of God’s creation. In such moments, a spring of grace breaks into our lives and potentially changes everything. Keep those moments alive. Let them remain alive in you and continue to empower and assure you.

—Excerpted from 2012: A Book of Grace-Filled Days by Margaret Silf

Merry Christmas! We continue our seasonal retreat by reflecting on Christmas. Please share your retreat experience with others here in the comments.

Christmas Time, First Week: Jesus Is Light in the Darkness.

Petition: Ask for the grace to receive Jesus, the Savior, as the light of our path.

A first-century philosopher observed: “When I light a candle at midnight, I say to the darkness: ‘I beg to differ.’” As we light our Christmas candles, we, too, say to the darkness in our world and in our own hearts, “You have no final power over us, for the first and final word is eternal light.”

—Excerpted from 2012: A Book of Grace-Filled Days by Margaret Silf

We’ve arrived at the final week of Advent 2011. If you are following along with our Advent retreat, here is a brief reflection to begin this week. Please share your retreat experience with others here in the comments as we draw near Christmas. And remember that our retreat will continue through the Christmas season.

The Fourth Week of Advent: The Mystery of God Bursts into Our Life.

Petition: Ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit’s fruitfulness in our life, just as the Spirit made the womb of Mary fruitful in the person of Christ.

When a gift we have longed for and that truly comes from God is actually given to us, then a strange thing happens. We lose any desire to keep it all to ourselves and experience instead a desire to give it back to God, to be multiplied and shared among many.

—Excerpted from 2012: A Book of Grace-Filled Days by Margaret Silf

Welcome to the Third Week of Advent! As we continue our Advent retreat, here’s a brief reflection to start your week. Please share your retreat experience with others here throughout the week in the comments.

The Third Week of Advent: Rejoice, Because the Lord Is Near!

Petition: Ask for the grace to live in the joyous expectation of the Lord’s coming, who comes to bring us the grace of salvation.

All creation is striving to bring forth a mystery beyond itself, a kingdom of peace and justice. The created world models it, the prophets foretell it, the psalmist celebrates it, and Jesus shows us what it looks like in reality. All of these invite us to let God’s kingdom come to birth in our own lives.

—Excerpted from 2012: A Book of Grace-Filled Days by Margaret Silf

If you are following along with our Advent retreat, this is the place for brief reflections to jump-start your week. Please share your retreat experience with others here throughout the week in the comments.

The Second Week of Advent: Prepare Yourself for the Lord’s Coming.

Petition: Ask for the grace to prepare the way for the Lord in one’s own heart, in the family, in the parish, and in the human community.

When the Spirit hovers over our hearts, we have two choices: to resist and close down or to give our unconditional consent for God’s dream to come to birth in our lives. There is no halfway position. It’s not possible to be only a little bit pregnant.

—Excerpted from 2012: A Book of Grace-Filled Days by Margaret Silf

Welcome to Advent 2011! Our Advent resources this year include the Advent retreat booklet based on the Spiritual Exercises in everyday life. Here on dotMagis each Monday, you’ll find brief reflections to jump-start your week. Please share your retreat experience with others here throughout the week in the comments.

The First Week of Advent: Journeying Toward an Encounter with the Lord Who Comes

Petition: Ask for the grace of entering into the spirit of Advent, a time of hope, of listening to the Word, of a universal call to spread the Good News.

It always takes me by surprise that when the gates of holiness open, however briefly, they usually reveal not some distant castle in the sky but our own backyard. Holy gates invite us to discover God right here.

—Excerpted from 2012: A Book of Grace-Filled Days by Margaret Silf

Yesterday the Loyola Press 3-Minute Retreat received its 10,000th “like” on Facebook.  Try it if you’re looking for a good way to pray in the spirit of Ignatius.  Here’s what Elizabeth Cruz in the Philippines says about it:

Visiting your website and religiously doing the 3 minute retreat refreshes me and an awesome experience to encounter God everyday. Doing the 3 minute retreat in the morning before work gives me extra energy for the day while doing it in the evening before going to bed makes me peaceful and calm. It invigorates me.

Last month Other6, a web community dedicated to helping its members experience God in all things, marked its 20,000th post.  This is another excellent resource for prayer from Loyola Press.

Don’t forget to enter our contest to win a copy of Paul Coutinho’s book Ignatian Pathway.  Details here.

A team of young Jesuits will be barnstorming up and down the East Coast this summer giving weekend retreats for young adults.  The team is called the Jesuit Mission Band and the retreats are called Hearts on Fire.  They begin June 17 in Washington, DC, and continue on successive weekends in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Baltimore, and Richmond.  More dates may be added.  See the schedule here.