Your Gaze

This prayer/poem is inspired by the Ignatian practice of beginning each prayer time by receiving God’s loving gaze. For God is always looking upon you with a gaze of love. -Ignatius of Loyola

Your Gaze

Lord, you look upon me with a gaze of love

Consistent, unwavering

Constantly new

Whether I return the look or hide my face

Awake or asleep

Aware or unaware

Anywhere and everywhere

You invite me to meet your gaze

Look into your eyes

So you can fill my heart with love

Till it becomes too much for me

And I turn my eyes away 

But you patiently wait till I glance your way again

So you can offer me just a little bit more

Your loving gaze takes many forms

Sometimes I sense your joy

Other times I’m struck by your delight

Or catch you showing favor

And notice when you revel

So each day I will open my eyes

Let your smile shine upon me

Warmed by your love

Surrounded with your care

Upheld with your compassion

Drawn deep into the heart of your love

The Eyes Of Love -Anne-Marie Forest 2014

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

To The Table: A Prayer/Poem

To The Table

Jesus, you eagerly long 

To spend this time

With your friends.

To eat this meal, wash these feet

Share body, blood, communing

No matter the coming betrayal

Or denial, or scattering

Your longing is for your friends

The ones that you choose

Frail, broken, but fully beloved

They all go to the table

But I hang back

I’m not sure I am welcomed

One such as me, come so late

Joining this moment through feeble imagination

But you turn to me with that welcoming smile

“Come sit beside me. 

I’ve eagerly longed for this too

Here, eat this bread

Drink this cup

Here, with me 

and in the coming sorrow

I join you to me by this.”

“Lay your head upon my chest

With me, all is well

The dark night comes

But till then

Be together 

Stay close and laugh with me

There is so much more of my love to share

You are welcome

Always welcome

Here 

With me”

The Last Supper by John August Swanson

© Dale Gish 2021. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

The Grace of Palm Sunday

Egyptian Coptic painting, artist unknown

Over the years, I’ve had a profound ambivalence to the Palm Sunday Story. On one hand, it is so profoundly significant that Jesus seems to go out of his way to signal that his power is not power as commonly wielded in this world (Oh that we, the church, would come to our senses!) On the other hand, these crowds that shout “Hosanna” will soon be shouting “Crucify Him.” Even his disciples will soon betray, let down, and deny him. 

If we are honest, we acknowledge that we would have been no different. We would have betrayed, denied, and abandoned him also. Additionally, we confess that we are often double-minded, half or hard-hearted, that we are sinners, frail, so often miss the mark. How is it that we can rejoice and shout “Hosanna” without being confronted with ourselves, hypocrites that we are?

This year the Lord has opened my eyes in a new way to see the grace of Palm Sunday. Jesus sees the crowds that come out to welcome him. He sees them and loves them and knows them. He knows how shallow their adulation is. He sees knows that they will soon fall away. He sees how the evil one is at work sifting them, distracting them, tempting them. And yet he loves them and receives them. He receives their worship. Jesus is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Holy and Anointed One, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and so on and so forth.  It is only right that our praise and worship be directed to him.

Here is the grace: Jesus receives us; Jesus receives our worship, no matter that we are double-minded, no matter how meager and half-hearted it is. Our praise and worship cannot stand on its own. On its own, it comes to nothing. But Jesus welcomes it, receives it, and that is grace. And in this grace, we are invited to give ourselves more and more, in joy, in love, because his desire is for his people.

This grace, revealed to us on Palm Sunday, is the same grace that makes our life in him possible. This same grace welcomes us to the table each week, welcomes us into prayer each day, welcomes us to live our life in him, each moment, each minute an opportunity for communion.

