When we resume posting on Ash Wednesday (February 22), the format will be much the same as it was in years past: daily meditations based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius that will go throughout Lent and the first week of Easter. And, just like last year, you don’t need any familiarity with the Exercises to follow along. If you are new to the blog, please be sure to read the Getting Stated page first. From there, you should be able to follow along as each new post comes out.

In addition to getting a new lineup of Jesuits to reflect on the Exercises this year,  we have also tried to make the content more accessible to those who begin in the middle of Lent or who want to go at their own pace. There is a new commenting system, some new accessibility controls for those who prefer larger font sizes (coming soon), a list of related posts from previous years at the bottom of each new post, and a list of posts in chronological order that should make finding just what you are looking for a little bit easier. (If that doesn’t do the trick, you can always just do a search, too.)

If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to contact us. We always love to hear from you, and we hope that you will join us again (or for the first time) as a way to grow closer to Jesus through prayer over the course of the Lenten season.

As you continue praying and getting to know the Lord in everyday life, you may wish to keep praying in the way recommended by St. Ignatius. Below is a link to a post from last year that gives a good introduction to Igantian prayer.

http://sedaily.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/total-praying/

You may wish to use this as you go back over some of the prayers for the Resurrection, or the Contemplation to Attain the Love of God from yesterday. Alternately, using this method to pray over the daily Mass readings could also be a fruitful practice. Whatever your preference, taking a little bit of time each day to be with Jesus in prayer will always be important in maintaining and deepening a relationship with Him.

We hope to be back next Lent to go through the Exercises again, and hope that you will join us again in order to get to know the Lord better and discern better how to follow Jesus in all that you do.

Text for Prayer: Spiritual Exercises no. 230-237

Reflection: 

The retreat, as Ignatius envisioned it, is a time of receiving many graces. Ignatius, though, was not content simply with receiving graces; he wanted us, after receiving generously from the Lord, to make an offering in return.  Ignatius’ ideal was to be a ‘contemplative even in action,’ to allow the knowledge given in prayer to find expression in service.  And so the final meditation of the Spiritual Exercises is the Contemplation to Attain the Love of God. One of the graces of the retreat is to allow things we all know about God to sink into our hearts, to become ‘felt’ knowledge.

Before entering into this contemplation, Ignatius calls to our attention two points. First, love ought to manifest itself in deeds more than in words. Second, love consists in a mutual sharing of goods, where the lover shares everything with the beloved, just as every good is shared between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.

With those points in mind, we place ourselves in the presence of God and His angels and His saints, who intercede for us, who have prayed for us throughout the retreat.

Let us then consider four points, making an offering of myself after each one.

First, consider the blessings of creation and redemption, how God has called me into being and how Christ has suffered and died, so I might be reconciled to the Father. When I reflect upon the gifts of creation and then redemption, what sort of offering should I make?  Ignatius gives a model of how we might make an offering, a prayer known as the Suscipe:

Take, Lord, and receive
all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me.  To Thee, O Lord, I return it.
All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to They will.
Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

Second, consider how God dwells in all creatures, in plants and in animals and in humans. Indeed, He makes a temple of me, since I have been created in His image and likeness. When I reflect upon this marvelous honor bestowed upon me, what sort of offering should I make?

Take, Lord, and receive
all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me.  To Thee, O Lord, I return it.
All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to They will.
Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

Third, consider how God is laboring for me in all the creatures on the earth. He is not content simply to set things in motion, but toils for my benefit. He makes trees bear fruit for us, He makes the sun shine upon us, and never ceases to work on my behalf. When I see the Lord laboring without rest for my good,  what sort of offering should I make?

Take, Lord, and receive
all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me.  To Thee, O Lord, I return it.
All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to They will.
Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

Finally, consider how all blessings and gifts come from heaven, like water from a fountain. All the power and justice and goodness and mercy that I possess come from God, who rains them into my soul. When I see all the gifts God has showered upon me, what sort of offering should I make?

Take, Lord, and receive
all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me.  To Thee, O Lord, I return it.
All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to They will.
Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

The final meditation of the Exercises is a summons to live life with gratitude.  And not a passive gratitude, but a gratitude that yearns to manifest itself in deeds. Ignatius saw ingratitude as the root of every sin. Gratitude, an ongoing recollection of the innumerable blessings the Lord has bestowed, will animate our faith, our hope and our charity.  Be grateful, and you will walk in the light.

