Weekend Reflections for 9/9/16

This Sunday's gospel (Luke 15:1-32) challenges us to serve as agents of forgiveness and reconciliation in our current political situation. 

Our White House experiences of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius indeed have something to do with the other White House which will soon be home to new leadership.

In this context, our Jesuit provincial superior, Fr. Ron Mercier, S.J., asks Jesuits and our colleagues to create that space of civil discourse which allows for true democratic dialogue and lets the foundational principles of our faith inform the ways we ponder and speak to one another about the grave challenges we face.[i]

Fr. Ron suggests we consider how "All of us are affected by the racial, political and religious divisions in our society, and these can even affect our communities. Each of us needs to ask where we are tempted to judge others or to close ourselves to hearing one another. How does God call us to conversion of heart, thought, and speech during this time? Charged moments like this can help us hear God's voice."

Accustomed as White House retreatants are with the Ignatian practice of Examen, perhaps we can take up Fr. Ron's questions as part of our daily examen prayer this Sunday and for the coming week. In the next two weeks we will continue this examen with some further suggestions from Fr. Provincial.

[i] Please see Fr. Mercier's August 15, 2016 suggestions on this topic at http://jesuitscentralsouthern.org/news-detail?TN=NEWS-20160817014921