Tonight was the opening session of the Lenten Ignatian Retreat at St. Thomas More. After this initial large group meeting, small retreat groups will meet weekly, and participants will pray each day with materials we provide to them that are based on Weeks 2 and 3 of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.
I gave the opening talk this evening to introduce the retreat. I spoke first about a central characteristic of Ignatian Spirituality – one that underlies the approach of the Spiritual Exercises – and that is, the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus. I then offered a general sense of the overall flow of the retreat, highlighting in particular the idea of our call to labor with Christ on behalf of building God’s kingdom.
You can access a recording of the session here or stream it from the icon below. (The podcast runs for just under 30:00 minutes.)