The Ignatian Workout for Lent Quotes

“What Jesus shows in his experience of trial is readiness to do what he knows the Father has asked of him, even to go to a painful death. This is Jesus’ own paradigmatic act of faith: to trust the Father up to his death, even when the Father seems absent.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“We practice discernment of God’s commands by remaining close to Christ and Christ’s Body, the church. In doing so, we place ourselves with the poor, the suffering, the forgotten, the abused, and the hated: God’s beloved creatures whom others have forgotten. We choose to see humanity where others see problems: the child starving on the streets or growing in her destitute mother’s womb; the young prostitute whose daily bread comes from the grasping hands of sex tourists; the foster child shuttled from home to home; the elderly person in need of health care. Seeing Jesus in those people, we ask three simple questions: what have I done for Jesus? What am I doing for Jesus? What will I do for Jesus?”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” —Matthew 21:6–9”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“We are tempted to believe sometimes that religion or spirituality is about ideas, abstractions, words, texts, principles, moral teachings, beliefs, doctrines, or philosophical systems. But here the Gospel tells a basic truth: our faith is about coming to know a person: faith involves being invited into intimacy with Jesus. We need ideas, belief systems, and the rest, but in the end we must simply allow Jesus to reveal himself to us, allow his heart to speak to our heart, so that we, too, might behold his glory.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“In the story of the Transfiguration, we see Jesus with his closest friends, his inner circle—the men whom he relied on most. This is not the public Jesus: the charismatic rabbi, the healer, the wonder worker. Jesus’ public face is real, but Jesus the intimate friend is more than the sum of his public words and actions. What Peter, James, and John see is Jesus up close, real, and personal, and they are awestruck. Peter would write of this event later: He received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:17–18)”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” —Matthew 17:1–7”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Many read Jesus’ action in the temple as a criticism of the way the money changers were profaning a sacred space. There is another way to understand this action, though. The world is God’s house, and every misuse of money is a violation of God’s command to love my neighbor as myself. In this respect, money is no different from any other of the tools people use, except perhaps in the frequency with which we use it. Jesus’ criticism points to the ways that people tend to act differently in the sacred space (the temple), which ought to mirror life in God’s kingdom, from the places “outside the temple” (in Latin, pro fanum). Many are tempted to use money not for the sake of building the kingdom, but to become (in the words of St. Augustine) “turned inward on themselves” (incurvatus in se). Like the child holding his thumb up to block the sun, our sinful attitude toward money prevents us from seeing the great good that Christ is trying to work in us.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Imagine, if you can, what our use of money might look like if there were no sin. We would use it for the sake of trade and to encourage creative work that served the common good. We would not see harmful risk-taking of the sort that we find in, say, casinos or stock markets. We would not see employers making many times the amount they pay workers. We would not see the fleecing of customers, the powerful preying on the vulnerable, and rapacious lending.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“In the temple [Jesus] found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” —John 2:14–16”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“When [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” —Matthew 8:23–27”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“The Beatitudes are an insider’s guide to the Christian life, inasmuch as they describe what it’s like to be on mission in the world. Every customary marker of success, Jesus suggests, is wrong—and what appears to be difficult may in fact be a sign of fidelity to building God’s kingdom.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“[Jesus] looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” —Luke 6:20–23”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Ask Jesus to teach you how to walk with him and be his presence in the world. Ask his Holy Spirit to guide you to acts of compassion like those he revealed in unexpected places. Open your eyes and look for those opportunities.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“This week, as you contemplate Jesus’ invitation to “come and see” who he is and what he’s about, pay attention both to what he does and does not do. Why does he show his power? What are the conditions that allow him to work miracles? What seems to be his objective? This is not a man who appears to be on a massive public-relations campaign, announcing the presence of God in a carefully strategized sequence. He seems much more interested in random acts of compassion that get him into trouble.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“As you continue to read the Gospel, pay attention to what feelings stir in you. When you pay attention to what Jesus says and does, are you surprised? Overjoyed? Angry? Frustrated?”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Jesus is calling us to freedom from the hang-ups that prevent us from giving ourselves fully to love. “The kingdom of heaven is right here!” he says in so many words—right in the people around you now—and the only inhibitions to embracing it fully are our fears.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” —John 13:3–8”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“God’s demand for holiness is ultimately a demand that we let go of what prevents us from taking comfort in the presence of God.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Perhaps the most basic act of faith, after believing that God exists, is believing that God is good when evidence seems to point to the contrary.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“[Jesus said] “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” —Matthew 7:7–11”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Here, and in the other Gospels, we see Jesus saying something to the effect of “try a new way of looking at things by placing your trust in the Good News I’m sharing with you.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a profound awareness of the coexistence of pain and healing to be found in acknowledging injustice. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he wrote, “Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“But because we acknowledge that sometimes we do what we hate and develop habits that are destructive even when we may not be aware of it, we need to inform our consciences and pray for grace.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“What Paul acknowledges in his letter to the Romans, in which we find this small but poignant observation, is that everyone tends to fall into habits that in many cases bring about results that we hate. More important, we may not recognize that those things are bad until someone draws the connection. But once they do, we face a dilemma. Do we accept the consequences of our actions and change our ways (the biblical word is “repent”)? Or do we tend to criticize the messenger and accuse him or her of being politically backward?”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. —Romans 7:15”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“The Lord says, “I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:22).”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“But this paradox implies that God’s love is God’s justice: before one who loves us without any condition whatsoever, we stand naked with empty hands. There is nothing we can offer but ourselves.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“The great paradox of the Christian mystery is that God has not put an end to violence and injustice; God instead has elected to suffer with us. How often we wish that God had chosen another way, the way of power over human choosing!”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. —1 John 4:7–12”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action

“Hope does not ignore the reality of the world; it simply offers a change in perspective. Our faith is not blind insistence that everything is always fine; it is reliance on a God who offers us hope. Our faith is that God knows us better than we know ourselves, because we can see only what happens moment to moment.”
― Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action