Text(s): See below

Reflection: The Gospels and other new testament writings provide many accounts of different encounters between the Risen Christ and His disciples.  Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene (Mk 16:1-11), Mary the mother of James, Salome and Mary Magdalene (Mt 28:8-10), Peter (Luke 24:9-12, 33-34 and John 20:1-10), the disciples on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35), to the disciples (John 20:19-23), to Thomas (John 20:24-29), on the shore of Gennesaret (John 21:1-17), on Mount Tabor (Mt 28:16-20), and forty days after the Resurrection and to St. Paul(1 Cor 15:6-8).  After all this, he ascended into heaven (Acts 1:1-12).

After seeing the pretty extensive list above, perhaps picking one that draws your attention and praying with it would be the best bet.  The following considerations should be taken into account during the prayer.

Consider how the divinity of Christ, which seemed hidden during the Passion, now appears and manifests itself so miraculously in this holy Resurrection, through its true and most holy effects.  This is the fullness of the life of God present among men!  God’s act of creation is consummated in this moment.

Consider the task of consoler which Christ our Lord carries out, and compare it with the way friends console one another.  As our friend, Christ comes near to us to put our anxieties to rest.  At first many of the people he appears to do not see that it is Him.  But through the Spirit that He bears, our vision is cleared—we recognize Christ as our Lord, Redeemer, and Friend.

The friendship that Christ offers us is a relationship of consolation.  To be consoled by the Resurrected One is to participate in the Resurrection and be left confirmed in a true experience and reception of genuine hope: God has come to us!  Not even death can restrain Him!  In His task of consoling, Christ gives us the Spirit that proceeds from His love with the Father—and He gives without measure!

The various reactions of all the people that Christ appears to amount to one thing: the adoration of our Lord.  For the man who was brutally crucified three days ago is present now, gloriously alive—because He is Life itself. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the ultimate purification that drives each human being to the most authentic of joys rooted in the Glory of God.

Questions: How does Jesus choose to people?  What kinds of things does he say to them?  How do they respond?  How would the scene play out if Jesus appeared to me and consoled me as a friends do?  What kinds of things would I want to tell him?  What kinds of things would he want to tell me?

Text for Prayer: Spiritual Exercises no. 218-225, and 299.

Reflection: Today we begin celebrating the Resurrection of Christ Our Lord.  In fact, liturgically the Church considers the entire week that follows, called the Octave of Easter, to be one prolonged Sunday.  We ought to ask the Lord that our rejoicing in Him today be deep and full.  His victory is final and utterly complete.

St. Ignatius had the sense that the first person to share in the joys of the Resurrection would be the one who had most loved, trusted, and served God in her earthly life – Mary.  So St. Ignatius encourages us in the Spiritual Exercises to consider Jesus meeting His Mother on the Resurrection morning.

She had loved her Son to the bitter end – enduring His separation from her while teaching and preaching, His painful walk along the Way of the Cross, and ultimately His Crucifixion and death.  She never left Her Son’s side.  Could one have given any more than Mary?  And even as she lost Her Son, He gave her as Mother to all humanity from the Cross.  Her love, trust, and work is ceaseless.

Moreover, Mary is Jesus’ Mother.   She, human like us, loved Jesus in the home at Nazareth perfectly.  She searched for Him the day He remained in the temple when Mary and Joseph left in the caravan.  She lived with Him until He was about thirty years old and began His public ministry.  Could we begin to imagine the joy shared between these two who loved one another so trustingly and completely?

Considering well then the amount of love, labor, and persevering trust that Mary showed, as well as the deep affection that abides between Mother and Son, let us sit with the scene of Jesus meeting Mary in His resurrected glory.  Let us imagine their faces, their words, their feelings.  With them this Easter, let our joy be complete.

Questions:  Taking Mary as an example, at moments when the cost is greatest and the need for generosity and trust the most, can I continue to be faithful?

How can I come to trust more deeply that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, completely victorious over sin and death, and that He will lead, console, and save me?

Speaking to Jesus as a friend, what joy do I want to share with Jesus upon His Resurrection?

Text for Prayer: Mt. 27:27-50

Reflection: In today’s passage from Matthew’s Gospel, we are confronted by the scandal of a God who stoops so low as to allow Himself to be stripped naked before a crowd of soldiers, whipped and wounded without mercy, and then hung up on a tree to die.

Through all of this, what causes Jesus the most pain? Is it the physical suffering, which approaches the very limit of all that a human body can take before falling unconscious? Is it the shame of being completely naked before a host of one’s enemies, of feeling entirely vulnerable and helpless? Is it the pain of being abandoned by one’s closest friends, a group of men who all promised their unwavering fidelity only a few hours before?

