Our mission as the faith community of Christ the King parish is to grow in holiness by giving Christian witness to the world and a warm welcome to all. With joy and gratitude we practice Christian stewardship of God's gifts. We live out the rich tradition and spirituality of the Catholic faith by celebrating the Lord's presence in the Word and Sacraments, and by loving God in our neighbor.
During the course of the series, Father Gallagher will look at the 14 Ignatian rules for discernment of spirits. Through his real-life examples, the rules come alive for the panel on each show and for you at home. Join in this wonderful retreat experience and learn how to become more attuned to the spiritual life.
This week Fr. Tim continues to examine the Discernment of Spirits Ignatian Rule 6; where the individual, aware of their former closeness with God, all the while battling temptation to turn away, to give up, to cease the journey, is encouraged to persevere in the spiritual life of prayer, charity, denial of self and perhaps even intensify his or her efforts as a result.
During the course of the series, Father Gallagher will look at the 14 Ignatian rules for discernment of spirits. Through his real-life examples, the rules come alive for the panel on each show and for you at home. Join in this wonderful retreat experience and learn how to become more attuned to the spiritual life.
Fr. Tim Gallagher finishes Ignatian Rule 5 and begins 6th focusing on changing ourselves intensely against the desolation.
During the course of the series, Father Gallagher will look at the 14 Ignatian rules for discernment of spirits. Through his real-life examples, the rules come alive for the panel on each show and for you at home. Join in this wonderful retreat experience and learn how to become more attuned to the spiritual life.
This week, Fr. Tim discusses Ignatian Rule 5 using an example of a retreatant.
During the course of the series, Father Gallagher will look at the 14 Ignatian rules for discernment of spirits. Through his real-life examples, the rules come alive for the panel on each show and for you at home. Join in this wonderful retreat experience and learn how to become more attuned to the spiritual life.
This week, Father Tim Gallagher finishes discussing Ignatian Rule 4 using a message from St. Teresa Rejadell.
Our video retreat with Father Tim Gallagher continues as he invites us into a deeper understanding of Ignatius' first rule of discernment; namely, how is it that we become caught up in the distractions and trappings that get in the way of a deepening relationship with God, and how does God act to draw us back into His presence?
Using examples from our modern lived experience as well as stories of St. Augustine's own spiritual journey, Father Tim helps us to understand and apply this first rule in our own lives.
Our video series on St. Ignatius' Discernment of Spirits led by Father Tim Gallagher. This next in the series invites us to simply become aware of the process, aware of those times when we feel close to God, and when God feels far off, second, to understand what is happening within us, and finally, take action based on this new understanding.
Just prior to Christmas I stumbled across the most amazing video series being offered through CatholicTV.com, a 26 - episode series simply titled "Discernment of Spirits". What is this 'Discernment of Spirits' you ask. The answer is both simple, and sublime.
St. Ignatuius, through the course of his own journey of conversion and spiritual growth realized that he was caught in the grip of a series of upward and downward movements in his relationship with God. Perhaps you've experienced something similar? In fact, Ignatius guarantees you have...he realized quickly that this was a spiritual cycle every human being went through, whether they were aware of it own not!
Here's a situation; Moved by the celebrations of Christmas, I make a personal resolution to attend Mass more regularly in the New Year. It feels so good when i make that decision! I feel energized, filled with joy I find myself feeling excited about going next Sunday. Maybe I even find myself keeping track of the days. I'm in a really good space, and at times it feels like I'm walking on air...you know what I mean, this is such a natural human experience that you've certainly felt it too.
As the week goes on, that 'glow' begins to fade. I start to question whether I'll really be able to stay consistent with my resolution. I'm always doing that you know. I get excited about things, I think 'This is it...I'm going to make a change!' and then I get distracted. Oh...it's going to be cold this weekend, maybe snow. I'll have to blow out the driveway. Boy, it's been a crazy week at work! I'm so tired, and Sundays are really the only day I get to sleep in. I start to feel discouraged, maybe I even begin to doubt how good I felt at those Christmas celebrations. I was probably just exaggerating things (I do that too!).
