Ignatian Spirituality

A Psalm for a Day of Waiting

Steve · March 31, 2018 · 6 Comments

Today’s the day we wait. Tucked in at the end of Holy Week, after that final meal together, after that scene in the garden, after betrayal and arrest, after trial and denial, after splinters and nails and thorns and death…we wait for something else. It’s the end of a bad week and we “just wanna feel reborn, you know?”* So we wait for the new day, for a chance to begin again.

And that’s what Easter is for. But here’s the important part. It’s not just about tomorrow. If we live for the new hope of Easter one day a year we have missed the point of everything. The hope of Easter is not just about Jesus rising from death, although that is where we begin. We begin outside of Jerusalem, huddled in a small room somewhere, hiding from and for our lives. We begin in absolute darkness, both waiting for the light of day and afraid that when it comes it might leave us exposed.

Notes from a Lecture: The Two Francises, by Fr. Michael Perry, OFM

Steve · January 31, 2018 · 2 Comments

Last night I had the good fortune to attend a lecture at Washington University (where I work) by Father Michael Perry, the American Franciscan friar who is the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor. Sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, Fr. Perry spoke on this theme: “What Do Francis of Assisi and Francis of Buenos Aires Have in Common? A ‘Franciscan’ Perspective on the Common Good.” My write-up here is by no means exhaustive of his roughly one-hour presentation but rather represents what most resonated with me and what I was able to capture in my little notebook…

A little background on Fr. Perry, just to give you an idea of his breadth of experience and education. He spoke from a deep, humble and well-educated place. Born into an Irish household in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1954, Fr. Perry entered the Franciscan seminary at Quincy University in Illinois where he studied philosophy and history. While still a theology student, he went to the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire) where he served as pastor, researcher, and professor of mission and cultural studies. He completed his doctorate in social anthropology (religious anthropology) at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. and went on to serve as a foreign policy adviser to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and later as an adviser on African religion and social policy at Franciscans International, U.N./New York. He also served as a policy and programs adviser at Catholic Relief Services. From 2009-13, Fr. Perry served as the Vicar General of the Order of Friars Minor in Rome. Since 2013, he has served as the Minister General (leader) of the Order. He maintains an active interest and engagement in the promotion of peace and reconciliation in Africa, and in the promotion of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue.

Finding God in All Things: 10 Books for 2018

Steve · January 15, 2018 · 5 Comments

From time to time, as both a writer and a spiritual director, I get asked for book recommendations. So on this cold and snowy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday in the U.S., I stayed inside and scoured my shelves for ten books I would highly recommend, books that are both well-read and well-loved, books that have pointed me in different ways to the movement of God in my life, inspired me by their beauty and story, or have somehow appeared in my life just when I needed them most.

Boy Like Me: The Call of Jesus in the Temple

Steve · January 6, 2018 · 2 Comments

IMG_4003 (1) — That's me, right about 12.

Well, I was twelve years old in the meeting house
Listening to the old men pray.
Well, I was tryin’ hard to figure out
What it was that they was tryin’ to say.
There you were in the temple
They said, “You weren’t old enough to know the things you knew.”

And did they tell you stories ’bout the saints of old,
Stories about their faith?
They say stories like that make a boy grow bold,
Stories like that make a man walk straight.

(Rich Mullins, Boy Like Me)

In the Catholic Church and other liturgical denominations that follow a regular lectionary of scripture readings, this is the time of year that we hear what little we know about Jesus’ early years. There’s not much there, of course, once the Holy Family returns from exile in Egypt. (They were refugees, after all, and it’s important to remember that in these days).

Jacob in the Morning: Surely God is in this place

Steve · December 10, 2017 · 2 Comments

Every moment sacred. Sedona sunset in Sue's hand. SJG photo.

For this cold Sunday morning, I offer a retelling of a story from Genesis 28…a story that challenges us to consider that the holy is all around us — not merely in temples and churches, not only in sacraments and to the accompaniment of soaring music or while standing in inspiring places of natural or human-created beauty. The holy is where we are at any given moment of our day, if only we’re willing to look for God in that moment. Imagine Jacob, the morning after his dream:

It’s the “morning after” as I tell this story to myself, hoping that speaking it out loud will allow me to remember everything I experienced last night…