MAKING ALL THINGS NEW

I received a text early Sunday from a dear friend, and she wanted to let me know that Father George Lane, SJ had passed away. Fr. Lane was the longtime Publisher at Loyola Press, and that’s how I got to know this wonderful and holy man. A chance encounter with Fr. George at a dinner one night in Chicago literally changed my life and I will always be grateful for his kindness to me.

More than a dozen years ago, I was invited by Loyola Press to come to Chicago for a little gathering of people from all around the country who engaged in faith formation at Catholic parishes. We all used Loyola Press textbooks in our programs. In all honesty, I said yes to the invitation because I had never been to Chicago and I was being offered a free trip. Loyola Press was and continues to be a very generous and caring company, and on that first of what turned out to be many visits to the windy city, my fellow travelers were wonderfully cared for and listened to.

On the second day of my trip, after a long day of presentations and conversations, our group went out to dinner, and we were a large group. I ended up at the end of a very long table, and after I sat down, Fr. George sat down across from me. After we placed our orders and got our drinks, Fr. George asked me “so, Paul, what do you know about Ignatian Spirituality?” “Not much at all” was my honest but timid response. This led to a very nice conversation about St. Ignatius and Loyola Press’ mission to publish books regularly on Ignatius and the spirituality which flowed from Ignatius’ conversion and his Spiritual Exercises. Dinner was served and we moved on to other topics.

The next morning, when I arrived at the room where our group was meeting, sitting next to my name tag was a little stack of books, tied together with a red ribbon. I was surprised to see that there was nothing placed at anyone else’s place. With that, Fr. George arrived and came up to me. “Those are from me, and I hope they help you learn about Ignatian Spirituality.” In all honesty, I was surprised that he remembered our conversation from the night before. In my mind, I thought it was only small talk and he was just trying to be polite. I thanked him, put the books in my backpack, and later checked them out at lunch. Here’s what Fr. George gave me: What Is Ignatian Spirituality by David Fleming, SJ, A Simple Life-Changing Prayer by Jim Manney, and Inner Compass by Margaret Silf. These books became my nighttime reading for the rest of the trip. Later that day, Fr. George came by again said that he had continued thinking out our conversation the night before, and he encouraged me to attend an Ignatian retreat sometime after I got home.

As Providence would have it, about a week later, I had another meaningful conversation with someone at a meeting at my parish who just happened to work at a retreat center nearby. I learned that they were offering an Ignatian retreat that summer, and I signed up right away. At this point, I had begun to understand that God was at work in all this, that He was nudging me onto a new path, an Ignatian Way. This new way became a life-long journey which continues to this day. This website, Making All Things New, is one of the many fruits which have come from that providential conversation with Fr. George at the Mystic Celt restaurant on Southport Ave., just down the street from the Loyola Press offices.

I will be eternally grateful to Fr. George’s kindness to me, for his little gift of three books which truly set me on a new path. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen!

photo from Pixabay

This past weekend, I led another Making All Things New retreat, and gratefully the participant’s positive evaluations reminded me once again that many people are looking to make positive changes in their lives through the lens of Ignatian Spirituality.

Its hard to believe I’ve been leading versions of this retreat for nearly ten years now. The retreat came about through my own experience of being diagnosed with Type II diabetes right around the time a wonderful woman took me through St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. My experience of the Exercises is known today my many as the “retreat in everyday life,” meaning you are engaged in work, family life, etc., while making the retreat over several months. Although I didn’t really know it at the time, I needed to make some major changes in my life, and with Ignatius’ “cura personalis” (care for the whole person) approach, those thirty-five weeks of focusing my body, mind and spirit were transformative.

As noted elsewhere on this blog, I prayed each day using material from the Exercises and given to me by Nancy, my Director/Guide. I grabbed a hold of Ignatius’ description of himself in his autobiography as “the Pilgrim” and began walking twice a day for about thirty minutes in the morning and afternoon. Finally, using Ignatius’ “Rules for Eating” as a starting point, I changed my diet and began eating a very healthy diet.

