God In All Things

Your instructor for this lesson on rest: Jesus.

A new PBS Kids show speaks to the Ignatian pattern we see in the Examen.

Ignatius tells us that feelings are important guides in the spiritual life. How do we discern what feelings are telling us? How do we know they are leading us to God? Be curious.

How do we know we're moving toward union with God? Simple: we can know that by the fruits we see. Ignatius and Paul may use different words, but they're in sync with the idea of "living by the Spirit".

If we dig beneath the desires of our hearts we will discover deeper core motivations for those desires. They're ultimately for God or the ego. Here are a couple ways we can dig down and uncover those motivations.

Our image of God depends on how we understand the Bible. Is the Bible a moral rulebook or does it present a larger Truth about humanity's experience with God told through stories?

Whenever we bring suffering or negative feelings into our consciousness, we give it less power over us. When we take a mindful, contemplative, and non-resistance stance like Jesus, we discover a new kind of freedom.

Think you don't have an imagination? Here's why Ignatius felt imagination was so important to our prayer. Also, try our new Memory Recollection audio meditation.

What was going on in Ignatius' heart as he gazed up each night at the stars? His cosmology was quite different than ours, but he still understood that love was the force of the universe, the source of all and the ultimate destination.

It feels good to be remembered. Ignatius saw the memory as a gift, one that draws us into a deeper union with God.

The things in our life are all passing. They are gifts to help us in our journey to a union with God. When we accept impermanence, we discover heaven on earth. When we let go of 'shoulds' and illusions and expectations, we find salvation.

The ego is another name for the evil spirit. This is an important truth to understand if you wish to grow in the spiritual life. The evil spirit tries to protect the ego, which is just another word for the masks of self-importance and superiority we wear as individuals and groups. The good spirit, on the other hand, helps us transcend the egoic preoccupation.

A female perspective.

When we listen to the deep desires of our hearts we are in the flow of God's love and God's dream for our lives. But how do we know a desire is 'of God'?

We tend to look for God in the big emotion-filled moments and can feel disappointed when we don't notice God in the everyday. Yet Ignatius says we can find God's presence in the real stuff of everyday life.

Ignatius uses two images for our relationship with God: a friendship and a master-servant relationship. Both of these however are really about a deep intimacy and companionship.

Forgiveness is a way that God seeks to lift the burdens from us that prevent us from the freedom to love and live fully.

God's will for us is not some predetermined blueprint that negates our freedom. Let's examine how the Ignatian tradition understands discernment and purpose. Hint: There's a bigger Dream for the world. And Disney Pixar's Soul helps reminds us of this, too.

An overview of five important contributions of the Ignatian spiritual tradition.

We have put too much stock in human governments and institutions. The archetypal pattern found in scripture shows that human kingdoms always fail and God is always trying to draw us back to our original goodness.

Through his neighbourhood, Mister Rogers teaches us how to be people of love and how to truly know one another. His neighbourhood was kind of a metaphor for the kingdom of God.

Religion tends to operate from the perspective of how we need God, but the truth is, God needs us.

Sometimes, in our efforts for self-improvement, we come against tendencies that are so engrained in our personality they are hard to change. Engaging in deep practices can help us better trust in the slow work of God.

The pandemic has revealed the tension between our experiences of poverty and abundance. It's fitting to reflect on that this Advent season.

Gratitude is a cyclical force of creative love that feeds itself. It transforms us and opens our eyes to the divine goodness in all things.