Ignatian Spirituality: Set the World Ablaze
John Predmore, S.J., is a USA East Province Jesuit and was the pastor of Jordan's English language parish. He teaches art and directs BC High's adult spiritual formation programs. Formerly a retreat director in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Ignatian Spirituality is given through guided meditations, weekend-, 8-day, and 30-day Retreats based on The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatian Spirituality serves the contemporary world as people strive to develop a friendship with God.
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Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Spirituality: On Dying
Even when the cloud is not there, it continues as snow or rain. It is impossible for the cloud to die. It can become rain or ice, but it cannot become nothing. The cloud does not need to have a soul in order to continue. There’s no beginning and no end. I will never die. There will be a dissolution of this body, but that does not mean my death. I will continue, always.
Monday, March 20, 2023
Poem: “Forgiveness” by: John Greenleaf Whittier
Abused, its kindness answered with a foul wrong;
So, turning gloomily from my fellowmen,
One summer Sabbath day I strolled among
The green mounds of the village burial place;
Where, pondering how all human love and hate
Find one sad level; and how, soon or late,
Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face,
And cold hands folded over a still heart,
Pass the green threshold of our common grave,
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,
Awed for myself, and pitying my race,
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,
Swept my pride away, and trembling I forgave!
Poem: Mary Oliver from "Whistling Swans"
But isn’t the return of spring and how it
springs up in our hearts a pretty good hint?
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Prayer: C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Spirituality: J. G. Bennett’s "Death and Resurrection"
Friday, March 17, 2023
Prayer: "Confessions" by Pat Bennett
God of the liminal places,
you draw us into the quietness of the desert
so that we can encounter ourselves…
But we confess that all too often
we stubbornly cling to false images
rather than face the necessity of change.
You call us into the emptiness of the desert
so that we can confront our desires…
But we confess that all too often
we continue to choose our own comfort
rather than serving the needs of others.
You drive us into the dangers of the desert
so that we can engage with your Kingdom …
But we confess that all too often
we prefer the smooth roads of safety
over the perilous pathways of justice.
Forgive us, O God,
wherever we have chosen to be, or do, or dare
less than you have asked of us;
and as we walk on in the desert with you
help us watch and wrestle with these things
so that we might choose differently in future.
Pat Bennett, from the download Walking in the Wilderness, a Communion liturgy for the Season of Lent