Becky Eldredge's Blog, page 3

The Joy of Greater Yeses

Dear friends, 

Can you relate to feeling that inner joy and excitement when you are doing things that you love and when you are living in your “greater yes” to God?  I participated in two life-giving events the past two weekends where I felt that gift of consolation from God affirming you are right where you are supposed to be.  

First, it was a joy to gather with many friends and colleagues at the Go! Gulf Conference held in New Orleans on the weekend of January 12th-14th.  It was our first time exhibiting for Ignatian Ministries, and we had ten people volunteer with us at our booth!  It was a concrete sign of God affirming our path towards inviting more people to hold our mission of accompaniment.  An added bonus was Chris getting to be at the booth on Friday and meet many people who he hears me talk about or who he knows via email.  He even got to meet Fr. Mark Thibodeaux, SJ who has mentored me in writing and in ministry for years. God’s presence was evident everywhere! 

Then this past weekend I led a retreat for members of the Marian Servants of the Eucharist before they made their commitment to their small christian community.  Let me tell you, the Holy Spirit invited us into deep waters!  The theme for the retreat was “Do Whatever He Tells You” based on Mary inviting Jesus forward at the Wedding of Cana.  We looked at different moments of Mary’s life and Ignatius’ discernment wisdom.  There was a moment on Saturday when they were in silence that I had this overwhelming sense of God letting me know- Becky, you are standing right where you are supposed to be standing today.  

Making the decision to say yes to participate in these events comes from discerning how God is calling me to love and serve God and who God is calling me to accompany.  Sometimes the decision is made quickly and at times I have to pray and discern a little longer to hear where God is calling me.  I continue to thank God for all the people who cared enough to teach me how to pray and how to discern and hear God’s voice.  This has helped me know, love and follow Jesus more, and it moves me to want to love and to serve God in all people and things.  Every discernment any of us make is a response to the generous outpouring of love, of mercy, and of kindness from God.  

I know that one of the things God is calling me to do right now is to teach others the tools of discernment so that you too can hear God’s voice and know how you are uniquely being called to love and to serve God.  

Would you like to learn more about looking at the desires of your heart and using those desires to help you with the decisions you face in life or as you help others in your ministry? If so, join me  this week as we begin Going Past the Shallows:  The Fundamentals of Discernment. I am just as excited to lead this class as I was to gather at the retreats these past two weekends.   I am already meeting and praying for the individuals enrolling in the class, and I cannot wait to meet everyone else! Remember, we never want cost to inhibit anyone from joining us.  You can always email us for a coupon to be able to pay what you are able! 

This Wednesday, we begin with Prayer:  The Heart of Discernment.  I just finalized my PowerPoint, and I cannot wait to share with you the 10 Ignatian Tools that provide the fundamental building blocks for any discernment we make.  The resource workbook is packed with handouts and resources for you to use personally and for you to share with others! 

I close by offering us one of my favorite discernment prayers by St. Claude la  Colombiere, SJ: 

 Jesus, I feel within me a great desire to please you but, at the same time, I feel totally incapable of doing this without your special light and help, which I can expect only from you. Accomplish your will within me—even in spite of me. Amen. 

Know of my prayers for you!  

 Peace, 

Becky

Photo from Unsplash

Word from Becky – Longing for the Pink Candle

Dear friends, 

Happy Advent!  This week we enter the third week of Advent, which means it is the week of the pink Advent candle.  In the Catholic church we call this Guadete Sunday, which means rejoice.

Just last week, our family sat gathered around our dinner table with the Advent wreath nestled in the center.  All five of us settled in before we began our ritual of lighting the Advent candles before our meal.  This year, it was Abby’s turn to light the candles during the second week of Advent.  Abby picked up the lighter and began to light the candles, as she did Mary, our youngest, began grumbling that it was not her turn to light the candles yet.  As the rotation went this year, the third week of Advent was her assigned week to light the candles.  For a nine year old, waiting for the third week of Advent felt like an eternity! 

We assured Mary her turn would be coming very soon.  We also reminded her that not only did she get to light the candles all week, but she also would get to light the pink candle.  Mary’s eyes suddenly filled with tears in that way children do sometimes when it’s hard for them to wait, and then desperately cried out, “But mom, why can’t it be time now!  I need the pink candle now!”

Her words stunned me to a silence.  I sat for a moment gazing at her little face lit with the glow of two Advent candles. A face I love so dearly. A little face that this past year experienced life-changing grief as she lost her next door neighbor, her bus stop buddy, and her friend to suicide. My heart ached with the memories of holding her trembling body this past year as she asked me time and time again trying to make sense of this tragic loss in our lives, “Why does death have to be a thing?  Why does grief have to be a thing?”  I bit the inside of my lip hard to keep the visceral cry from escaping my mouth.  My momma heart ached knowing the longing of her words captured the longing of her grieving heart.  She needed that pink candle now.  Not only in that child-like way of wanting it to be her turn, but in the deeper way of believing that what the pink candle symbolized is possible for her again.  

