Our first meal was at a loud bar with gloriously cheap food. Our second meal was at our beloved parish, St. Ignatius Loyola on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We kept having these two meals over and over again. On Sundays, though, the food didn’t change. His distribution of Communion was never an isolated sacramental act, but the moment that gave clarity to the rest of our encounters. Meet my friend Carlos, a dear friend who helped redirect my life.
The morning is gentle. I’ve come at the perfect time to sit and pray near the old living room windows. The sign of the cross, coffee on the window sill, closed eyes. I’m opaque inside today. I pray about yesterday. And sometimes my prayer isn’t always clear.
I’ve been throwing pottery for over a year now. For a while, I had the technique down, or at least down enough to center the clay and build from there. But lately, I have had the worst time centering the clay. As I sit with my struggles to center the clay, my mind wanders to the world around me: does anything feel centered these days?
“This whole year has felt like a Lenten penance in the desert, so I’m not thinking about what to give up. Instead, I enter this season replaying images of that day with Javier.” Christopher Alt, SJ, recounts the story of his friend’s first day out of prison and considers what lessons it has for us as we see promises of the end of the pandemic and move into Lent.
The grace of the Fourth Week is to enter into the joy and consolation of Jesus as he savors the glory of the Resurrection.
On this Good Friday, Jesuit rapper, Michael Martinez S.J. produced a music video in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://youtu.be/ye8FcM5Kdn4 The grace of the Third Week is to have sorrow and compassion for Jesus, to suffer with him because he goes to his passion for us. This episode begins by discussing the Paschal Path, which is where the Lord is leading us, and a path that...
This episode focuses on how we stay on the path to God through discernment and the people that we walk with on the journey.
“What is truth?” Pilate will ask Jesus. And, Jesus will answer with his life. I’ve been thinking this week about a Jesuit brother of mine who has been sitting in jail in Brunswick, Georgia, for the last two years trying to do the same: answer with his life.
The Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises is split into two episodes. This first one focuses on why we walk this particular path on our journey of faith, and not another.