You've just witnessed the movement of two spirits, Ignatius calls them 'good' spirits and 'bad' spirits. They are those dispositions, ideas, imaginations and emotions that move us towards a deeper relationship with God, or further away. They are ALWAYS active and ALWAYS in flux and the first step for us is to simply become aware that it is going on.
Over the next 26 weeks we invite you to journey with Fr. Tim as he opens up this spiritual dialogue that we are embroiled in, turning our eyes inward and outward as a means of discerning how and where God is moving and living and breathing in our lives.
This first episode identifies the dialogue, talks about how Ignatius himself was made suddenly aware of these movements in his own life and identify what this process of discernment is, and what it is not. Enjoy!
I found this offer in my email this morning. I've been subscribing to Ignatian Spirituality.com's e-newsletter for a few months now and the articles, links and information they send on have always been wonderful. This morning though, the offer of a limited time free e-book on discernment really caught my eye.
Ignatius' steps to decision making have been an invaluable tool for me in my life and in my ministry. It is a process which, as a spiritual director I have already helped a few others journey through in the process of making their own choices about the directions of their lives. This particular book has a lot to offer anyone in the process of making choices themselves, or for spiritual directors helping directees through the process of discernment.
Here's a exerpt from the first chapter. The download link follows;
When Wendy was a junior in high school, an epidemic of methamphetamine abuse swept through her small Ohio town. Several friends became addicted. One died in an auto accident caused by a driver high on meth. Many adults in the town became addicted and some lost their homes, businesses, and marriages.Several went to prison. Wendy knew people who tried and failed to break their addiction to thispowerful drug. While still in high school, she resolved to do something about it. The desire to help drug addicts grew while Wendy was in college. She graduated with honors and went to medical school. Now she is a resident in internal medicine, specializing in substance abuse. She likes working with addicts. She’s impressed with new treatment approaches and wants to work as a physician in a drug and alcohol treatment facility. Such work doesn’t pay well, but Wendy doesn’t care about money. She wants to help addicts. Although she’s not a regular churchgoer, she does believe that there is inherent meaning to life—it’s not just a random set of circumstances. She has felt the stirring of a sense of purpose while working in her chosen field, and she has found that prayerful reflection helps a lot in the process of choosing that work.Wendy is in love with Robert, who is finishing his MBA. Robert wants to make money. He’s bright, energetic, and sought after by prospective employers. Now he is deciding among three attractive job offers: an analyst for a hedge fund, a position with a promising biotech start-up company, and a job with a multinational bank. Robert wants Wendy to marry him. He’s generous and kind, and Wendy feels deeply for him, but he doesn’t share her desire to help addicts. He’s tried to convince Wendy to go into a more lucrative branch of medicine. His philosophy is “Let’s get rich. Then we can do anything. We can start our own treatment clinic if that’s what you want.”Wendy is torn. Sometimes Robert’s attitude displeases her, but at other times, it makes sense. She loves Robert, but she realizes she would have to give up her vision of a future to marry him. What should she do?God Cares about Our DecisionsHow should Wendy go about making this decision? That’s what this book is about. Here we present a methodology for decision making that has helped millions of people make sound and satisfying choices.
About the Book: Where should I go to college? Whom should I marry? Should I change careers? When—and where—should I retire? All of us have important decisions to make throughout our lives. Yet without a sound process in place for making key decisions, we are likely to question whether or not our final decision was a good decision; more to the point, we will never feel fully confident that our decision was what God truly desired for us.
What’s Your Decision? is a spiritual approach to decision making based on the insights of St. Ignatius Loyola. With the guidance of J. Michael Sparough, SJ, and Tim Hipskind, SJ—both of them experienced counselors and spiritual directors—readers will learn how to apply tried-and-true Ignatian ideas to the decision-making process.
And for two weeks only, download the entire book for free!
1:13 PM
Christ The King Parish
During the course of the series, Father Gallagher will look at the 14 Ignatian rules for discernment of spirits. Through his real-life examples, the rules come alive for the panel on each show and for you at home. Join in this wonderful retreat experience and learn how to become more attuned to the spiritual life.