Her words resonated with my own longing to experience joy again.  Her words captured the truth that every one of us around that table yearned for after this past year.  We need to believe that there is something other than the darkness of grief in our lives. In truth, we, too, need that pink candle now.  

But don’t we all?  Mary’s words are our shared Advent longing that we experience at different seasons of our lives.  It is that longing we feel when we are living in an “in between” what was and what yet will be.  It is the longing that we know people, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, experienced as they ached for a child, and suddenly discover the possibility of new life when Elizabeth becomes pregnant.  They waited in the “in between” of what they were experiencing and what yet would be.  Mother Mary and Joseph, too, waited in that longing of the “in between” of what was and what yet will be as the promise of Jesus’ birth came to fruition. 

My little Mary’s longing for the pink candle now is our longing.  We long for the promise of joy to be fulfilled.  We long to see, to know, to understand, and to feel the promise that pink candle holds.  We long to know the source of our joy – Jesus. We long to know that promise of Emmanuel, God is with us.  

That night, I heard my daughter’s longing and watched the light dance on Mary’s face yearning for the hope we all do.  We want the pink candle now.  

And what’s truly the most incredible miracle we experience is that the pink candle does come.  Since sitting across from Mary that night, Jesus reminded me of the multitude of ways he came to our family this past year in one of the hardest years of our lives.  Our Advent longing was answered again.  Jesus came.  Through people.  Through prayer.  Through the love and strength of our family of five.  That pink candle’s gift of joy showed up in our lives in small, surprising and unexpected ways.  Each time offering small glimmers of hope during the darkness of grief.  

This week as we continue our season honoring the Advent longing in all of us, may we be given the gift of faith to believe that the pink candle of joy will come in our lives.  This is a promise we can cling to because Christ came to us, Christ still comes to us now, and Christ will come to us again. 

Know of my prayers for all of you as we long together for the pink candle now! 

Peace,

Becky

Photo by Thays Orrico on Unsplash

Word from Becky: Cultivating Gratitude

Dear friends,

Happy early Thanksgiving to my American readers!  This time of year, I often read about practices and disciplines that foster an attitude of gratitude. November’s focus on gratitude can sometimes feel cliché to me as I watch hashtags roll through social media such as #blessed or #thankful.  On deeper reflection about any rub I feel at well meaning gratitude posts, God reminds me to not forget the underlying value of why gratitude matters in the first place. It is an important disposition of the heart.  

Fr. Gerri Fagin, SJ in his book, Putting on the Heart of Christ, reminds us that gratitude is a virtue that invites us to be  “attentive to God’s presence as the giver of gifts.”  He goes on to say, “ Gratitude is the movement of the heart that goes beyond the gift to the giver.  Gratitude notices the giftedness of the world around us, the giftedness of others, and finally the giftedness of ourselves.”  

Cultivating gratitude not only in November but year round is an important posture in our life with God.  It is a posture that bears fruits in our lives:

It opens our heart to God’s generosity in our lives as we recognize and name the gifts of our life.It pulls us out of selfishness and opens us to be more connected to others.It shifts our minds and hearts to a positive perspective.

St. Ignatius is a teacher of cultivating gratitude in our lives.  A friend of mine boils St. Ignatius’ spirituality down to three key phrases:

Be GratefulBe GenerousBe Available

Let’s turn for a moment and take a peek at the life-changing moment in Ignatius’ life that helped develop this attitude.  

Shortly after his conversion moment, St. Ignatius spends months in the caves of Manresa where he is tormented by his sins.  At one point, God pulled him out of the cave and onto the banks of the Cardoner River.  In his autobiography we read:

While seated there, the eyes of his soul were opened. He did not have any special vision, but his mind was enlightened on many subjects, spiritual and intellectual. So clear was this knowledge that from that day everything appeared to him in a new light.  Such was the abundance of this light in his mind that all the divine helps received, and all the knowledge acquired up to his sixty-second year, were not equal to it. From that day he seemed to be quite another man, and possessed of a new intellect. 

He understood just how precious he was to God.  His obsessive thoughts of sinfulness that had plagued him in the cave never returned.  He experienced an overwhelming gratitude for God’s love.

This experience in the caves of Manresa focused his mission and ultimately his spirituality.  Since then, Ignatian spirituality can find its focus to be telling of God’s love for every person, telling of the gifts that God continually bestows upon us, and finding God in all things.

Ignatius saw God everywhere.  Not just in that moment by the river, but in the people, places, and things he encountered through each ordinary day.  All drew him into the desire to serve God in all things.  