So let us rejoice, come as we are, join the parade. We are welcomed; we are received; we are loved. That is grace. That is the grace of Palm Sunday. This is the grace of our life.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

An Ignatian Prayer For Freedom

A Prayer For Freedom

God of all goodness

You created me for freedom

An abundant life, united with you

Filled with your love

Overflowed by joy

Truly myself in you

And yet there is so much that is broken

Bound up, even resistant towards you

I find myself enslaved by sin

Filled with false illusions

Tempted at every turn

Distracted, disconnected, despairing

But that is where you come to find me

Just as you came to so many

Offering freedom

You called Lazarus from the tomb

Healed the woman with a hemorrhage

Gave sight to blind Bartimaeus

Brought the demoniac back to sanity

Restored Mary Magdalene to wholeness

Free me from my bondage just as you freed them

Expand my terrain of freedom

Remove anything that stands in the way

Never let anything separate me from you, my Lord

I choose freedom

I choose you

This day and every day

For this is the deep desire you have implanted within me

Amen

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

Ignatian Discernment with Mandy Smith

Ignatian Discernment: A few thoughts on Christendom and a wonderful video.

There may have been a time when what it means to be a faithful Christian was set in stone, clear, and unshakable. In a time of Christendom, our faith, discipleship, even scripture was unambiguous, abundantly clear, locked down, and completely figured out. This clarity and confidence was likely a lie, a temptation the church has given into for far too long.

Now that Christendom is shattering, we can discover the joy of discernment. When everything is not pinned down and codified, we have the opportunity to discern, to say that we don’t know, that we need God to lead us. We have the opportunity to depend upon God, seek the Father, and discern our loving creator’s will. We may get to rediscover the Holy Spirit, or count on Jesus resurrected and present with us on a daily basis.

As a spiritual director trained in Ignatian discernment I get to walk with people as they ask the real questions of their life, help them notice God’s work and movement in their lives, and discover the joy of a life lived in radical dependence on God, one that is always needing to discern.

In the coming months, you will be hearing more from me about Ignatian discernment as go through the Ignatian Exercises again, and I dive deeper into this theme for myself and in my spiritual direction practice. But for now, I want to share with you this video created by Mandy Smith. This is not overtly Ignatian, but I think you will find it provocative as you consider discernment and seeking the Lord. I’d love to hear any thoughts or responses you may have to this video, the theme of Ignatian discernment or my reflections above.

Enacting Discernment with Mandy Smith

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

New Ignatian Gathering Added to the events page

https://www.deeplybeloved.com/upcoming-events/first-principle-foundation

This gathering is part of the advanced Ignatian series for those who have prayed the Ignatian Exercises.

Where were you, Jesus? A double-edged question for spiritual healing

Many Christians go through life unable to honestly dialogue with God about the disappointments and hurts they carry, overwhelmed by the pain and brokenness of the world and the traumas they have personally survived. We’ve been taught that we have no standing to question God, that everything happens for a purpose.  We may fear that asking the question will start us on a path of deconstruction where we might lose our faith, and besides, talking about these things with God requires a level of intimacy and trust that we may not have or feel ready for. 

As a spiritual director working with someone who has been through significant trauma, loss, or suffering, I want to help them get to a place where they can honestly address their hard questions directly to God in prayer, in their own authentic, unsanitized, messy way. Often a significant step forward is when they can articulate those hard questions to me in a spiritual direction session. Once they are able to articulate these things to me they are almost always able to respond positively to my invitation, “would you be willing to say to God directly what you just said to me?”

They may pray something like, “Where, were you, Jesus, when my mother died, when my parents neglected me, when my church hurt me when systemic injustice was so destructive? I know you are good. I know in my head that you love me. But that flies in the face of my experience. I went through hell and you were not there, you didn’t save me from this suffering, you didn’t intervene.” 

Being able to articulate “Where were you, Jesus?” in prayer, even in an accusatory way, is a huge step forward spiritually because it is a huge step forward in relationship and intimacy with God. If you are a parent and your teenager is mad at you and hiding in their room, refusing to come out, you wish they would just come and talk with you directly. That’s how God feels as well. God wishes the older prodigal son would just come talk to him about his resentments. God longs for us to be willing to address our grievances with him.

