With all that’s happened in the past year, going back to normal can’t be a return to the way things were. That’s because the way things were wasn’t good enough. Everything looks different. Everything is saturated with a familiar unknown, and nothing has its place just yet. I need to be alert, to note how this newness feels, to take advantage of the ensuing energy.
It took me some time to learn what God was trying to teach me through Sinesio, the man who, for over 25 years, kept the novitiate grounds a paradise, more heaven than Hollywood, with his care and hard work. But, God eventually got through as God has a way of doing. God will offer life lessons where we least expect them, and sometimes, when we least want them.
I stopped drinking during the last semester of my regency, a stage of Jesuit formation where we work in a Jesuit institution. My last binge led me to see how my story with alcohol was going to end. If I kept on drinking, I would have left the Jesuits and continued deteriorating. In this “moment of clarity,” I decided that I needed to stop drinking in order to live. Though I am writing this anonymously, my story is a truth I carry with me. I am a Jesuit, and I am an alcoholic.
This talk draws us into the Fourth Week of the Exercises and explores a question Jesus asks of all of us: do you love me?
This talk considers Judas’s question to Jesus at the Last Supper: Surely, it is not I, Lord? Given our Holy Week experience, it moves us into the Third Week of the Exercises, and explores the suffering of Jesus on the cross as an essential part of the Paschal mystery of the Christian faith.
This talk continues our experience of the Second Week, exploring the public ministry of Jesus and the relationships he formed with the people he served. It focuses on the question, “What do you want?”
In this third talk of our Holy Week retreat, we look at the early life of Jesus, including the events of the Incarnation, the Nativity, and the Hidden Life of Jesus.
In this Holy Week, I remember Jesus’s words on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” I ask for forgiveness, for the damage that I have caused unknowingly, and I forgive those who have damaged me with their words and actions. Join me as I reflect how an ancient Greek philosopher and a late-medieval Spanish Basque Priest guide me on using social media for the greater good.
This talk explores the second question God asks humanity in the sacred scriptures: who told you that?
Sr. Liz Sjoberg says collaboration with lay people is essential for her ministry on the southern border.