As we approach these next weeks that include the celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States and the season of Advent, may we embrace a posture that cultivates gratitude.  May we pray that our attitude of gratitude moves us as it did Ignatius to serve God in all things and in all people.

Know of my prayers for you!

Peace,

Becky

P.S. Advent: 

Our Ignatian MInistries’ team is expanding the ways we accompany you this Advent.  This year, we are offering three ways to pray Advent: 

Pray Advent on your own with our printable prayer plan for individuals. Lead a small group through Advent with our printable leader’s guide and prayer plan.   Join our Advent community retreat and let Ignatian Ministries guide you through Advent with guided audios and visio divinas.  Registration is now open.

Word from Becky: The Work of the Fall Season

Dear friends,

Happy Fall!  I chuckle even mentioning the fall season living in Louisiana as our temperatures remain daily in the 80’s.  While the weather does not show signs of fall, seeing fall decorations in our neighborhood along with our children’s excited discussions about Halloween costumes awaken the symbolism of the season for me.  Fall is the season I find myself in at the moment.  

I feel my life is moving like our Louisiana seasons.  Fall into spring with little to no time in winter.  The letting go that is happening is not inviting me into winter hibernation, but to embrace and savor the new buds of life that are happening everywhere. My wise soul friend, Christianne Squires, illuminated this movement of fall into spring for me during our last monthly phone call. I shared with her the sense of feeling I do not know where I am standing at times because of the change happening in my personal and professional life.  Drawing on her natural spiritual director skills, she asked me more questions instead of sharing her feedback at first.  As I shared, I noticed her voice began to hold the tone of a smile, and I asked her, “What is it you are hearing?” Her reply, “Becky, I get the sense you know exactly where you are.  I think it’s time to let go of what was and embrace what is.” 

Christianne invited me to the work of the fall season, letting go.  This past week I savored her words and paid close attention to what God is inviting me to surrender.  I noticed the invitations to: 

Entrust our children further into God’s hands as two of them step further in their teenage years and as our youngest gains more independence and let go of the mindset that they are only my and my husband’s responsibility Receive God’s help in accompanying our children, our family, and our neighbors through the grief of losing our young neighbor to suicide instead of going at it aloneWelcome the help of friends who provided meals after our son had surgery and let go of self-reliancePut down my desire for deep clarity and instead surrender to the unfolding Mystery before meLet go of roles that were once mine in ministry in order to empower my team members to claim their calls without me getting in the waySay “yes” to new retreat and professional development opportunities with ministry leaders and religious orders that invite me to put down the belief that I have nothing to say to those who I feel are wisdom figuresStep forward in courage as Ignatian Ministries continues to make its way into the world and release the fear that I do not know how to lead a nonprofit.  

Each noticing had both a letting go and a receiving of new life.  A fall and a spring in one movement. 

What about you? Maybe Christianne’s words hold true for you today also?  As you look at your own life, what do you notice God inviting you to let go of in order to embrace the new life that is already here? In the coming month, pay attention to the flow of fall into spring in your own life.  

I also encourage you to embrace the change of seasons with me in ministry in three ways: 

Into the Deep:

On October 9th, our weekly Into the Deep blog changed homes.  It now lives and is published over at Ignatian Ministries. If you would like to continue to receive the weekly blog from our incredible gift of writers, please subscribe here.  

Grief Accompaniment Workshop: 

Join me in stepping forward in my call to share the hard-earned wisdom of living through grief, accompanying our children in their mourning, and walking with people who are grieving.  Kathy Powell and I are offering a two hour professional development workshop on All Souls Day called  “Do As I Have Done”: Offering Christ’s Compassion, Comfort, and Companionship to those who Grieve” 

Kathy and I are excited to share some of the best practices we have both learned through our own experiences of personal loss and in our ministries of accompaniment.  This is a “pay what you can offering”, and we hope you will join us to remember our loved ones who died and honor their legacy by learning how to better walk with those who are mourning. If you are unable to attend live, the workshop will be recorded and sent to all registrants.

Advent: 

Our Ignatian MInistries’ team is expanding the ways we accompany you this Advent.  This year, we are offering three ways to pray Advent: 

Pray Advent on your own with our printable prayer plan for individuals. Lead a small group through Advent with our printable leader’s guide and prayer plan.   Join our Advent community retreat and let Ignatian Ministries guide you through Advent with guided audios and visio divinas.  Watch for registration to open in early November!

I remain thankful for the gift of your presence in my life.  Your intentions are part of my daily morning prayer, and I also pray in gratitude for each of you. You all give me courage to let go and embrace new life.  Thank you!   

