Among the many things that parents teach their children is how to make decisions. Today, more than ever, young people have many options available to them when making decisions. While having options is a good thing, it also creates more stress and anxiety for young people: How do I choose what’s best for me? How do I know which choice is the right one? Recognizing that making important decisions is a crucial skill in life, […]
This prayer originally appeared in my book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe. Download a PDF version of the prayer here.
Help teens ask themselves how they make decisions, and lead them to practice discernment so that they can live a life of meaning and purpose. Loyola Press, in honor of the Ignatian Year, offers an introductory lesson on Discernment of Spirits and the Missioned Life. Download this free lesson for high school students, based on an excerpt from Living Against the Grain by Tim Muldoon. For more on the Ignatian Year, visit IgnatianSpirituality.com.
In honor of this year’s Catechetical Sunday theme of “Say the Word and My Soul Shall Be Healed,” we offer a spiritual journaling exercise to help teachers, catechists, and parents reflect on the tensions of life and identify places in need of healing. The journal prompts are excerpted from Writing to Be Whole: A Healing Journal by Eddie Ensley and Robert Herrmann. As we continue to emerge from the isolation the pandemic forced upon us, […]
The daily Examen is way to pray through the events and emotions of the day to find God with us. When practiced regularly, the Examen can help those who pray it identify God in all aspects of the day and see the patterns of God’s presence over time. It is a key way to pray in Ignatian spirituality. Introduce teens and adults to the Examen with our daily Examen journal—printable and foldable as a booklet. […]
When my wife and I visited Hawaii some years back, we were shown around one day by our dear friend Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy. As I was doing the driving with my wife riding shotgun, Jayne sat in the back seat and played the role of tour guide and navigator to perfection. At one point, we got stuck in a little traffic. Jayne sensed that I was getting a little frustrated and feared that I might honk […]
Five hundred years ago, a cannonball changed the world! It was on May 20, 1521, that Ignatius of Loyola was wounded in battle, a cannonball shattering his knee. During his long period of rehabilitation, Ignatius read the only literature available to him: books on Jesus and the lives of the saints. Upon reflection, he realized he was fighting for the wrong army and fighting the wrong battles. He eventually laid down his sword and dedicated […]
In a recent post about mystagogy, I quoted Orthodox bishop and theologian Kallistos Ware, who said, “We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of our wonder.” I also wrote that mystagogy is the task of becoming progressively aware of mystery. In order to […]
When it comes to inspiration about faith formation, one of my favorite quotes comes from Orthodox bishop and theologian Kallistos Ware, who said, “We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of our wonder.” The task of becoming progressively aware of mystery is known […]
This prayer originally appeared in my book, The Catechist’s Toolbox: How to Thrive as a Religious Education Teacher. Download a PDF version of the prayer here. You might also like: Holy Thursday’s Hidden Graces 3-Minute Retreat: The Lord’s Supper (also in Spanish)
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