These three daily practices (praying, walking, eating) had a wonderful effect on me, so much so that I felt compelled to share my experience with whoever will listen. Maybe that’s why you’re here. Please know I’m so glad you are reading these words, and I pray that you would find what you need here on this blog to develop your own transformative experience. Please note that if you have health issues, it is very important that you check with your healthcare provider before making major changes to your diet and exercise routines. Changes to your prayer life, on the other hand, needs no physician consultation! You can make those changes right now.

As we move through these first days of Lent, I’m challenging myself, with God’s help, to make this Lent 2023 transformative. My retreat last weekend reminded me that, as Pope St. Paul VI said, it’s more important for me to be a witness than it is to be a teacher.

This morning, I returned to my favorite walking path, where I passed this pond. I’m going to walk at least 30 minutes each day this Lent. I’m also leading a wonderful group of people through a twelve week version of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, so my prayer life will be extra rich, and finally, I’m going to work on my diet, choosing healthy recipes to cook for myself and my friends. Here are some websites you might find helpful:

Ignatian Spirituality

Walking

Healthy Recipes

Please note that I am not affiliated with these websites and offer them as possible resources.

Lastly, I would ask you to consider using these forty days of Lent to spend quality time working on those issues which might be holding you back from being the person God calls you to be. Make the changes God puts on your heart, and start writing your thoughts, feelings and inspirations in a journal. That’s what St. Ignatius did over 500 years ago, and his journal, now known as the Spiritual Exercises, continues to change lives. I know, because that’s what happened to me. Know you are blessed, and have a holy Lent.

Well, it’s hard to believe 2022 is now behind us, but I’m looking forward to all the hopes which come with today’s dawn. I don’t know about you, but this past year was a tumultuous one for me. There are lots of reasons for this, but the one I’m thinking about right now is the unexpected death of my brother Don, the first of my siblings to pass away.

His death has left a void in our hearts and lives, and I guess I will leave it at that. I pray that he’s now at peace and happy to be reunited with our parents.

After much discernment, I left a job I enjoyed and achieved quite a bit of success. My ten years there were filled with many blessings, along with a lot of stress tied to the pandemic. For some time I had been wanting to get back into a ministry position where I felt the Lord could use me more effectively, where I could use the gifts he gave me for as long as God desired it.

Part of my discernment had been about what changes I might need to make to help people get back to church and return to some pre-pandemic normalcy. I’m happy to say that the changes we implemented had the desired effect, although there is more work to be done. When asked why we made the changes we did, my general response was that the fruit flowed from a long and proper discernment.

That being said, I’ve come to realize that many don’t even know how to properly make a decision flowing from a well done discernment, not in isolation but with the help of others. More on this in an upcoming post.

Maybe you have been discerning what changes you might want to make in 2023. What do you think the Lord might be calling you to do this year, so that you can be a holier person, a more loving person, a more compassionate and kind person, a person who tries to find God in all things and strives to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

I have my New Year’s list together, and I’ve already accomplished at least two tasks. I still have a few more, which will need a few more days to begin, but I’m glad I have started. Now, as it always is, how successful will I be with the next 364 days? Only time will tell…

May God bless you and those you love in the year ahead. May God bless our world with the peace that only He can give, the peace we need so badly and should desire with all our hearts.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of leading an Ignatian Retreat and I was touched by the engagement level of the retreatants, especially with our conversations around discernment. Usually, my retreats begin Friday afternoon and end Sunday morning. This one, however, was Thursday through Sunday, which gave us an opportunity for extended conversations and time for reflection.

Sadly, one of the Ignatian practices I wanted to discuss but ran out of time was Ignatius’s Rules For Eating. When I was going through the version of the Spiritual Exercises called the Retreat in Everyday Life (lasting about 30 weeks), my Director told me about these rules/guidelines because I had recently been diagnosed with Type II diabetes.

Because Ignatius referred to himself as “the pilgrim” in his autobiography, I linked the rules for eating with the idea of being a pilgrim. This is a very providential decision, and throughout the retreat, I chose to go all in on three key disciplines: praying throughout the day, closely monitoring what I ate , and walking twice a day, every day.