Let us all continue to pray for peace in the Holy Land.  Let us cry out to God in on behalf of all who have died and who are under attack for their comfort and their protection.  A friend sent me recently this beautiful video done by Taizé virtual choir of young people all around the world praying Veni Sancte Spiritus.  It was recorded in 2020, but it feels fitting as a prayer for us to pray together today as well.  I invite you to pray with it and let’s ask the Holy Spirit to come and protect, to comfort, and to guide.  

Peace,

Becky

Living and Leading in the Deep – Receiving the Promised 153 Fish

Receiving the Promised 153 Fish

I remember the day so clearly when Jesus promised 153 fish would come on shore. It was early morning in April 2022, and I was sitting on a couch in an airbnb in San Diego.  Our family was there for vacation over our kids’ Easter break.  I entered prayer that morning as I had many mornings before this one feeling tired. 

My personal life was in the middle of many transitions and losses.  Daily I was slogging through grief.  Our team’s discernment was in process, and all of us were feeling the drastic swings in a day of consolation and desolation.  Each time we stepped forward thinking we had clarity it seemed desolation would whack us in the face.  Desolation reared its head at this season often as overwhelming confusion, stuckness, heaviness like moving through mud, or extreme doubt of the call.  

This morning as I entered prayer, I could feel the onset of the false spirit almost immediately trying to wrap itself around me like a warm blanket that had no intention of actually offering me comfort.  It was there to be a thief and steal hope, joy, peace, courage, or clarity.

I began begging the Holy Spirit for help and adamantly telling the false spirit to get behind me and leave me alone. I frantically searched for the firm ground of consolation as I attempted to fight through the extreme voices of doubt that were loud and clangy.   All signs of how the false spirit shows up and tries to make a muck of things and keep us from stepping forward. The Holy Spirit flooded me with insights from Ignatian wisdom.  This is the of the false spirit that mirrors that loud and splattering sound of water hitting rock (Rule #7 in the Second Week Rules of Discernment).  Stand firm against the false spirit and he will crumble quickly (Rule #14 in the First Set of Rules of Discernment).  Stay in prayer and remain even longer (Rule #6 in the First Set of Rules of Discernment). 

The Holy Spirit helped me take action, and the false spirit was pushed away.  An interior calm came over me, and I was finally able to settle into my prayer.  I opened the daily Gospel to pray with, and found that it was one of the Resurrection stories as we were still in the first few days of the Easter season.  I read John 21: 1-14, where Jesus appears to the disciples on shore, and I was immediately drawn to the number 153. Peter had gone back fishing and to what was known and familiar to him.  The Risen Christ invited him to cast anew, to put out on the right side, and when Peter did, he hauled in 153 fish.  

It was a moment of prayer that shifted everything inside of me.  That day, I had my own encounter with the Risen Christ on the shore.  I knew I was being invited to cast anew.  Christ showed me that if I, and we, said “yes” to the new way of “fishing” in ministry that our nets would be full.  Christ made me the promise of 153 fish.  

With trepidation, I  began taking steps to “cast anew”.  As a team, we also began “casting anew” with more intention.  In May 2022, we invited people to come discern with us.  And guess what?  “Fish” in the form of “yeses” came in.  In July, August, and September of 2022, we held listening sessions to hear from many of you what you desired.  “Fish” appeared in the form of your presence, hearing the desires of your heart, and your affirmation and encouragement to keep stepping forward.  In September 2022, our team met to synthesize and discern what we heard.  “Fish” came on September 12, 2022 in the form of Jenéne Francis holding space for us, in clarity of the birth of Ignatian Ministries, in the confirmation of our name, and in the naming of it being a nonprofit.  In October 2022, “fish” showed up via Lindsey Binion who brought us our logo.  In November 2022,  a “fish” appeared through the presence of Ethan Bush, a nonprofit consultant who walked us through the creation process.  In February 2023, “fish” appeared through creating an LLC called Ignatian Ministries.  In May 2023, “fish” appeared by being able to apply for nonprofit status for that LLC.  On July 1, 2023, “fish” appeared by all operations being set up for Ignatian Ministries.  In July, “fish” appeared by people saying “yes” to being on our launch team. On August 15, 2023, “fish” showed up in the form of bringing Ignatian Ministries to birth. 

In the 43 days since launching Ignatian Ministries, more fish have come ashore in the form of excitement from you, collectives, community, retreatants, donations and so much. “153 fish” were promised as a way to encourage us all to step forward and follow the unfolding call.  Oh how God has kept this promise to us!  I feel like Peter who finally understood that morning fishing in the Gospel that he was standing in front of the Risen Christ and that his life would never be the same. 

Deena, Kathy, and I began thanking Christ at the close of each week for the fish He brought ashore.  What’s now called #fridayfish in our team includes us each listing prayers of gratitude to God for the “fish” brought in this week.  Each time I write my own or read Deena’s and Kathy’s #fridayfish I feel moved by awe at what Christ is doing.  Like Peter who was brought from the familiar to the courage to cast anew, I find myself each Friday in awe and moved to proclaim, “It is the Lord!” 

