In my daily examen, I often ask God to simply show me “the truth of my life.” I hope to be able to see things as they really are, and not as I might think they are. I might think I’m being a great friend, but in reality I am needling someone unnecessarily. So I […]
Read More »
I often call Thanksgiving “amateur hour.” I’m often surprised that the angriest of atheists who often seem so preoccupied with secularizing Christmas, keeping prayer out of schools and accusing often thoughtful religious people of being hopelessly saccharine, often let Thanksgiving, slip past their crosshairs. It would well do the irreligious to set their sights on […]
Read More »
Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order and without whom my life would be quite different. You see, when I met the Jesuits, I was likely on my way out of the Catholic Church. I’ve been a lifelong Catholic. I was an altar server through High […]
Read More »
I have directed a spiritual directee or two over Skype. We’ve even talked about setting up a prayer group for our young alumni through the use of Google Hangout. In many ways technology can be a great help in keeping people connected to God. But might this be a “disordered attachment” in some ways too? That’s […]
Read More »
Today’s Gospel from Matthew hits many of us right between the eyes when we hear the following words: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” How often do I withhold mercy in my own life and how do I feel when it is withheld from me. I’m not much of a grudge-holder actually, but there are a […]
Read More »
Andy Otto over at Godinallthings.com has a great piece today on the “Fifth Week” of the Spiritual Exercises, that is, the rest of our lives after we have completed a version of the exercises. Retreat people sometimes call this the 4th Day (every day beyond their weekend retreat). The graces we gain on a retreat […]
Read More »
A young man once challenged me about the Sacrament of Confession in a semi-public forum. “Why do I have to confess my sins to a priest, when I can just go directly to God?” “A good question!” I replied back. He smiled waiting for a cop-out answer of some sort. But I honored his question […]
Read More »
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday and you can find readings for this weekend’s mass here. But just what the heck is the Holy Trinity anyway? We can default to the old school definition that many of us learned in religious education growing up that God is “one in three” or “three persons in one God”. While […]
Read More »Time..don’t run out on me. It’s a phrase that I’ve mentioned often in ministry as being an element that is essential to the development of faith. I challenge spiritual directees to prioritize their relationship with God by dedicating at least 20 minutes a day to prayer with the hopeful development that 20 minutes will turn […]
Read More »On this feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, I’m blessed to have spent a year officially in the Ignatian family. Although, I have spent a majority of my adult life around Jesuits, 2013-14 was the first school year where I drew a paycheck from an Ignatian institution as a professional campus minister. This past year […]
Read More »