At the end of the retreat, I was like a new person! I had lost 65 pounds, which led to me testing outside the diabetes range, and my prayer life had never been better. The funny thing was, as I encountered people who knew me well, they asked if I was sick! Here I was, in the best shape I had been in a long time in all areas of my life (body, mind, and spirit), and people assumed I must be sick. Back to walking…

Centuries ago, St. Augustine coined the term “solvitur ambulando” which means “it is solved by walking.” Now, St. Augustine was talking about solving a problem by thinking it through while walking, maybe very long walks, but for me, I realized I didn’t need a gym membership or expensive equipment to improve my health. I just needed a good pair of walking shoes and the discipline of walking in the morning and afternoon/evening every day without fail. If it was raining, I was in the mall. If it was sunny, I was out walking in my neighborhood or on local walking trails. I brought friends with me whenever I could, and soon, others were having success similar to my own.

Well, those initial experiences were several years ago now, and I have to admit that I’m not as fit as I was in those initial days. But Ignatius would remind us that everyday can be a fresh start, so just this morning, I got out and walked a route I hadn’t been on for months. This trail, on an old golf course, took me about 45 minutes. It was a cool morning, and it felt great to be out in nature once again. I had some things to think through on this walk, and although there was no resolution quite yet, I did feel like I was closer to solving the situation.

Today, the Feast of St. Ignatius, marks the end of the Ignatian Jubilee, honoring the 500th Anniversary of Ignatius’ wounding at the battle of Pamplona. It was during many months of recuperation and healing that God began working on Ignatius’ heart, leading to one of the most epic conversion stories in the Catholic Church.

On the last day of my recent eight day retreat, one of the retreatants asked me a question. “So, just what made this retreat “Ignatian”? Now, I must be honest in saying that the question surprised me. On each day of the retreat, I introduced an Ignatian exercises/concept, such as the First Principal and Foundation, the Examen, Discernment of Spirits, Meditation and Contemplation, etc. I spoke about Ignatius’ conversion and how each of these exercises/concepts were part of his document known as the Spiritual Exercises. How could this connection not have been made by the retreatant? I explained the concepts once again, and I think they “got it” in the second go-around.

Ultimately, I realized that I can always do a better job of explaining these concepts which are part of my daily life now. I’ve had more than a decade now to wrestle with them and integrate them into my life. In the weeks ahead, I hope to write a blog post which has links to trusted resources which will help anyone reading this blog better understand Ignatius and the spirituality which developed out of his lived experience of God, which is still impacting the world today.

Happy Feast Day!

Not long before the pandemic began, I had the chance to attend a conference for Spiritual Directors with Fr. Joseph Tetlow, SJ, a renowned expert in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. One of the great benefits of attending this conference was an opportunity to sit down with Fr. Tetlow and review my presentation outlines and handouts from my retreats.

During that long conversation, Fr. Tetlow provided some great insights and suggestions, which I begin putting into place as soon as I was able to begin leading retreats again after the COVID restrictions were lifted. The feedback from those making my retreats has been great, which I owe in large part to Fr. Joe.

During that sit down with him, Fr. Joe asked if I had led an eight day retreat in the Ignatian Tradition, and I responded that, although I had made more than a dozen 8 day retreats, I had yet to lead one. He told me that he thought I should take that next step, so when I got back to Maryland, I made an appointment to speak to my contact at the retreat center I use. She told me that with the pandemic still causing havoc, I would have to wait awhile to get something scheduled, but we set dates for one in the summer of 2021. I’m happy to say that the wait was worth it, and with the help of two other spiritual directors, we led a wonderful retreat. It was a graced experience for me and I was humbled by the experience. Not long after this first experience, I began prayerfully preparing for the next one, which just occurred last week.

As it always seems to happen, we had a very diverse group of retreatants, including women religious, ministers and pastors of other Christian denominations, some folks who made the first retreat last year ( a great sign), and plenty of new faces. In fact, this retreat was sold out months ago, another good sign that people want to experience this Ignatian retreat, rooted in the Spirituality flowing from the life and conversion experience of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius’ conversion began after a serious battle injury 500 years ago.