This post is the last Into the Deep post that will be published on my website.  Starting October 9th, Into the Deep will begin publishing over at Ignatian Ministries.  While there is a sadness in me closing this out on my website, I know that it is time to “cast anew” and trust that God will continue to provide “153 fish” in surprising, awe-filled ways.  Into the Deep, like my entire ministry, outgrew housing it under my name.  It belongs over at Ignatian Ministries where a wider net can be cast to include more writers and you each can have more resources to serve and accompany each of you.  

If you have not already, be sure to sign up for the Ignatian Ministries email list here so you can still receive the incredible wisdom and nourishment of our Into the Deep writers.  

Going Deeper:

As mentioned by Becky, be sure to sign up for the Ignatian Ministries email list here so you can still receive the incredible wisdom and nourishment of our Into the Deep writers.  

Photo by Richard Sagredo on Unsplash

Living and Leading in the Deep – It Takes a Village

It Takes A Village: Forming Community to Found A New Ministry

Becky Eldredge does me a great honor considering me a midwife for Ignatian Ministries. A midwife is one who accompanies a woman during and after pregnancy, present during labor and delivery, to help her bring a new soul into the world. It has been a joy to play that role for Ignatian Ministries.

In the summer of 2021 I agreed to help Becky and her team grapple with a growing recognition that God was up to something that they needed and wanted to pay attention to. I was aware of seeds planted over the years through Becky’s ministry that started to germinate in 2020 during COVID. Seedlings were now sprouting, along with a realization that a different business model was needed to sustain this new ministry taking root.

A key part of discernment is helping each other perceive how the Holy Spirit is moving in our lives, becoming aware of what God is already doing so that we can do more of that. The summer of 2022 the team listened deeply to many of you share gratitude, hopes, and desires for Ignatian experiences of prayer and formation. Now they were seeking God’s grace of clarity to take the best next steps. 

September 12, 2022, midwife apron on and sleeves rolled up to hold discernment space, I was praying with the team to see what was already unfolding and for insights on a way forward. They were synthesizing data and wrestling with emerging options when in a Mary-Magdalene-moment I was moved to inquire, are you seeing what God is already bringing to birth? Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, through her profound encounter with the resurrected Jesus, is able to help others recognize him. That day she helped us know Jesus’ real presence as the rollercoaster of emotions we were riding shifted from angst to enthusiasm. The team was freed by the Holy Spirit to name and claim what to do next: it was time to birth and raise a nonprofit.

I suspect St. Paul agrees that the wisdom of raising children also applies to ministries – it takes a village held together in Christ. As he said to the community at Ephesus:

You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:19-22)

Last February the team asked for my expertise to assist with 501(c)3 incorporation. Since then we have been laying foundations for a virtual village, a dwelling place for women and men committed to the mission to share personal and professional resources to help raise Ignatian Ministries, going deeper in Christ together. 

I’m excited to serve on Ignatian Ministries’ founding board, a community of Jesus’ disciples forming to govern and guide the work. Directors are listening deeply with the team to follow Jesus’ lead so that Ignatian Ministries can share ways of praying, accompanying, and discerning how to use the gifts St. Ignatius gave to the people of God through his Spiritual Exercises. With fidelity and creativity to the Ignatian tradition, we hope to renew the church, helping others recognize the Risen Christ in their lives so they, too, can share his good news. 

Mary Magdalene and other founding women and men said yes to Jesus’ invitation to follow him, putting their resources into building a community that became the early church. We invite you to be part of the village raising Ignatian Ministries. Explore the website. Register for personal renewal and professional development offerings. Learn more about the collectives and community. Share your email to continue to receive Into the Deep reflections. And as you are moved and able, consider a financial contribution. All these ways of support, most importantly your prayers, enable Ignatian Ministries to grow into our mission and vision.

With St. Paul, “I give thanks to my God always, remembering you in my prayers, as I hear of the love and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus and for all the holy ones, so that your partnership in the faith may become effective in recognizing every good there is in us that leads to Christ.” (Philomen 1:4-6)

Going Deeper:

Act on one or more of the suggestions Jenene makes above to explore the website, learn more about collectives and community, make sure you are on our mailing list and if you are able and feel you are able to do so, make a contribution to Ignatian Ministries. All of those links are pasted above or can be found on our new website, IgnatianMinistries.org. 

