This post is based on Week Eight of An Ignatian Prayer Adventure.
In the Fourth Week of the Spiritual Exercises, we reflect on the Resurrection of Jesus and experience joy that leads us to our next steps in mission. Fr. Kevin O’Brien, SJ, explains:
Joy by its nature has to be shared if it is to be joy. Love by its nature has to be shared in order for it to be love. So we very naturally at the very end of the Exercises realize, “Wow! Now I know my mission.” And we concretize it in the specifics of my life, my relationships, my work, my commitments. Say, OK, this is what my Christian life is going to look like. This is what the reign of justice, peace, and love will look like in my life.
O’Brien is the author of The Ignatian Adventure: Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius in Daily Life and Seeing with the Heart: A Guide to Navigating Life’s Adventures.
Life has the final word. Well said Fr Kevin. Happy Easter.
Kevin,
Your reflections on the Spiritual Exercises have been so very illuminating and encouraging these past weeks—thank you. Your reflections on the reality of Joy, discernment of the mission that God invites me to pursue, and imaginative reflection on Jesus consoling his mother spoke directly to my heart.
Gratefully,
Rob