Aligning with Grace

"Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam." All for the greater glory of God... This is a simple reminder to find God in all things and it was a favorite saying of St. Ignatius of Loyola whose Feast Day is today. I have a certain fondness for Ignatius. I went to a Jesuit University for grad school and my son went to a Jesuit grade school and high school. I like to think these fine institutions played a major part in his formation. Certainly he forged life long friendships within them... This summer has been filled with the mundane - many unexpected house repairs changed the expectation I had of a lazy summer of reading and some travel. Instead, I have had to stay put, and be flexible to whatever the moment offers and to whenever contractors can come do the needed work. And while I would have preferred to simply have been a contemplative all summer, Ignatius reminds me to find contemplation in action. Things rarely go the way we want or expect. Yet, to offer everything for the greater...

As uncertainty continues to haunt many within my yoga community, on this day, which is Mardi Gras - following Maha Shivaratri , The Great Night of Shiva - I begin to turn my attention to the coming season of Lent ... When I used to teach theology, I used to tell my students that Lent wasn't a time so much for giving up things - like sweets or watching TV - but that it is instead, a time to acquire something. It is a time for interior growth and a time to cultivate a quality you would like to more deeply embody... So today, I take a moment to reflect and prepare, by doing an "Examination of Consciousness," by engaging in a simple practice popularized by St Ignatius of Loyola, and here simplified by Jim Manney , from The Prayer that Changes Everything: The Examination of Consciousness Ask for light. I want to look at my day with God's eyes, not merely my own. Give thanks. The day I have just lived is a gift from God. Be grateful for it. Review the day. I carefully loo...