Photo by Farhan Abas on Unsplash

Living and Leading in the Deep – Community

Community – And every day the Lord added to their numbers

As we have discerned all of the various aspects and desires we were holding for Ignatian Ministries over the past year, community has always been an integral part, or a “cornerstone” of the ministry. Our desire was to create a place to share God’s love for us and share that love with each member of our community. We wanted to create a place to support each other, grow in our knowledge of our gifts, and invite others to go deeper in their walk with Christ. It has, in many ways, and in deep humility, seem to mirror the birth of the early Christian church in the lives of the apostles and those who were drawn to the message of Jesus. I hope to share, in this post, a few examples of how it has felt that way to me. 

Community – A place to belong

They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.  (Acts 1: 42)

There have been numerous times that “community” has helped me through difficult times.  At one point, while working for a corporation, a colleague tried to create a situation that was difficult for me at work. I knew in time the truth would come forth but, in that instance, I was lost and felt utterly alone. It was also a time I was discerning a call to religious life and had been in dialogue with different religious communities. I had been talking with a Benedictine community of sisters, five of which resided in a home in the area in which I live, discerning a call to religious life. They invited me to join them for Vespers, evening prayer, each day. Joining in prayer of the psalms each evening gave me the hope and reassurance that all would work out, which it did, and I ultimately became an Oblate (lay associate) of that community and Monastery. They welcomed me and I felt I belonged, I had a spiritual home with them. 

As you look at the communities you belong to, how do they welcome you and give you a sense of belonging?

Community – A place to lighten the load

With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. (Acts 4: 33)

One morning while we were cleaning, my mother fell and was transported to a hospital an hour away, for spinal cord surgery. After the initial surgery and care to be able to move, she was moved to a regular room to begin recovery and rehabilitation. It was during the month of December. I would work each morning, drive down to the hospital, visit my mother, watch her progress in therapy and then help her with dinner. Before getting her settled for bed, while nurses came in to take vitals and check in, I would go to the large chapel in the Catholic hospital for some quiet prayer. Within a couple of days my timing began to coincide with the hospital sisters who would come to the chapel for evening prayer. It was Advent so they chose to pray in the large chapel instead of the small one at their convent. After a day or so, one of the sisters brought along an extra prayer guide and invited me to pray Vespers with them. They welcomed me and raised my prayers with theirs each evening. It remains one of my favorite Advent experiences. My worries and concerns were lightened each day, giving me strength to support my mother with the care she needed. 

Do you have a community to bring your concerns to, a place or a group that you can pray with when your worries or burden feels heavy?

Community – A place to offer our gifts

One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.  (Acts 16: 14-15)  

Sometimes we come to a community knowing we have something to offer. One of my favorite scripture passages is the story of Lydia, the purple cloth dealer. She is a prominent woman, a businesswoman, in her community. She has resources to offer support to Paul, Timothy, and Silas. After being ministered to by them, she wants to offer what she has in support of their ministry and spreading of the message of Jesus to others. This passage has been a guiding scripture for the support, pastoral and financial, that I provide to my parish community and several priests and ministries that have been impactful in my faith life. 

Lydia offers us the example that all the gifts or resources we have – our time, our talent or our treasure, can be helpful to others. We can welcome and encourage others in many ways. What example might Lydia be offering you?

Ignatian Ministries – A home to accompany you

Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, as indeed you do. (1 Thessalonians 5: 11) 

There are times we feel alone, as though no one understands the depth of the searching in our hearts. We long for a more personal relationship with Jesus and to be with others who feel the same way. We pray for clarity of purpose and vision.  

Our prayer for you, is that Ignatian Ministries will be that home, that place you feel accompanied. A place you find kindred spirits, an Anam Cara, or soul friend, for the journey. We are invited to cast our nets into deep waters, just as Jesus asked Peter to do. Together, we lift those nets full of opportunity to serve and be served; to lift our needs and desires up in prayer or discern the use of our gifts and talents to support each other and this growing community. We hope you will join us! 

Going Deeper:

Would you like to experience a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus? Consider joining us on September 11 for our six-week Know, Love and Follow Retreat. To learn more and register today, click here.Join our Community of believers who seek to grow deeper together. Click here to submit an interest form to find out more as we discern new ways, this Fall, to come together and accompany each other on our journey of faith.Are you looking for a community of Ignatian minded individuals to share and pray with? Consider participating in one of our Collectives of spiritual directors, retreat facilitators or pastoral care ministers that gather virtually each quarter. Find out more here. 

Photo by Jana Doro on Unsplash

Living and Leading in the Deep – Offering the Living Water

At the well Jesus met the woman who was thirsty. We can all identify with the busyness and thirst experienced by the woman at the well (John 4: 5-30). She was likely busy with tasks to complete, like gathering water, and all of the other tasks and labors required for the upkeep of her life. Additionally, she was heavily burdened by all of the ways in which she had missed the mark and the shame that accompanies the knowledge of the  ways in which we sin. She was, like us, thirsty. 

