26 Jan

I recently reread Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul (1992) a popular 'self-help' book that was significant for me over 20 years ago when it was first published. It deserves a re-reading. Moore takes his inspiration from the Renaissance writers Paracelsus and Ficino, as well as from his experience as a psychotherapist and aficionado of the analyst James Hillman. Moore's "care of the soul" understands the soul in a fairly conventional religious way as the seat of God's indwelling spirit. At the same time, he invokes the Greek notion of the soul as the animating principle of our entire existence. He is happy to source these early modern writers whose approach did not separate psychology from religion and spirituality. For Paracelsus and Ficino the soul represented both the voice of the unconscious and the pathway into the mystery of God....

24 Jan

January 25th is the Feast Day of the Conversion of St. Paul. To mark this day we post a poem about the day written by Johnston Smith, a teacher at St. Paul's High School, Winnipeg....

23 Jan

Shortly before Marc Gervais, SJ died in 2012, his former student and later teaching assistant, Adam Leith Gollner met with him at Pickering. Gollner was doing the research for his latest book The Book of Immortality – The Science, Belief, and Magic Behind Living Forever. Having been deeply influence by Gervais he wanted to see what his former teacher and mentor might have to say on the idea of a life force. The sequences with his Pickering encounters with Marc Gervais are some of the most moving sections of Leith Gollner's wide-reaching book. Here, courtesy of Doubleday Canada, are four brief excerpts....

22 Jan

One of the blessings of belonging to a religious order is that when you move, most of the time you are moving into an established community. There is no need to hunt for an apartment, and you find yourself among brothers who know how things work in your new home. In my case, it has also meant that I have gotten a great introduction to British Columbia. I have already had the opportunity to make a few excursions on my days off to see Vancouver and its environs....

21 Jan

When they hear I have a vow of poverty, people often ask, "what if you won the lottery?" Children especially find this to be an important question. Sure, it's okay to have a vow of poverty ...

20 Jan

From time to time, as part of the "Our Culture" section, igNation will post poetry written by Jesuits and our collaborators. Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins and St. Robert Southwell will be posted along with poems from contemporary writers. Today's poem is by Greg Kennedy, SJ, a Jesuit scholastic studying Theology at Regis College, Toronto....

19 Jan

But Sinai was calling, and I couldn't say no. This was the mountain of God, the mountain of the 10 Commandments, and Charlton Heston and more. As I oscillated between Yes, I will climb the mountain, and No, I can't do that, came the final call, "Are you coming, or not?"...

16 Jan

Where to begin in this almost limitless topic about praying? Why not look to Jesus who often went off by Himself to pray and usually by night? His disciples were so attracted by the example of Jesus that they asked Him to teach them how to pray. Jesus responded by teaching them the "Our Father." This is the first in an eleven part series on praying....

15 Jan

As we settle down to a new year after celebrating Jesus' birthday, life focuses on getting back to work and school, and to staying warm in our coldest month. There is no room for depression, however, because Christ is alive in our world; in the warmth of fire, the sparkle of fresh snow, the condensation of our breath as we hurry through chilly streets....

14 Jan

Father James Profit, S.J. died on Saturday, January 11th, 2014 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island after a struggle with cancer. He was in his 58th year of life and 34th year of religious life. In 1999, Jim was missioned to Guelph, Ontario and the farmland there where he would spend the rest of his life. There he was very creative in the context of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, always with a focus on ecological issues. He travelled to many parts of Canada and the world to lead Ignatian retreats with an Ecological focus, doing ground breaking work in the greening of the Spiritual Exercises. With others, he became a leader in a new consciousness that would articulate a fundamental responsibility of all persons and nations to respect and protect the earth....

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