Seeking a world of justice and peace
Humanity has a short memory and imagines that the unassailable of today will remain in the ascendancy forever, but history shows that the only true and everlasting rock is that of the Lord. The Christian, in seeking to understand the coming of the Messiah, is receiving images from a Hebrew faith community that held the vision of a world of justice and peace. Christ owned those images and we have received the legacy of the kingdom founded upon the principles that he showed and taught from the day of his birth, and to which we continue to be drawn.
Excerpted from Journeying to the Light: Daily Readings through Advent and Christmas by John Mann (p.14)
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Advent Preparation
We wait, as surely we must, in awe at what is about to happen, as we reflect upon the vision of the prophets of long ago in a reformed world more than two thousand years after Christ’s birth. We know that the key is the Incarnation. The reality of God becoming human in the person of Jesus may be incomprehensible even in a single lifetime, but we have some days left in Advent to do what we can, that is to try to understand what this miracle implies. So we pray for sight to glimpse the glory that is being revealed and for the ability to listen to messages as they are delivered to the ears of those who wait.
Excerpted from Journeying to the Light: Daily Readings through Advent and Christmas by John Mann (p.16)
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‘The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him’ Isaiah 11:1–10
Things do not always work out the way we picture them. As Christians, we interpret this within the providence of God and seek to follow where we believe Christ leads. I would add to that a belief that where we take steps that are found later to have been clearly wrong, our Lord can and does call us from there into a new place. Such is his love for us that, no matter what, it never fails. Somehow, Life with Christ demonstrates this; redirection, when it comes, though we may think of it like the recalibration of a sat-nav, is more akin to a friend walking with us, sometimes gently guiding and occasionally bringing us up sharply to see our error.
Excerpted from Journeying to the Light: Daily Readings through Advent and Christmas by John Mann (p.9)
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‘It’s Not Fair’
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the state of the world and to feel helpless. There’s not much any single individual can do. A starting point is to see how the world works through the eyes of the disadvantaged, the poor, the marginalised and those most impacted by climate change. When leading sixth year Quo Vadis pilgrims on a three-day hike over the mountains, there was an implicit understanding. ‘I’ am not there yet until ‘we’ are all there. No matter how fast or athletic a person was, the pace had to accommodate the weakest. We would often stop to wait for the stragglers who were finding it difficult to climb the steep sections and then continue only after they had recovered. While the stronger may have been frustrated from time to time, there was an invaluable lesson. We walked as a community where people watched out for one another. We weren’t in competition. We were in empathetic solidarity. This experience mirrors our better nature.
Excerpted from Reimagining Religion by Jim Maher SJ (p.116)
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Random Reflections
Don’t cry for too long when something beautiful ends or a dear friend dies. Rejoice and be grateful that the beautiful happened.
Excerpted from Random Reflections by Des O’Donnell OMI (p.49)
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Tips From Learning From Your Feelings
Distinction is in the first place based on one’s own feelings. It is about what you notice in your own heart, not the hearts of your housemates, parents or friends. It is valuable to know how people who love you feel about what you do or don’t do, and to distinguish between your desires and their desires. Their feelings can provide valuable information. The only place where all this information finally comes together, however, is your own heart. It is about your life.
Excerpted from Living with Ignatius: On the Compass of Joy by Nikolaas Sintobin (pp. 85-86)
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The Ignatian System
The Ignatian system is based on a very simple insight that our experience has meaning, especially our inner moods and deeper experiences. To be able to see clearly, however, we need to be able to stand back and reflect on our journey. Seeing clearly then helps us find a direction or a path forward. It is like getting to a high point on the trail where you can see your previous journey and plan the future with great clarity. The key is getting out of our heads, away from anxiety, old patterns and fixed ideas and moving from the ego, or self-centredness to our best selves, which is what God wants. This is not as easy as it sounds though as the ego has strong defences and resists attempts to break free from its clutches. Freedom is only possible through connecting to a higher love, and the Camino journey is the organic process of letting go of our old life or patterns and waking up to a new reality.
Excerpted from Contemplating the Camino: An Ignatian Guide by Brendan McManus SJ (pp. 8-9)
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Always Ready To Help Us
God is always ready to help us. What’s required is that we first declare before God our thankful love. This needs to be our starting point, and indeed it shouldn’t only be a starting point, but a constant point of reference in our lives. As St Paul says in his first Letter to the Thessalonians: ‘give thanks in every circumstance’ (1 Thes 5:18).
In other words, give thanks also in difficult moments, in challenging moments, in moments when there doesn’t appear to be enough resources to see you through. Beneath apparently difficult situations, there is a hidden grace.
Excerpted from The Mindful Our Father by Thomas G. Casey SJ (pp: 102-103 )
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Human Development and Prayer
While there are some elements common to all our lives, we know that each person has individual characteristics too, and a unique story. As human beings, we are gifted, though limited, creatures. Our particular characteristics, our backgrounds and how we were nurtured and formed exert their influence on us. Our formation in faith has an important role in providing direction and in setting goals in life. There are challenges to all of this from various sources, inside and outside ourselves. It is good to remember that in his ministry Jesus met, not only openness and receptivity, but also blindness and resistance. The response to his call was not always immediate and generous.
Excerpted from See God Act: The Ministry of Spiritual Direction by Michael Drennan SJ (p: 33 )
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First Things First
The image of a jigsaw puzzle helps to develop a little more the idea of what life is about. Each individual piece plays an invaluable role. There are no substitutes. There is no understudy to replace me in life. We collaborate as co-creators with God by ‘selving’, owning who we are and, in that way we facilitate the completion of the jigsaw with our own unique contribution, as God had hoped for. It’s only when all the pieces come together that the New Jerusalem, the new order of creation, will be established. While the kingdom of God is in our midst, it’s awaiting completion. We’re not passive recipients in God’s eyes. God needs each one of us to play the part assigned to us, by being who we are, faithful to our true selves. That’s why it’s so important to get in touch with what really makes us tick.
Excerpted from Pathways to a Decision with Ignatius of Loyola by Jim Maher SJ (p.24)
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