In addition to all of those sufferings, Jesus also finds Himself mocked and ridiculed by the chief priests and the guards, who sarcastically call Him “King of the Jews.” Here, the hope of the Jewish people is crucified and their King is destroyed before their very eyes, on a hill just outside their most holy city, on a roadway where every passer-by cannot help but see. Worst of all, it is the Jewish people themselves who do this, all the while taunting God the Father to repent of His merciful plan and take Jesus down from the cross. This is the abomination par excellence in all of human history, an offense crying out for God’s action such that the world has never before seen and will never see again. How could God the Father remain silent and allow this to happen?

Such is the cry of many people even today when they are confronted by abominable suffering, and we have no answer to offer in response to their cries. Before such suffering, such injustice, such offenses in the sight of God, there is no adequate response. There are no words of explanation. Here, we are confronted with more than human beings can understand or explain.

All that we can do is watch and bear witness to all that is happening. Through the eyes of faith, all that we see is not meaningless, even in the very moment when all our explanations and attempts to find meaning fail us. In that failure of our understanding, God’s wisdom—which is forever beyond our wisdom—shines through to show us His infinite, self-giving, sacrificial, redemptive love. Christ’s Passion is not merely the greatest horror the world has ever known; it is also the greatest love the world has ever known. And in the perfect wisdom of our good God, love always wins, even when it is faced with the horrors of death on a cross.

Questions: As Jesus tells us elsewhere, those who crucify Him do not know what they are doing. They have lost sight of who they are because they have lost sight of who God is. As I stand with Jesus at the foot of the cross, what does His Passion tell me about myself? As I watch the Lord suffer death in order that I might know Him and be with Him forever, how do I feel moved to show my gratitude? What does His self-giving love call me to in my life right now?

 Text for Prayer: Matthew 26:59-68, Luke 23:7-11, Matthew 27:11-26

 Reflection.  GK Chesterton once wrote that man longs for simplicity, but tends toward complexity.  So it was with the intentions of earthly powers in Jesus’ day, and so it is with us today.  We pray with the Jesus who is feared, reviled, and made a pawn of others’ machinations and impurity of heart.   It is easy and comforting to distance ourselves from their actions; but they reflect common responses to unwelcome truths of Jesus’ mission.

Caiphas and the Sanhedrin are the fearful ecclesiastical leaders, who are concerned not with the truth but with quashing the apparent Messiahship of Jesus which threatens their authority.  Where do I find this pernicious abuse of power employed to quash unpleasant truths?

King Herod brings Jesus before him only to mock and scorn Him.  Jesus’ mission is the source of derision and contempt.  Where have I been mocked or scorned for living out my covenant with God?

Pontius Pilate is caught in an ethical bind – competing duties to justice, to his Roman superiors, to the angry crowd before him, and to this pitiable man he recognizes as unjustly accused.  Where have I compromised my principles and failed to recognize Christ as King, preferring instead expediency or not ‘making waves’?

Questions for prayer.  Considering the questions above, imagine praying with Jesus staring at me just as He looked at the thrice-denying Peter.  In what areas is He calling me to greater purity of heart and single-mindedness of intention?  Let the grace today be to simply feel Jesus’ pain as I stand beside Him: Christ as He is feared, reviled, ridiculed and abandoned before the complex intentions of earthly powers.

Joseph Simmons, SJ

Text: John 18:1-22

Reflection:  In these final days of Lent, we are called to reflect upon Jesus’ final moments with His friends.  After praying in agony throughout the night at Gethsemane, and knowing He was to be betrayed, Jesus calmly faces His betrayer.  What kinds of emotions must have been coursing through His heart?  Here is one of his friends!  A man who chose to follow Him for at least three years—sharing in the pain and in the praise as one of Jesus’ disciple.  Psalm 55 might help us to understand how Jesus felt:  “It is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—then I could hide from him.  But it is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.  We used to hold sweet converse together; within God’s house we walked in fellowship.”

Peter, overcome with righteous rage, draws his sword and strikes in violence.  Jesus rebukes him—he still does not understand the type of messiah that Jesus is!  Perhaps Peter cannot see past the fact that one of Jesus’ own friends betrayed Him.  Perhaps Peter is still angry and ashamed from having fallen asleep while Jesus suffered and prayed alone.  Perhaps Peter is still hurting from having been rebuked by Jesus during the Last Supper for not wanting Him to wash his feet.  All these emotions surge to the surface.  All these emotions end in violence and cowardice.   Peter has to learn the hard way that Jesus needs to continue on to Calvary.  Only Jesus can do this—only He can confront death.  This is a hard lesson for Peter, as well as for us.  He is called to follow to Golgotha.  We are called as well.  Called to follow Jesus and to allow Him to suffer, to let these things come to pass.  We must let go.