Because the Catholic Church in the United States began a two year Eucharistic Revival just last month, I knew I wanted to do my part to help people not only come to know Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, but also have time to pray daily during a time of Eucharistic Adoration. We’ve done Adoration in the past on my retreats, but I wanted to make this year’s experience more powerful, more beautiful, and more memorable. As this photo shows, I think we accomplished all three objectives.

If you’ve never been on an Ignatian retreat, or if it’s been a long time, please consider making one sometime in the next year. I know you’ll be glad you did.

Recently, I came across an old book written by Fr. John Hardon, SJ, and sadly, even the reprint of All My Liberty is long out of print. Knowing Fr. Hardon’s solid and trustworthy teaching, I spent more than I ever have for a used paperback book. In All My Liberty, Fr. lays explains the theology of St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises.

I’m only in the beginning pages, but something he wrote really struck me, as I and many others sense the rapid and disturbing changes occurring in our culture and country right now. Fr. Hardon references a document from the US Bishops, which had recently been issued (1948), over seventy-five years ago. I doubt those bishops realized how prophetic their pastoral letter would be. Sadly, we did not heed their warning.

In their national pastoral letter of 1948, the American bishops warned against the prevalent tendency “to teach moral and spiritual values divorced from religion and based solely on social convention. Unless man’s conscience is enlightened by the principles that express God’s law, there can be no firm and lasting morality. Without religion, morality becomes simply a matter of individual taste, of public opinion, or majority vote.” Once God is removed from the concept of morals, sin becomes a label for superstition or an name for divergence from accepted custom.

And now, in May of 2022, it appears that’s what many people (but not all) in our county, including many of our leaders (but not all), have come to believe.

Friends, we need to step up our prayer. God has put us on this earth now, for such a time as this. Let’s get in the game, remembering that God is still on the throne, and He has already secured the victory.

Lord, have mercy on us!

For the first time in several years, I’ve had the blessing to work with a group of people who are converting to the Catholic faith. We began meeting in October, and we had our last regular session yesterday, Palm Sunday.

This week is rich with ritual, symbol and sacrament. Beginning yesterday, Christians throughout the world remember Jesus’ passion and death, and we also remember the institution of the Priesthood and Eucharist. Finally on Holy Saturday, we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord. Those throughout the world, millions of people who have been learning, praying and discerning, will receive the Easter Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Others, already baptized, will make a profession of faith and receive the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist.

May these holy days leading up to Easter be filled with peace and consolation for all these wonderful people, including those I’ve had the privilege to walk with these many months, so that together, throughout the whole world, we can celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.

Let us also pray for the people of Ukraine and those who find themselves in difficult situations, including violence, poverty, illness, and loss of loved ones. May they link their suffering to that of Jesus, our merciful Savior.

Today is the 400th Anniversary of the Canonization of these two great saints. Below are excerpts from a letter Xavier wrote from Tuticorin to Ignatius in Rome:

“May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ our Lord be always with us. Amen.        

I wrote a very long letter to you from Goa about our voyage from the time that we left Lisbon until we arrived in India, and also that I was going to Tuticorin with some Fathers from that city…

Whenever I reached a village, the children would not let me say my office or eat or sleep until I had taught them some prayers. Then I began to understand that of such is the kingdom of heaven. Since it would have been impious to refuse such a holy request, I began with the confession of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Creed, Our Father, and Hail Mary, and taught them in this way. I saw that they were by nature very gifted; and I am convinced that, if they had anyone to instruct them in our holy faith, they would be good Christians…

As for me, trusting in the infinite mercy of God our Lord and the great assistance of your sacrifices and prayers and of all those of the Society, I hope that, if we do not see each other again in this life, we shall do so in the next with greater peace and joy than we have in this world.”

Your son in Christ,

Franciscus de Xabier

From Tuticorin, October 28, 1542

Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us!