The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water” (John 4:15). We try so many ways to quench our thirst:

We find ourselves in unhealthy relationships and attachments that do not quench our thirsts nor do they bring us closer to GodWe find ourselves pulling from our own well in family life, work life, and during emotionally trying times, leading us to great spiritual thirstWe overwork ourselves, cramming our family and personal calendars full to distract ourselves from the living water that Jesus is giving freelyWe fill ourselves with an overabundance of alcohol, food or its absence, drugs, and other agents to numb our thirst

As a spiritual director and member of the Ignatian Ministries board and team, I notice these thirsts not only in my own life but in the lives of so many. 

The living water provided by Jesus offers life-sustaining nourishment for our lives. Sometimes I have noticed, as a spiritual director, this water needs to be drawn with depth. Ignatian Ministries seeks to provide accompaniment as we, together, reach into the deep well of Jesus Christ. 

Life is complicated and difficult and the accompaniment of Jesus gives nourishment for the journey. We are called by Jesus to delve deeply into the well of living water. 

I am graced to spend much of my time with parents and adolescents that struggle with the busyness and expectations of modern life which accompany that thirst. Ignatian Ministries seeks to walk with you by providing tools to ground you in prayer and to help you discern through life’s daily struggles. How do I help my teenager decide which college to attend? How do I balance my individual personhood with my family and community life, and how do I bring those aspects of my life together? How do I adapt to the changes and needs of my family spiritually, fiscally, and emotionally? How can I take real steps in my life to encourage growth in myself and also my family?

Growing as a young person and parenting is complicated, and we do not pause enough to process these movements with God. How do I transition as a parent into parenting, parenting school aged children, parenting preteens and teens, and parenting as our children become young adults? God walks with you and your child. How do we gain interior freedom as God pulls our children through their own growth? How is God walking with us as we grow as parents to meet our own and our children’s needs?

We are walking with our children as God is walking with us. Accompanying our children in their complicated emotions as we, too, experience complex emotions is a difficult and all-compassing task. Through changes like moving, divorce, etc., God accompanies us. How do we invite God into our lives as we walk with our children not only through grief, but through depression, anxiety, disordered thoughts, and even suicidal ideation?

God is with us. We are not alone. 

We are not called to thirst as we experience family life. God meets us at the well and provides us with living water to sustain our journey. God is with us and with our families in times of change as well as in difficult experiences. We only need to set patterns of prayer and discernment that root us in Jesus Christ. 

In the months ahead, I look forward to offering opportunities with Ignatian Ministries on how to accompany young people in prayer and discernment.  Becky and I will also continue to offer retreats and resources for adults.

Going Deeper:

Would you like to experience a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus? Consider joining us on September 11 for our six-week Know, Love and Follow Retreat. To learn more and register today, click here.Are you looking for a community of Ignatian minded individuals to share and pray with? Consider participating in one of our Collectives of spiritual directors, retreat facilitators or pastoral care ministers that gather virtually each quarter. Find out more here. Join our Community of believers who seek to grow deeper together. Click here to submit an interest form to find out more as we discern new ways, this Fall, to come together and accompany each other on our journey of faith.Have you ever prayed with our audio resources? Why not try it today!

Photo by Fulvio Ciccolo on Unsplash

Living and Leading in the Deep – Accompaniment in Hard Times

Jesus, are you there?

I’ve asked this question more times than I’d like to admit. 

Sometimes loneliness consumes us in ways we are honestly too afraid to admit. To think our world has a population of nearly 8 billion people, yet life can sometimes feel like an isolated path, an ongoing moment of silence where no one hears our internal screams for help.

2020 was one of those seasons for so many of us. The world shut down as we panicked and struggled to figure out how to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic. This virus infected us all; even if we didn’t get it, we all experienced its effects. We witnessed the world crumble before our eyes and fall to its knees, and as much as we all wanted life to “go back to normal,” this pivotal moment in time was an opportunity to pause and pay attention to what God was revealing to us before we got back up.

I entered 2020 with deep hope and excitement as I decided to quit my 9-5 job and invest in my own marketing business. A decision I had been praying and pondering over for months before taking the leap. This one decision connected me to amazing, purpose-driven clients and opportunities I could have only dreamed of months prior. One of those clients was Becky Eldredge. Becky was getting ready to launch her second book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God, and I was hired to create a book launch plan for its release. From our first Zoom call, it was evident that this project was so much more than a job. It was a God-given opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself. Little did I know I would learn what it meant to be an accompanier and a witness to God working in the lives of others while simultaneously working in mine.

Within a few months of working with Becky and her team, news of Covid-19 began to spread, and everything began to change. We went from full schedules and planning in-person events to locked rooms for quarantines, canceled plans, and a million new rules to learn. Life felt different from what it had ever been before, but one thing we knew for sure was that people still needed community, people still needed the promises of God, and people still needed Jesus.

