Virgin Mary Consoles Eve by Sr Grace Remington, OCSO The thing about the Christian year is that it keeps coming around. Over and over again, we get to try our hearts and minds and hands at Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time. We get to dust off the liturgies and speak or sing them again. We get to try old prayers in new ways—or try new prayers on old themes. We get to pick up our symbols and phrases and turn them slowly and look at them and listen to them repeatedly and allow their many layers and nuances to speak to us. This is called spiritual practice. So, yes, it ..read more

Yesterday, on the 31st of July, we celebrated St. Ignatius' Feast Day. During his lifetime, the Society of Jesus grew from 7 to over 1,000 members working throughout Europe, Japan and South America. Educators and staff at Rockhurst High School will experience the transforming love of Christ through the Spiritual Exercises in our pilot program this Fall. We’re excited, but like St. Ignatius, we want to reach more people with the love of Christ. To celebrate St. Ignatius, we’re launching ‘Sustainers Circle’, to bring the Exercises to more spiritually hungry people across the KC metro area ..read more

Executive Director The Ignatian Spirituality Center of Kansas City assists people as they explore and deepen their relationship with God in Jesus Christ. This ministry is based on the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who developed the Spiritual Exercises, and is sponsored by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Catholic religious order. The Executive Director of the Ignatian Spirituality Center is responsible for the overall leadership of the ISC, including: managing the finances and fundraising for the Center; developing a community; leading the development and delivery of programming; te ..read more

Contemplation in action is about learning how to be, learning how to see, and learning how to love. Learning How to Be Contemplation is first about learning how to be and surrendering our very being to God’s grace. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Before I can act, I need to know that it is good simply to be myself before God, loved as a person with both gifts and faults. Yet we often wonder: does God want this quality of mine or that desire? Does God love my beauty and my mess? Fr. Walter Burghardt, SJ, said that contemplation is taking a “long, loving look at the real.” But ..read more

This is the time of year when retreatants making the Spiritual Exercises find themselves praying over the life of Jesus.  After praying over his incarnation and early life, they enter into his public life which begins with his baptism.   "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'  Mark 1:9 -11 Mark's gospel though b ..read more

We interviewed Kathy a year after she completed the Exercises to discover what happened. How were you feeling as the Spiritual Exercises came to a close? I was hungry to know more. I’d been awakened spiritually. I’d connected to Jesus more deeply and in many ways, I felt like the journey had just begun. I didn’t want to go back to life without a regular prayer structure. I wanted to continue deepening my experience of Jesus and have someone to talk to about it, and I was intrigued to know more about St. Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises. So, I decided to join Prayer Companions, for gra ..read more

I trust you all are enjoying the beautiful Kansas City weather and the season of summer is unfolding gently for each one of you.  In these final weeks of June, following three and a half years serving as Executive Director of ISC, I am preparing to pass the baton to my successor Susan Friedrichsen. My heart is filled with gratitude for all that we, as a community, have learned and achieved together.  I would like to extend special thanks to our staff and prayer guides for your dedication and service to ISC during my tenure. It is with delight and confidence in our Board of Directors ..read more

The Ignatian Spirituality Center of Kansas City is looking for an Executive Director to manage its overall operations. The mission of the Center is to give, foster and witness to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This is a part-time position. Click here for more information ..read more

Joseph A. Tetlow, S.J., is a leading writer on Ignatian spirituality and a world-renowned spiritual director. He served eight years in Rome as Secretary for Ignatian Spirituality on the Jesuit Superior General’s staff, overseeing 250 Jesuit retreat houses throughout the world. Earlier he served as dean of Loyola University New Orleans, president of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and associate editor of America. He is also the former director of Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House at Lake Dallas, Texas. Father Tetlow’s last book, Always Discerning: An Ignatian Spirituality for the New M ..read more

Mark, you graduated the Spiritual Exercises in May, 2018. What would you say to those who commenced the Spiritual Exercises this Fall?Be open to where the journey might lead. You may have begun with a specific plan or certain goals. You may however find yourself on a path you didn’t expect. I encourage you to go for it and to be open to what God wants to show you. The most important thing for me was learning to notice and to pay attention to how the Holy Spirit was communicating to me and then to respond. What was a highlight in your 9 month journey? The deep dive into Scripture. Growing up I ..read more