Ever have a gut-wrenching day? Not just a hard day, but a day when you felt like there was nothing left inside of you but ache? Maybe it was the day your teenager screamed at you for the umpteenth time and slammed the door in your face. Maybe it was the day you had to […]

Click through to read the full article Consolation Isn’t Easy, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

The first time I ran a meeting as a leader of adults, I made a colossal mistake. It took me years, however, to understand the mistake and its implications for building my team. I remember being so nervous preparing for that first meeting. Though I had confidence in the ministerial abilities that had led me […]

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

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Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

Life has been busy. Maybe it is the season of life. My teen sons cannot yet drive but still have violin lessons and jujitsu classes they need to be driven to. And my husband and I have so much work, it is rare we are both home the same evening. In these moments of busy-ness, […]

Click through to read the full article Expressing Gratitude Through the Examen, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

A few years ago, I visited the town in Ireland where my father’s ancestors lived. The cathedral there was built in the 1950s, so it’s unlikely that any of my relatives were part of its construction. Yet, when I went in, I felt immediately rooted. It was as if I could somehow feel a bunch […]

Click through to read the full article Gratitude in the Life of a Catechist, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

As a preface to his declaration about the Incarnation in Philippians, St. Paul said, “The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had.” Wisdom is making peace with the unchangeable. We have the freedom to face the unavoidable with dignity, to understand the transformational value that attitude works on suffering. Viktor Frankl […]

Click through to read the full article The Attitude We Should Have, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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

Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

I am a djembefola (one who plays djembe drums). I learned to play these drums (also known as talking drums) at the age of ten. An older man who lived in my neighborhood in the South Bronx had studied African drumming, and he was kind enough to hand down all that he knew about this […]

Click through to read the full article Finding God with African Djembe Drums, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

Recently I read a column in a Catholic publication that was about an important and controversial topic. Yet it was so full of invective and nasty ad hominem attacks that I had to stop reading it. The readers’ comments online were even worse. The depth of their rage and bitterness overwhelmed me. There was no […]

Click through to read the full article You Spot It, You Got It, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

“Why, God? Why?” I sit at the funeral of a friend who died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Alive one day, gone the next. “Why, God? Why?” Tornadoes flatten neighborhoods in the time a speeding train passes through a station. Lives turn to rubble. “Why, God? Why?” Another day begins for an exhausted parent living […]

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Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

I maintain that God—out of the abundance of divine relational life, not any need for us—desires humans into existence for the sake of friendship. This thesis may sound strange, because it runs counter to much teaching about God. To be honest, I questioned it myself when I first began to think it through… But over […]

Click through to read the full article Friendship with God, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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

Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.

There are so many ways to love, and to love better. Let’s concentrate on five for today. 1. Focus on one good quality. Especially when you’re feeling critical and grumpy, ask yourself, What is one characteristic of this person that is wonderful and that I should not overlook? Focusing on a quality you appreciate can […]

Click through to read the full article Five Ways to Love Better, which appeared first on Ignatian Spirituality.

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

Approach the Examen in fresh ways with Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ.