Ignatian Spirituality

By Marina Berzins McCoy

Many of us find it helpful to talk through an idea with another person when we are trying to make a decision or process the meaning of something significant that has happened. For example, when I was younger and applying to graduate schools, I decided to shift in my career plans from psychology to philosophy. […]

Click through to read the full article Talking Through Discernment, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By Tim Muldoon

It is good to remember that spirituality is a series of practices that allow us to pay attention to God. God’s always there, but we get easily distracted. And the more we get distracted, the easier it is to get distracted. Distraction itself has become our practice. The answer, of course, is the opposite practice […]

Click through to read the full article Attention, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By Theresa Brotherton

My husband asked me why I was being nice instead of sharing the snarky comment the expression on my face expressed. Looking at him, I announced that I was trying to “will the good” of others in my life, and I had thought it would be a simple thing to do. “It’s hard,” I reluctantly […]

Click through to read the full article Willing the Good, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By Lisa Kelly

My 84-year-old father, a former Air Force fighter pilot who traveled around the world, now spends his days mainly confined to his recliner. His liberty to get up and walk to the refrigerator, let alone travel or even run an errand, is gone. He has lived in the same room for three years now, yet […]

Click through to read the full article The Only True Identity, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By dotMagis Editor

One of the most important characteristics of Ignatian prayer is the use of imagination. Ignatius recommends practices of meditation, consideration, and contemplation as ways for humans to open themselves to the work of God’s Spirit, who prays within the bodied spirit of the human person. Each of these practices requires the person of prayer to […]

Click through to read the full article Imagination and Creativity, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By Gerri Leder

Any given day, our activities might be driven by one big to-do list: pick up and drop off; get where we need to be; see who we arranged to see; work on projects; prepare and clean up; contact the people in our lives. We put one foot in front of the other most days without […]

Click through to read the full article What Am I Living For?, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By Jim Manney

Everywhere these days, we’re told that the best policy is “no surprises.” Our world is obsessed with control, planning, and risk management. Parents of small children, coaches, managers, therapists, spouses, and friends are advised to be steady and predictable, to avoid sudden changes, to be transparent, and to explain expectations clearly. Much counsel in spiritual […]

Click through to read the full article The God of Surprises, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By dotMagis Editor

Fr. Venâncio Da Costa Pereira, SJ, works in retreat ministry in Timor-Leste. He addresses serving people in a predominantly Catholic country and explains how the Ignatian Spirituality Center tries to promote two things in particular: spiritual conversation and discernment.

Click through to read the full article Retreat Ministry in Timor-Leste, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By dotMagis Editor

Writer Alli Bobzien uses a yearly Examen as a way to gain perspective and practice prudence. She notes in “Everyday Ignatian: Practicing Prudence in the Examen”: When we are in the midst of daily life, it’s easy to miss the signposts pointing us to that which helps and away from that which hinders. Our family […]

Click through to read the full article New Year and the Examen, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By dotMagis Editor

Let’s approach the new year with some encouragement to organization. Do you ever feel like this? There’s so much to do that I don’t know where to start. I think of everything I’m responsible for and everything I’d like to accomplish, and I panic—and sometimes I cope by doing nothing at all. Time to make […]

Click through to read the full article An Act of Creativity: Make a List, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By dotMagis Editor

Writer Catherine Anne Sullivan presented a webinar on Ignatian journaling through Ignatian Young Adult Ministries. The advice is helpful for beginning journal writers of all ages, however. Sullivan suggests two centering questions to address in writing: What is one good thing I can thank God for today? What is one hard thing I can invite […]

Click through to read the full article Ignatian Journaling, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

By discerning our deepest desires, we discover our truest selves. Read Tim Muldoon’s Living Against the Grain.

By dotMagis Editor

Because Jesus was born, and God humbled himself, became human, and dwelt among us, everything changed. Because of how God arrived—in a simple stable—we know where to look for God. The Jesuit mystic Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “By virtue of Creation, and still more the Incarnation, nothing here below is profane for those who […]

Click through to read the full article Merry Christmas, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Ignatian Spirituality A to Z, Jim Manney provides a brief, informative, and entertaining guide to key concepts of Ignatian spirituality and essential characters and events in Jesuit history.

