Until I dive right into a situation, I will never understand how to love the people who live there. As a writer, I could talk poetically about love and compose moving essays on love. But unless I walk into the real life of someone who needs my love, I won’t have a clue. Because I’m […]
February is the month in which many people celebrate Valentine’s Day, and while romantic and spousal love are important to celebrate, it made me think about love more widely as a vocation for all of us. We might wonder, for example, How can we best love God? In St. Augustine’s work, On the Trinity, the […]
The trick to lighting a fire is to start by burning something small. In fact, you need lots of small things, preferably ones that catch fire easily: cardboard, sticks, broken branches, small bits of wood, and fire starters (storebought chunks of wood-like cylinders that catch and burn nicely). You need all these things, plus the […]
A colleague stopped me in the hallway. “Gretchen, glad I caught you! I’ve been invited to make dessert for the gathering this week, and I wanted to check with you,” she said. Before she finished speaking, I knew exactly what she wanted to check: my food allergies. Those who know me well know I would […]
I do a lot of listening. I listen in my home, my work, in the market, and in my ministry of spiritual direction. Wherever I go, I am hearing fear and concern. Hearts are troubled. We feel compassion for the suffering in our nation and in the world, yet we are at a loss about […]
I got to know St. Ignatius many years ago, at about 5:30 a.m., when a sopping wet Examen card was stuck to the side of the washing machine. Annoyed at myself for not staying up late to change loads nor checking pockets before doing laundry, I peeled the laminated card from the washer drum, wiped […]
We develop gratitude by paying attention. We make a point to review a day or a lifetime to identify all for which we can be grateful. In fact, with practice we can identify thankworthy things in the middle of sad or stressful situations. It’s almost as if gratitude were its own radio frequency. When we […]
Ash Wednesday is February 18, 2026, so today we’re highlighting just a few of the many Ignatian-inspired features designed to help you observe Lent. Encounter Grace Lenten Read-Along Join in the annual Lenten read-along with Loyola Press. We’ll be reading Encounter Grace by Becky Eldredge. Becky offers gentle, heartfelt reflections grounded in Ignatian spirituality, each […]
