REFLECTIONS, POEMS & PRAYERS
Thoughts on the Exercises: A Generous Heart
I'm always encouraged when people connect deeply with Jesus and find that He's given them a generous heart. In Scripture, we see it in the story of Zacchaeus. He encounters Jesus and suddenly his life is transformed and he starts thinking of others.
I'm always encouraged when people connect deeply with Jesus and find that He's given them a generous heart. In Scripture, we see it in the story of Zacchaeus. He encounters Jesus and suddenly his life is transformed and he starts thinking of others.
Sometimes in the Ignatian Exercises, or when a directee encounters Jesus, they discover generosity welling up within them, looking for a place to flow out to others.
Has God ever given you a generous heart? Would you like to have a generous heart? It's a wonderful gift to be given.
© Dale Gish 2019. All Rights Reserved.
This reflection was inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me. You can also read more here.
Deeply Beloved
We are met by God with compassion and tenderness as beloved daughters and sons. We are Deeply Beloved.
Who are the Deeply Beloved? We Are!
From the beginning God has loved us. In Eden, God delighted to walk with us in the cool of the evening. Then God formed a people, revealing himself to them, leading them out of slavery, dwelling with them. Though God’s people often turned away, God sought them out and called them back into right relationship.
In Jesus, God is Emmanuel, deeply with us. Jesus accompanied His people, healing them, teaching them, loving them. Jesus showed us the greatest love by dying on a cross to save us, breaking the power of sin and death. And He rose from the dead, alive, to comfort His disciples, calling them to welcome people from all nations into the church.
When Jesus ascended, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell with us, lead us, comfort us. The Holy Spirit continues to dwell in us today, and Jesus befriends us and continues to call us as disciples, while the Father continues to pour out great love upon us. We long for the day in the new creation when God will dwell with us, wiping away the tears from our eyes, and sorrow and suffering will be no more.
Though our lives are full of failure, though struggle surrounds us, though we constantly need grace and forgiveness, God seeks us and invites us to abide in the vine, entering deeply into the love relationship of the Trinity. We are met by God with compassion and tenderness as beloved daughters and sons. We are Deeply Beloved.
© Dale Gish 2019. All Rights Reserved.