Thursday, January 28, 2010

A Spirituality that Transforms the World




On the afternoons of January 23rd and 24th, Loyola Institute for Spirituality and the Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) co-sponsored the presentation of two transformative talks by Fr. Howard Gray, S.J.. Focused on the topic of “Lay and Jesuit Colleagues: A Spirituality that Transforms the World”, the events drew approximately 135 attendees in Orange on Saturday, and over 110 in San Diego the following day.

Fr. David Robinson, S.J. offers this reflection on Fr. Grey's presentation in Orange:

On a radiant Saturday afternoon, Howard Gray, S.J., joined a community of spiritual seekers at the Saint Joseph Center in Orange to reflect on the nature, qualities, and ministry of spiritual discernment. Through the prism of the Triple Colloquy found in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Fr. Gray invited his audience to contemplate a spiritual relationship with Mary, as one who embodied the passion and joy of the call of God, while surrendering her life to the possibilities of an unknown future; to Jesus as the embodiment of human experience that manifested the total self-giving of divine love; and to God the Father as the one who is profligate in loving, like the father of the prodigal son who runs to meet the returning child, filled with joy and without judgment.

Out of this Ignatian model, he further reflected on the practice of spiritual discernment, both as a personal process aimed at seeing life and the world with visio divina, through the eyes of God, and as a ministry to others in the form of companionship on the path to fuller freedom and the capacity to help those in need for the enrichment of their daily lives.