By dotMagis Editor

Fr. James Hanvey, SJ, the Secretary for the Service of Faith of the Society of Jesus, introduces Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, as a contemplative document. He says: Dilexi Te speaks directly to the Society of Jesus, not only because it has very publicly over many years made the option for the […]

Click through to read the full article Introduction to Dilexi Te, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Ignatian Spirituality A to Z, Jim Manney provides a brief, informative, and entertaining guide to key concepts of Ignatian spirituality and essential characters and events in Jesuit history.

By Theresa Brotherton

I have a chronic illness. It is a scary path that I wouldn’t choose for anyone. People often comment about what a busy and outgoing person I used to be, and although I am not so busy in the world anymore, I am still me. From a world view, I guess it seems as if […]

Click through to read the full article Lightning Bolts, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Ignatian Spirituality A to Z, Jim Manney provides a brief, informative, and entertaining guide to key concepts of Ignatian spirituality and essential characters and events in Jesuit history.

By Marina Berzins McCoy

It’s Advent, and the season is full of expectation and hope. I love the regular appearances of light on the streets in the darkness. Light is consoling, and there are many other moments where we find “light”: celebrations with family, visits with friends, and happy moments of choosing a card or a gift for a […]

Click through to read the full article Storing Up Advent Consolations, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Ignatian Spirituality A to Z, Jim Manney provides a brief, informative, and entertaining guide to key concepts of Ignatian spirituality and essential characters and events in Jesuit history.

By Loretta Pehanich

I found it: a small plaque on a stone edifice alerts passersby that this was the house of Isabel Roser. Some 500 years after she lived there the stone structure still stands across the plaza from Santa Maria del Mar Church in Barcelona, where Ignatius of Loyola prayed, preached, and begged for support. I wanted […]

Click through to read the full article Visiting with Isabel Roser, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Small Simple Ways: An Ignatian Daybook for Healthy Spiritual Living, author, editor, and retreat leader Vinita Hampton Wright offers her trademark compassion and encouragement to lift readers up and help propel them forward.

By Barbara Lee

Two of the most common challenges in the spiritual life are trust and patience. We say that we trust, but we give in to anxiety. We pray to discern the right course of action, but we want answers now. How do we break those habits? It has sometimes been said that the opposite of faith […]

Click through to read the full article Trust in God’s Timing, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Small Simple Ways: An Ignatian Daybook for Healthy Spiritual Living, author, editor, and retreat leader Vinita Hampton Wright offers her trademark compassion and encouragement to lift readers up and help propel them forward.

By Eric Clayton

I manage to roll out of bed just a tad earlier than normal. I stumble down the stairs, collapse into a great, leathery chair, and pull out my pile of spiritual reading. I close my eyes, take in a deep breath, bless myself, and… I hear the scampering feet of my two little girls as […]

Click through to read the full article The Child Interrupts, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Small Simple Ways: An Ignatian Daybook for Healthy Spiritual Living, author, editor, and retreat leader Vinita Hampton Wright offers her trademark compassion and encouragement to lift readers up and help propel them forward.

By Melinda LeBlanc

I’ve been enjoying watching the family of bluebirds in my yard. I watched the parents’ courtship, the nest building, the egg laying, and the hatching and fledging. I was fascinated with how the parents brought food back to the nest, where they were met by open-mouthed baby birds fully prepared to accept what was given […]

Click through to read the full article Accepting Grace, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Small Simple Ways: An Ignatian Daybook for Healthy Spiritual Living, author, editor, and retreat leader Vinita Hampton Wright offers her trademark compassion and encouragement to lift readers up and help propel them forward.

By Gretchen Crowder

What is the best gift you have ever received? This question is a favorite icebreaker question, and I am always stumped when I try to answer it. As most icebreakers involve quick thinking, I usually give a superficial answer that, upon further reflection, is not actually a true one. The things that always come to […]

Click through to read the full article The Best Gift, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry.

In Small Simple Ways: An Ignatian Daybook for Healthy Spiritual Living, author, editor, and retreat leader Vinita Hampton Wright offers her trademark compassion and encouragement to lift readers up and help propel them forward.