With all this in mind, I worked with Becky and her team again to create a virtual international community experience through their “Overwhelmed No More retreat”. In a time when loneliness, fear, and uncertainty became our new normal, we were able to breathe new life and old truths into a community of people who needed the reminder that Jesus was still there in the midst of it all. 

Jesus, are you there? 

Yes, I asked that question more times than I’d like to admit, but my own journey revealed the answer to me in the clearest way possible. As I jumped on the plane to London, England, at a moment’s notice in the middle of our global pandemic when I found out my Grandma was in the hospital. With over 4,000 miles to travel from Atlanta, Georgia, with no idea if I’d make it in time to say goodbye. Reaching the hospital and holding her smooth, warm hand, I thanked her for being a courageous woman who trailblazed an unforgettable path for me and our family to walk down. I look back at that time and wonder how on earth did I make it through? And that’s when it came to me, I made it through because Jesus was there.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.   Isaiah 41:10

Going Deeper:

Visit our new Ignatian Ministries website. How might God be inviting you to be part of or support Ignatian Ministries?How might Jesus be calling you to Know, Love or Follow him more deeply? Consider joining us for our online retreat beginning on September 11. Please continue to pray for our Ignatian Ministries team.

Photo by Giovanni Riberio on Unsplash

Living and Leading in the Deep – Inner Chapel Community

Did I just do that? Did I raise my hand to volunteer? When I volunteered three years ago, I did not realize what I was saying yes to. We began gathering together three years ago to help Becky Eldredge launch her book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God. At a time when our country and the world were going through a pandemic, this group of women that met from across the country and the world became a safe place to come together, discuss Becky’s book, and pray. We met virtually for a few months with Becky or a team member leading. 

Things started to open, and little by little, the world was trying to return to a new normal. Becky’s schedule prevented her from continuing to meet on Friday afternoon. To the surprise of some of us, we were not ready to say goodbye. We learned then what a vital group this had become for us. Becky asked for a volunteer to run Zoom and manage the weekly prayer call. I remember that afternoon like it was yesterday. I remember thinking, Should I? and I raised my hand, and here we are three years later, still meeting on Friday afternoons.

The bonds established with this group of women are so special. We laugh and cry together. Our prayer group has become a safe space for us to come together and continue to grow in our spiritual relationships with God. We have become spiritual sisters from across the country and the world. We have found our safe space to be vulnerable and not be judged. We support each other through prayer, phone calls, texting, and getting on a Zoom call whenever we need encouragement. I am excited to share what we birthed in our group these three years with others through Ignatian Ministries. I eagerly await working with the team to create the Ignatian Ministries community this fall.  

Initially, I felt I couldn’t lead/facilitate the prayer group. Thoughts such as this would sometimes come up: “I don’t have a degree in Theology, I don’t write a blog, I have not written a book, or I am not a spiritual director” “Can I do this?” I often think of the bent-over woman and how Jesus saw her at the synagogue on the Sabbath.   I imagine she continued to show up to pray despite her illness/pain because of her faith. Jesus saw her and healed her. “When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said. “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.” Luke 13: 12-14

The more time I spend in prayer, the more Jesus made it clear that I need to continue moving forward in service to others. Jesus set me free like the bent-over woman in Luke.  I do not let my insecurities stop me. I stand firm in my desire to serve and deepen my relationship with God by serving others through Ignatian Ministries. I invite you to join me.  

This fall, we will be meeting to discern what the Ignatian Ministries community looks like.  My hope is that we can have several virtual small prayer groups that allow others to participate and experience what we have had these past three years. I know now that when I raised my hand three years ago to volunteer for us to continue to meet for prayer was no accident. I found a voice I did not know I had. Jesus set me free, and I stood straight. I was being led to this specific moment.

I thought I needed to be more. Going through the Spiritual Exercises, I learned that we ALL have unique gifts to give.  Seeing Ignatian Ministries’ birth is a testament to how God has plans for us that we can’t imagine for ourselves. Yet, if you are open to his love and grace, Jesus will lead the way. Can I do this? Yes, with the grace of God, I can.

And you know what, you can too!  How do you feel God inviting you to be part of Ignatian Ministries?

Going Deeper:

Ten months ago, a group from the Inner Chapel Prayer group started meeting virtually once a month for a book club. The conversations that we’ve had have been so rich and meaningful. We want to invite you to join us for our monthly book meeting. Click here to complete a form to join the Inner Chapel Prayer Group.Visit our new Ignatian Ministries website. How might God be inviting you to be part of or support Ignatian Ministries?How might Jesus be calling you to Know, Love or Follow him more deeply? Consider joining us for our online retreat beginning in September. Please continue to pray for our Ignatian Ministries team.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash