Our Lady of Guadalupe
A Jesuit Parish
Parish life at Our Lady of Guadalupe is inspired by Ignatian spirituality. Its central conviction is that God is active in all the dimensions of our lives. Regardless of what we have done or think of ourselves, God is always directing and guiding us to
wholeness, deeper meaning and greater purpose.
Jesus’ mission is to actualize God’s great plans for us. Ignatian Spirituality elicits a wholehearted offering of ourselves and the desire to participate in Jesus’ mission. As we accompany Him, his journey becomes our journey and his goal becomes our goal.
Inspired to respond more effectively to God’s direction, St. Ignatius, (the founder of the Society of Jesus, a.k.a. “Jesuits”) developed a Retreat known as the Spiritual Exercises. It is the root of Ignatian Spirituality. The Spiritual Exercises
offer us an invitation to become more intimate with Jesus by entering deeply into his life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection. Through “The Exercises” we experience what Jesus loved, valued, and prioritized on a profound level. The
experience compels us to imitate him as we pay attention to the values of his mind and heart.
Many who sincerely desire to follow God’s will find this form of spirituality practical for daily living. Its habitual use offers one a tool for decision-making and life planning.
Our Lives Should be Grounded in Prayer
Jesus’ communion with God was grounded in prayer. This energized him to live as an authentic person, fully alive before a loving and merciful God. Through this connection, Jesus gave hope and healing to the poor, especially to those socially
and economically outcast. He spoke of joy, peace and justice. He led men and women to follow his mission to help others become whole and holy.
Likewise, St. Ignatius would urge us to reflect on our life experiences and bring them into dialogue with God. Through our conversation, we are to seek God’s active presence while discerning the orientation toward which God is leading us. For this he employed the Examination of Consciousness. It is a form of prayer that fosters sensitivity to God’s will through the interpretation of interior movements and the cultivation of great desires.
These ways of drawing closer to God was St. Ignatius’ gift to the world. Though his spiritual perspective may seem new and even foreign to some, it has been the inspiration for Jesuits and thousands of others since the early 16th century. It has helped ordinary people conceive of imaginative ways to make extraordinary contributions to the world, all “For the Greater Glory of God.”
Prayer of Generosity
At the heart of service to God is the radical generosity that Ignatius asked for in this prayer:
Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not
to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to
labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do your will.