William Barry, SJ, in his book, A Friendship Like No Other, invites us to be aware of our “thin places,” those moments where we easily find God. Barry’s challenge to name for ourselves our “thin places” was a challenge I took to heart, and I have come to two conclusions. First, there are “thin places” [...]
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Lisa Kelly looks at the transcendent moments of enlightenment experienced by Ignatius, Mother Teresa, Einstein, and a few others. These visions can’t really be described, but these mystics speak of similar insights, which she calls “habits of the heart.” Here’s one: Get outside yourself—Stop judging and start observing, observing, observing. Be aware of what is [...]
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Many people want to know, and it’s not an easy question to answer. Here are some things that help. The late David Fleming, SJ, wrote an excellent small book by that title. We have a whole section of this website devoted to it. I like this “top ten” list by Paul Campbell, SJ. Jim Martin, [...]
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As I enter into an annual silent retreat with students, I am mindful of how great is the gift of silence. We think too much; we speak too much. We argue about concepts of God, we use limiting words for God. To slightly modify a famous phrase from Meister Eckhart: I pray that God would [...]
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Michael Leach, author of Why Stay Catholic, offers five ways to remember the truth “that we all wear the face of Christ in a unique way and that what we do unto anyone else we literally do unto ourselves.” Here’s the first one: When standing in line at the checkout I remind myself that the [...]
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“What makes us human is precisely our experience of the infinite, the fact that we are never satisfied. We are the subjects of unlimited longing, finding infinity not outside ourselves but within. We ask questions about totality and ultimate meaning, and by so doing find that we are asking the question about God. God and [...]
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Lisa Kelly has an idea for the ultimate Ignatian gift. Actually it’s two gifts. Read about them here. Share or bookmark this post:
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Dean Brackley, the late Jesuit educator who spent many years teaching in El Salvador, wrote a beautiful meditation on what it feels like to fall in love because of the ministry of the poor. The text comes from a piece he wrote in 2000 for Salvanet, “A Publication of Christians for Peace in El Salvador,” [...]
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Dorothy Day’s 1934 Letter to an Agnostic is republished in this week’s America Magazine. In it, she writes about her own struggles with belief and unbelief, sounding this very Ignatian note: We are taught that our souls never exercise just as our body does, otherwise it will never be healthy and well, and if it [...]
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The great theologian Karl Rahner, SJ, addressed these words to Jesuits, but they apply to all persons of faith: “It is by entering into the world of today, and being with men in their difficulties, their anxieties and doubts, that we can bring this world to faith, and not by posing as somehow different. . [...]
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