After binding Him, they take Him to the house of Annas, the father-in-law of Caiphas, who was the high priest that year.  Peter and another disciple follow at a distance, scared to death.  Jesus stands before one of the most powerful Jews, abandoned.  There are few friendly faces in the crowd (or perhaps there are none) that follows in His wake.  Jesus is alone.  How could such an innocent man be treated with such cruelty?  How could such a man be abandoned by His friends?  Placed in that situation, would we have done the same thing?

In the courtyard, Peter looks on from a safe distance.  He is worried about Jesus, but not worried enough to stand up for Him.  He is no longer as brazen as he once was.  Or perhaps he is too confused to know what to do.  Someone recognizes him.  He denies his friendship with Jesus.  What if we had been there: confused and scared?  What if someone had singled us out from the crowd, saying that we deserved to be with Jesus in front of Annas, being interrogated, beaten, insulted, and mocked?  What kind of betrayals and denials have we committed?  How many times have we abandoned Jesus to the bloodthirsty crowds?

Text: Matthew 26:36-46

Reflection: 

“Do you trust me?”

That is the question the Father is asking of the Son.  Jesus does not know why He must suffer, and so He asks His Father if there is any way He can be spared His Passion.  His Father asks Him to trust Him.  To undergo extreme physical and spiritual pain when one knows why one must is difficult; to do so when one does not know why is excruciating.

The life of Christ may seem desirable to imitiate when He is healing the infirm, forgiving the sinners, and feeding the multitudes, but what about when He is entering into His Passion?  It can be easy to follow Christ when the way is pleasant and comfortable, but are we then loving the God of consolations or the consolations of God?  The Father removes His consolations and asks His Son, “Do you still trust me, even though You do not understand why I am asking this of You?  Do you trust me?”

Adding to His torment is the abandonment by His friends, who cannot even stay awake during this moment of profound vulnerability in which Jesus is shown as being sorrowful even to death.  The negligence of Peter and the other apostles must surely give us consolation amid our infidelities great and small.  During the one time in His life when we see Christ deeply troubled and in pain, His closest friends sleep and run away.  And yet these men were the ones Christ would select to lead His Church, the men who would suffer martyrdom and carry the faith to the ends of the earth, the men He would greet just a few days later in the Upper Room with the words ‘Peace be with you.’ What an example of unmerited fidelity in the face of unmerited infidelity!

Questions:

How is my heart affected when I see Jesus in agony?

What sort of response do I want to make in return?

How do I understand my own infidelity and Christ’s response to it?

Text for Prayer: John 13:1-30

Reflection: The Last Supper – this is the last great moment of intimacy of Jesus with His Apostles, and at the same time the saddest, most convoluted time of Jesus’ betrayal.  It is a rich scene of thirteen friends gathered in an upper room for the Passover meal.  Yet the Last Supper bears a double seal, of the most near friendship and of the most immense sadness.  Imagine what might have been going through Our Lord’s mind as He prepared Himself and His Apostles for what awaited Him, knowing one of His own would betray Him.

Yet, in the midst of all this – Christ chooses to wash the feet of His Apostles.  Our King is the king who came to serve.  Moreover, this most humble gesture happens before Judas leaves to betray the Lord; Jesus washes the feet of Judas this very night.  Yes, Jesus washes the feet of Judas himself.

Could we ask for a more powerful demonstration of the fidelity and the love of Christ, no matter what kind of sin and betrayal He is offered by humans?  This is an image worth pondering.  The love of Christ reaches even beyond the malice of Judas.

On this same night, Jesus institutes the Eucharist.  The sacrifice He will make on the Cross on Good Friday He anticipates giving, He desires so much to love us.  Jesus is clear, “This is  My Body.  This is  My Blood.”  At each Mass we receive this same Jesus, just as He gave Himself to His Apostles.  Our Lord makes Himself substantially present in the Eucharist, present in every host just as He was in the bread St. Peter, St. John, St. Andrew, and all the others received that night.

What a wondrous fact to consider. The Eucharist, the Mass, is the single greatest gift Jesus gave us and the source and summit of our life in the Church. Through the power of the priest, the whole work of salvation is made present again.  Jesus comes not only to wash our feet, but our very souls in every celebration of the Eucharist.  It is the most direct testament of His love that we have.  Can we open ourselves more generously to this remarkable outpouring of Jesus’ Eucharistic and Sacred Heart?

…As always, choose and remain with that part of the reading or reflection which most helps you move toward the particular grace you seek.

Questions:  Can I accept the extraordinary charity which Our Lord shows Judas this night?  In what ways am I called to extend charity even to ones whom I know do not love me or could betray me?

Do I prepare well to receive Jesus in the Eucharist?  In what way can I more fully appreciate the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist at the next Mass I attend?  At every Mass?

Do I truly desire my heart to be conformed to the Heart of My Master, suffering and pierced for love of all?