God In All Things
By Andy Otto
God In All ThingsAug 06, 2015
Binding and Loosing: A Fresh Look at Jesus' Words
"Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Was Jesus truly giving permission to retain sins? Was his mission not all about unbinding, forgiving, and setting free?
The Unapologetic Self: Embracing Authenticity in the Second Half of Life
How do we live authentically and in line with our true selves? We accept, unapologetically, that we are loved by God.
Finding God in the Gulag: Discovering Freedom in Captivity
Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit priest, endured solitary confinement and harsh conditions in Soviet prisons for 23 years. His trust in God's will and his commitment to living a life of love helped him find hope and inner peace.
The Fear & Greed Index?
Fear and greed are powerful drivers in our financial lives, but the Gospel calls us to a different way of relating to money and possessions. Ignatian spirituality and Catholic social teaching can inspire us to make choices rooted in love, solidarity, and trust in God's abundance.
WALL-E is an Easter Story
In a world marked by darkness and despair, this unlikely tale of a lonely robot reminds us of the resilience of life and the transformative power of love.
Discerning Authentic Reverence
Ignatius says reverence is part of our purpose in God. But is reverence about how you dress in church or your posture in prayer? Yes and no.
Reimagining Original Sin: A Journey Towards Wholeness
Original Sin isn't just about guilt, but a path to rediscovering our true selves and our relationship with God and all creation.
Ignatian Resilience: Navigating the Tumult
Ignatius offers tools for us to stay resilient in the storms and uncertainties of life.
An He Is Named – An Audio Meditation
The scriptures present many names for God, drawing out the many characteristics of an infinite Creator who is both personal and transcendent. The prophet Isaiah offers four specific names for Christ: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. We are given four images of God, images that may come and go in our lives, and which we draw upon in certain times and needs.
In this audio meditation you are invited to pray with these four names and consider their resonance with the God you know.
The Greatest Gifts: An Ignatian Journey Through Advent
What are we going to get God for Christmas? Let's explore the four gifts of Advent, their Ignatian connections, and how they become gifts for God.
The Spirituality of Generation Alpha: A Look Ahead
What will the faith and spirituality look like for those born between 2010-2025? How can Ignatian spirituality be a bridge for that generation?
The Traps of Worldly Anxiety 🪤
Explore the five main types of traps that hinder our freedom and block our connection to God. Find freedom through self-awareness.
The Deep-Down-Things
A recent episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds highlights the compass of our inner movements and emotions, pointing to our true selves.
Narratives of the Soul: Unearthing Our Desires through Story
Knowing our desires and fears can shape our life's journey. Through archetypal stories like fairy tales, we can begin to name our longings and begin to map out our journey to life in the divine.
Time Rebels: Ignatian Discernment and Our Future Selves
How can we expand personal discernment into a process that considers how my choices affect generations to come? Being a 'time rebel' expands our view beyond the present, considering how God's project unfolds far beyond me here and now.
Suffering and God's Loving Accompaniment
What's is God's role in suffering? It might be helpful to see God as a parent who accompanies their child in pain.
Written with the assistance of AI (GPT-4).
Navigating Life with God: More Than a Divine GPS
Ignatian spirituality encourages us to be active partners with God, rather than just blindly following turn-by-turn directions.
Written with the assistance of AI (GPT-4).
An Abundance of Gifts
God gives and gifts abundantly. What can this tell us about the nature of gift giving?
Redefining Humanity: A Theological Perspective on AI
The rapid progression of AI technology raises theological and philosophical questions about what it means to be human.
The 5 Keys of Discernment
Use the five keys of discernment to find clarity and direction in all your decisions.
Seeking What I Already Have
We are all seekers, longing for inner peace and purpose. What if we already had what we were seeking all along?
Pope Francis on Discernment
Pope Francis' recent catechises on discernment offers some helpful perspectives on Ignatian decision-making, including the importance of time, setbacks, desire, and self-knowledge.
Holiness is Silly
Why do we "strive" for holiness as if it's something to attain? Holiness should not create separateness, but unity.
Imagine Advent - Fourth Sunday
Enter into the mystery of this Advent's gospel readings using imaginative prayer.
Imagine Advent - Third Sunday
Enter into the mystery of this Advent's gospel readings using imaginative prayer.
Imagine Advent - Second Sunday
Enter into the mystery of this Advent's gospel readings using imaginative prayer.
Imagine Advent - First Sunday
Enter into the mystery of this Advent's gospel readings using imaginative prayer.
God's Kingdom is Found Within
Jesus says the kingdom of God cannot be observed. Then what about finding God in all things?
Love is the Common Denominator
Andy reflects on the essential of love, in The Contemplatio podcast from Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Atlanta. Subscribe to The Contemplatio here.
Library of the Soul
Conforming God to My Unfreedoms
We sometimes try to conform God to our decisions, rather than the other way around. In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius explains how we often make a means an end in itself. We need both internal and external freedom.
Finding God in AI
AI is going to transform our lives. How do we respond to it from a spiritual perspective? What are its implications?
Unhurried and Inefficient
Haste can be a mark of the evil spirit, while an unhurried—even inefficient—pace is often a mark of God's kingdom.
Seeking Real Life
There are "thin spaces" in our lives, places and moments in which we experience God's kingdom. What are the characteristics of such spaces? And how can we make our lives more kingdom-oriented?
Look Again! Coming Out of Narrow-Mindedness
Jesus invites us to "look again", to see the larger picture so we don't get caught up in our polarised and dualistic views.
The Essentials Lead to Heart-Knowing
Have you noticed how Jesus helps us focus on the essentials of faith? We tend to overcomplicate or over-theologise Christianity. Let's examine the value of being fed the essentials: about God and in our life.
Guiding Principles
What are you prioritising in life? In other words, what are the big principles and values around which you organise your life? These principles will inform almost everything. Here are some ways to intentionally discern your life's guiding principles.
The Falling Away of the Old
Religion often becomes a program of certainty that doesn't fully embrace the dynamism of divine creativity, where moments like incarnation and resurrection cause old sacred paradigms to fall away.
Finding God In All I See, Finding God In You and Me
Learn more about the book and follow MaryEllen's Instagram where she has a picture of her granddaughter Teagan, and the real Grandmother Willow!
The Ordinariness of Lent
We still have some more time in Lent. So let's renew the purpose of this season! Jesus discovered that he was human and hungry and lonely. Lent is not so much about penances and bodily denial as it is a season to discover our ordinariness.
War and Ego
We're all prone to the tactics of the evil spirit. For some it leads to catastrophic evil like war. This episode concludes with an adaptation of Ignatius' Two Standards meditation.
Seeing the Whole
It's important to look at a piece of the jigsaw puzzle, but we must also know its context. In the spiritual life we must widen our gaze and see more of the whole picture.