Advent is a season of waiting. We wait, we watch, and we anticipate. The prophets and saints are our companions as we wait symbolically for Christ’s first coming and birth, while we also anticipate His second coming and return. Our posture of waiting is shaped by the Advent themes of hope, love, joy and peace. “Come, Lord Jesus, Come” is our prayer. Read the rest of this entry →

The other night I attended a documentary on Climate Refugees. It was an assemblage of apocalyptic predictions about the mass migrations that could be triggered if warming continues unabated and the world warms 3 or 4 degrees Celsius. Things, the film suggest, are pretty much going to suck, I mean really suck. The goal of the filmmaker, I suppose, was to scare the crap out of us in the hope that this might motivate us to change. This approach bugs me. Read the rest of this entry →

I have hit upon the ultimate Ignatian gift—really-it is courageously perfect for anyone on your list, particularly people in the 1/3 minority, western, developed world.

In Ignatius’ Principle and Foundation for loving God, we are called to hold all created “things” in balance and use them so far as they bring us closer to God and the person we are called to be and rid ourselves of them in so far as they distract us or move us away from God and the person we are called to be. Read the rest of this entry →

I am thinking of the story in the gospel about the woman and the two gold coins (Lk 21:1-4). On the face of it, it is a story about an act of selflessness and faith. Every time we place money in a box, we do so with the hope that whoever takes it will put it to good use. For the woman in the story, though, it is an act of faith with very serious physical repercussions that left her completely at the mercy of others. We have to hope that she had a community that would support her. We hope that there were others who were there to ease her struggle. Or, maybe we just find ourselves shaking our heads thinking “I could never give away all of my money like that. How is she going to eat? How will she take care of her needs?” Read the rest of this entry →

Recently I took some time out to renew and refresh my understanding of Ignatian spirituality. While I consider myself very much a newbie to all things Ignatian, it was good to recall and remember how the themes and posture of Ignatian spirituality have impacted my life in significant ways these past five years. Ignatian themes of attentiveness, finding God in all things, contemplative activism, imagination, discernment and gratitude have all shaped and deepened my formation and vocation. All this has inspired me to give renewed attention to these Ignatian themes and practices in my own life. I begin with gratitude. Read the rest of this entry →