When someone brings these hard questions to God, notice that nothing about their trauma has changed and their question has not been answered, but something profound has happened. Saying “Where were you, Jesus?” clears space in their relationship with God, space for God’s work, space for healing, space to listen to God. People typically feel emotionally lighter, with a sense of release. The burden of holding back that question has been heavy, and they often feel immediate relief. I imagine Jesus smiling at them, so glad for this step forward in their relationship. 

Stating their accusatory question, “Where were you, Jesus?” allows them to begin a season of engaging the same question in a new and inquisitive way. “Where were you, Jesus? I didn’t experience you there with me, Jesus, but I want to be able to see how you were with me, how you were at work, there in my time of trial.” 

Jesus is always with us, at work loving us, caring for us. And Jesus has always been there with them, even in their time of trial. Often the directee has already named some of the ways he was with them as they told me their story, people God brought into their lives to support them, ways they were provided for, etc. Asking their accusatory question now gives them space and openness to see anew how God actually was with them. The question “Where were you, Jesus” takes on a whole new meaning. 

Some of the ways that God was with them in their time of struggle will become clear as they review their story asking this new inquisitive version of the question. But God is also alive and speaking to them and may reveal things that were not apparent in their history. Sometimes I invite directees to take some time in silent prayer and listen to see what God might say, and I’m continually amazed at what God does in those times. God may say nothing, but give them a sense of peace. God may tell them that he loves them. God might say that he is so sorry for what happened to them, that he didn’t want that to happen. God might give them an image of him with them during their time of trouble, holding them, weeping with them. Etc, etc.

In my experience, the accusatory question of “Why did you let this happen to me?” often is not directly answered and does not completely go away, but they experience a deep sense of God’s love and care for them, that God has been with them, and the accusatory question no longer is of primary importance. They know God’s love and care for them in a new way. Their relationship is unclogged, and they begin to experience more healing and freedom.

In my own experience, praying the Ignatian Exercises with a daily heart to heart with Jesus has been a context that God used for me to ask this double-edged question. I see now some of the ways God has been using it in my life. But it is an ongoing joy to see God doing this work in my directees, deepening their relationship with God and expanding their terrain of freedom.

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

Ignatian Prayer with Jesus And George Floyd

Ignatian Prayer -Encountering Jesus’ Love For George Floyd

This prayer exercise was inspired as I watched George Floyd’s funeral and experienced Jesus filling my heart with his love for George and his sorrow for George’s death. I hope that it may bless you and encourage you to join Jesus in his desire for and work to redeem this world, starting with yourself. I offer this as a limited attempt to join Jesus (who had dark skin) in his love for George, not believing that you will in any way capture or experience the full reality that George and African Americans face in our country but that Jesus will guide you into his heart. On a practical note: If you prefer to pray with a physical piece of paper you can print this PDF -Dale

An Ignatian Prayer Exercise

• Spend 3-5 minutes receiving the Lord’s love for you. Consider how Jesus has loved you from before you were born, as a young child, as a teenager, as an adult, sharing your joys and sorrows. Imagine Jesus with you, looking upon you with great love.  Let him tell you he loves you. Receive his love.

• Briefly pray to give this time and yourself to God.

• Ask for the grace to encounter Jesus’ love for George Floyd, to be affected and changed by his love.

• Briefly familiarize yourself with George Floyd’s life, consider the details as if you were his good friend or loving parent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd

• Pray using your imagination and let yourself feel deeply, welcoming the joy, love, tears, anger -whatever comes- that God may be at work in your prayer:

• Imagine Jesus loving George in his mother’s womb, at his birth, walking with him and delighting in his childhood, how he learned to walk and talk, and grew strong and tall, faced racism and racist systems surrounding him, loved football and basketball, moving from North Carolina to Houston Texas.

• Spend some time with Jesus rejoicing in this gentle giant, George, playing college basketball, contributing to the Houston hip-hop scene, George leading and mentoring other young Christians at his church. See the joy that George gives Jesus.

