I was reading a beautiful article by Bishop Robert Barron that described one of the key ideas of the spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola and it is also an underlying principle and part of the rationale for why I created and made my own First Things First online course (you can check out a description of the course here). In the midst of life, I have found that it is the ability to have “eyes to see and ears to hear” how all the people, events and circumstances in my life are interconnected, in addition to seeing and hearing […]
purpose
19 posts
“Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” These words from the Gospel always give me strength and encouragement, rather than condemnation or fear of judgment, particularly when I am faced with changes in my life like are going on right now in the aftermath of my mom having a stroke. When I’m faced with my cross—the one God has personally prepared especially for me, and what He will use to transform me into the saint He created me to be, I still have to be willing to take it up. Additionally, […]
In the series finale of the epic fantasy television series, Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister, a character who throughout the series has been known for his insights and cleverness, argues for why Brandon Stark, who is now also the Three-Eyed Raven, should become the next King of Westeros. In a nutshell, Tyrion goes through all the many things that do NOT bring people together before pointing out the one thing that does–stories. Tyrion goes on to say: “There is nothing more powerful than a good story…nothing can stop it.” And Tyrion argues that this is why Bran should be king, […]
Today, the Gospel is the story of Jesus in His hometown of Nazareth, reading from the prophet, Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” And then Jesus responds by proclaiming “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” For me, this passage is almost a no-brainer. Like, duh, of course this passage is being fulfilled. This is Jesus! By this time in […]
Merry Christmas! (And yes, it is STILL Christmas!) I hope this finds you still rejoicing in the great gift of Him who humbled Himself to become like us as a babe in the manger at Bethlehem! My post today is an outgrowth of my spiritual mentorship ministry work, and the great need that I have seen for people to come to know and understand and embrace that the reality that God loves us so deeply, passionately and profoundly, that He desires nothing more than to love us, and to that end, He invites us to enter into life with, in […]
Bishop Robert Barron’s Reflection for today, this Feast of Mary as Queen of Heaven, is absolutely brilliant, so wanted to share it. In particular, Bishop Barron refers to the “two standards” meditation that is part of St Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. The “two standards” are a reference to the battle pennants that are flown at the head of an army, and St Ignatius invites all people to meditate upon whose army are we a part? God’s with all the angels and saints who fight for the good, true and beautiful and the things of eternity like love and friendship? […]
So often in my life, I look around and realize how comfortable I am. Not just physically with the blessings of a house, car, clean and ample water, food, and clothing, but am spiritually comfortable as well, and it gives me pause. Why you might ask? Simply because to be growing in the spiritual life means so often to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s a phrase I use to gauge whether I truly am doing all I can in my life to avoid sloth and pursue holiness vs being distracted by the allures of the world. Because sloth is […]
The freedom to choose and exercise our will is what makes us human beings. No other creatures on this earth have this capacity. Our world is increasingly made up of choices–about what we buy, eat, watch, listen, read, etc.–I mean, really, how many options do we need to have for our coffee in the morning? Yet, an unintended consequence of all the choices around us, is we become overwhelmed, and an inertia slowly develops that gradually paralyzes us and eventually decreases our ability to make any choices. The unnamed evil of our times is acedia, or sloth, which is not […]
I am now 10 days into my commitment to blog for 30 days in a row, and I thought it was important to share with those of you who have joined me for this journey to know why I am blogging. Primarily, it is rooted in my experience during the last thirty years of encountering countless numbers of people who are going through life, but are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, unfulfilled, and believe that their life has made little difference in the world, and/or that they have missed out on their life’s true purpose. They are restless and searching for something, […]