On Saturday I gave a Day of Reflection for the Twin Cities Ignatian Associates on the theme of Being Church in Today’s World. Our focus was on what it means to be church – both individually and communally – in a fallen world, a world in which our religious leaders, as well as secular ones, are divided and subject to sin, and in which so many people have turned away from God and religion.
I began the day with a look backwards, conveying the reality that the church established by Jesus Christ has, from the beginning, produced struggles as well as harmony, failures as well as successes, sinners as well as saints – a reality that should affect how we look at the church and the world today. I then talked about why the approaches many people take to the challenges we face today are harmful to us communally and individually.
In the afteroon, my focus was on both the communal and individual aspect of being church in the world today, reflecting on how we address our call to (to use the words of Rowan Williams) be a place where God happens. I suggested several different ways we can make ourselves and our communities such a place, which included several suggestions for how we encounter those who differ from us.
You can access a recording of that final talk here or stream it from the icon below. (The podcast runs for 30:55.
Creo en Dios! 