• Join Jesus still loving and walking with George in the sin and hardships he endures, as he is discriminated against, as he gets entangled with drugs, makes poor choices and spends four years in prison. Notice how Jesus suffers with him, celebrates when George then serves in a local ministry, how he is with George as he moves to Minneapolis, working as a truck driver, security guard, making an anti-gun violence video. Notice how Jesus loves him.

• Now stay with Jesus as George loses his job due to COVID, as Jesus witnesses George’s murder, his anger as George cannot breathe, as his neck is kneeled upon, sorrow in his heart as George cries out to the officers, to his mother, to God, Jesus’ tears as George dies, Jesus embracing him saying today you are with me in paradise.

• When you end your imaginative prayer, have a conversation with Jesus about what you experienced.  Tell Jesus what you want to say to him. Listen and wait for what Jesus wants to say to you about what you just experienced. What is he saying to you? How have you been moved? How does Jesus invite you to respond in your life, in our world?

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

An Ignatian Easter Prayer by Joseph Tetlow

I’m excited to be leading two groups of people through the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola this year and we have just started praying the theme of the resurrection. I find myself inspired by Joseph Tetlow, a Jesuit master of the Exercises. He has written some great prayer-poems, and in this Easter season, I offer you this one.

Free Indeed

You did a marvel, Lord Jesus Christ,
and make me feel beside myself in surprise.

My spirit glistens with Your rising.

I smile and smile with You,
I am drowning in the laughter of Your friends.

You have won, Lord, we know You have won!

You have defeated all the worst that we could do,

each alone and all together.

You crushed the power of darkness and of death

to walk peacefully again in our flesh,

now and forever.

Come to me, great Lord of life,

as You come to all your friends.

Send me to console those around me who hurt.

Come, and send Your friends into this daily world

to labor full of hope for the Reign of God.

-Joseph Tetlow -Choosing Christ In The World (A guide to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.)

If you are interested in praying the Ignatian Exercises with me starting in September, please contact me. You can also read more here.

Resurrection of Jesus Icon

Resurrection: An Ignatian Guided Prayer

Resurrection: An Ignatian Guided prayer

It is Easter Sunday morning and you are there at the tomb before daybreak and you are allowed to experience the resurrection.  

The Father and the Spirit come to the tomb, to raise you from the dead.  They are experiencing great loss. Jesus is dead and they miss him. The angel rolls away the stone and they enter the tomb.

The Father proclaims, “Death, you are defeated. Death, you are broken. Death, release your prey.”  The Spirit breathes life into your body. They unwrap the grave clothes from your body. You open your eyes.  You sit up. You feel new life in your veins. Death leaves your body. You are filled with Joy. The Trinity embraces with joy, together again, separated no more. The world is right again.  All the pain and suffering and injury are healed in you, leaving only scars. And you are filled with love, love for your people, love everywhere. You have conquered death. You have won the victory. 

(Now the scene shifts as Jesus comes to you.)

Jesus turns to you and says, “you have accompanied me in my passion and death. You died with me, now receive new life with me.” You run to him and you embrace. He says, “I love you. It is so good to see you again. It’s so good to be alive and to be with you again.”

And Jesus says, “It’s good to be alive.  My dying was terrible. I was abandoned and forsaken. The whole world turned against me and crushed me. Evil triumphed and destroyed me. See I still have the marks. Bitter death overcame me, but now I am raised in power to new life.” 

And you say to Jesus, “Oh, Jesus, it has been so hard to see you suffer and walk this path.  There is an ocean of grief in me. It’s hard to even take in that you are alive. Part of me still suffers with you in your passion.” You begin to weep.  Jesus embraces you again and says, “I give you my joy.” 

Suddenly you are filled with and overwhelmed with joy.  His joy fills and overflows you. Everything is good; everything is right. You stand there for a long time, just being together.  Your heart is filled with peace. Reunited with Jesus.

Take some time to talk with Jesus. Say what is on your heart and mind.

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

Christ's Descent into Hell Fresco at Monastery of Saint-Antoine-le-Grand