Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Notes on All Souls Day.

Today is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, more generally known as All Souls Day. I've long had a fondness for this particular feast, and thus I was delighted to give the homily at this morning's community Mass. The gist of what I said is that All Souls Day is about remembering the people who've made a difference in our lives who have passed away. In large part, All Souls Day is about memory - and so is the Christian faith itself. Jesuits, I said, have a particularly strong awareness of this fact, as the concepts of memory and recollection play an important role in Ignatian spirituality. In the Examen of Consciousness, for example, we remember the events of our day to see how God has been working in our lives. Then we have the Suscipe, the prayer Ignatius offers us at the conclusion of the Spiritual Exercises, "Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will ..." When it comes down to it, we're all about memory, and so is All Souls Day. AMDG.

4 Comments:

At November 03, 2004 6:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Beautiful post with great links! Thanks, Joe!!!

 
At November 04, 2004 11:37 PM, Blogger Joseph Koczera, S.J. said...

Thanks for the compliments, Anon. Of the different links, I especially like the Zagano piece on the Examen - in my opinion, it's one the best introductions to this kind of prayer available on the web, and it's probably one of the first things I'd recommend to anyone wanting to know more about Ignatian spirituality. Thanks again for the comment!

 
At November 05, 2004 12:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

May I try your patience with a request? I would enjoy a post describing the examen in more detail from a Novice's perspective and from a pastoral perspective. That is, I would like to hear your thoughts on advancing in this critical aspect of Ignatian (and, I think, general) spirituality now that you are a Novice. And I'd like to hear your thoughts on how to guide and encourage others in this practice.

Thanks.

 
At November 05, 2004 1:53 PM, Blogger Joseph Koczera, S.J. said...

Your request for a more detailed discussion of the Examen is most welcome - sometime in the next few days I'll have a post up on that topic. Thanks for the great suggestion!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home