Supervision – The Path to Better Spiritual Direction According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should “take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son.” And further: “In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced in the spiritual life…. If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life,…
4 Case Studies for SEEL Retreat Meeting February 13 We will use the case studies in this file for discussion during our February retreat meeting. If you are attending, please download this file for your use. Thanks very much. Tweet #spiritual exercises
Discernment – discovering God’s will for our lives – is not always easy. But there are a few basic rules that can help you get started. Trust that God loves you madly, more than you love you. And trust God will communicate what’s best for your well-being. Be kind to yourself and don’t fret. God is like a good coach, and looks for your best effort, not perfect decisions. Search your heart to identify your desires, attachments, habits, and lifestyle.…
On Saturday, we talked a lot about the resurrection and learning to love like God (What Ignatius called the contemplatio). But I also spoke at length about the Paschal mystery. If you go through the presentation, you’ll read about the Pascal mystery having five parts: Death, Resurrection, Ascension, Waiting 40 days, and Pentecost. We each live the Paschal Mystery in our lives, sometimes going through the five steps over and over. Sometimes it takes a long time, even years. Sometimes…
Hey, our newest book for young Catholics is here! Stations of the Cross board book. Beautiful images of stations from around the world. Prayers and art. God is in the details. Stations of the Cross have a long history in the Catholic Church. Tweet #spiritual exercises
One spring day my family and I were sightseeing in Portland where we strolled through an old church. As was my habit, I began telling my visually impaired, color blind daughter, Katy, what I saw: the way the colors splashed through the stained glass, how each window seemed to glow with beauty, how the colors complimented the pictures. She listened, then pointed upward. “Well, Mom, here’s what I see. There’s a design like a clover that weaves through everything. See?…
Contrary to popular belief, once we’ve identified our disordered attachments, dropping them can be easy. All you have to do is see [with eyes of faith] and begin to live out the following truths: 1) Without disordered attachments, I grow closer to God. I get happier. So focus on the resulting joy from letting go rather than the sorrow of my ‘loss’ to help you shed disordered attachments. 2) Without disordered attachments, we enjoy created things, ideas, and situations more.…
Through October, retreatants are praying with, and developing their own Principle and Foundation. The Principle and Foundation encourages us to think about why we are on earth. And if I’m Christian (and understand the meaning of life), the answer should be, “to praise, reverence, and serve God, our Lord, and by this means, save my soul.” Because we are meant for heaven, the Exercises remind us to consider every created thing in relation to our final end instead of for temporary enjoyment or…