News - Discernment Series: Racial Justice

Contemplation to Attain Love: The final meditation in the Spiritual Exercises is the contemplation to attain love. This final meditation is an invitation to let the Holy Spirit infuse our hearts so that we may envision a new way of being.

Receiving the Spirit of Racial Justice: As we enter into the last week of our Discernment Series for Racial Justice, we pray with the story of Pentecost, told to us yesterday at mass. This is the culmination of the Easter Joy we have been praying with over these weeks because it actualizes what Jesus tells us at the end of the Gospel of Luke: he will send the promise of the Father to us (Luke 24:49).

"Were not our hearts burning?": We were invited in Monday’s newsletter to follow Saint Ignatius’ advice to return to a reflection from the past to see what God might be calling us to see anew. As we approach Pentecost, we pause to reflect on another thing Saint Ignatius invites us to do in the Exercises:

Revisiting the Good Samaritan In Light of Our Discernment Series: Throughout this Discernment Series for Racial Justice, we have examined the ways we are privileged and marginalized, prejudiced, and simultaneously committed to liberation. We have seen how racism operates not just as an individual act of prejudice, but a historical, cultural, and structural reality in the interest of White privilege and supremacy.

Commission to Spread the Good News of Jesus Christ: Over the past weeks of Easter, we have read accounts of the Resurrection as well as concrete examples of people acting for racial justice and antiracism. Many of these examples have been in Jesuit or Ignatian ministries across Jesuit West Province or the United States.

From Savior to Service, Listening to Black Activists: When something is broken, our natural tendency is to fix it. If my tire goes flat on the side of the road, I can change the tire or call someone to do it for me. For some things, in other words, there is an easy fix. When faced with a larger problem, though, quick fixes become more complicated.

In our Easter Season, we are journeying closer to the Ascension of the Lord and the Day of Pentecost. The disciples, both in the Gospel accounts and the Acts of the Apostles, described how they experienced the tremendous works of the Lord, and despite death, saw Christ resurrected and ascended into heaven.

No Longer Stranger: Accompanying Migrants and Refugees in Our Communities: Ultimately, the goal of this Discernment Series for Racial Justice has been about conforming our hearts and minds to the heart and mind of Jesus, who lovingly looked down at the world and saw our divisions and decided to enter into the world.

Antiracism is a Ministry of Peace and Reconciliation: I imagine I am a disciple in the locked room with the others. Having prayed last week with false narratives about Jesus and about racism, I ask if I have any fears about my experience.

Acting Together as Ignatian Ministries: Jesuits West CORE: Today’s newsletter focuses on the recent work of the Jesuits West Province (the province of Jesuits St. Ignatius Parish is part of), specifically an initiative called Collaborative Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE), a program that all ministries of Jesuits West are invited to participate in.

False Narratives Around Racism Continue to Surround Us: Last week, our Wednesday reflection invited us to notice how celebrating the Resurrection can be confusing. One reason for this confusion, highlighted in Matthew’s Gospel, is the fact that not everyone agrees about the Resurrection; others tell false stories or narratives that discount the Resurrection of Jesus and the Gospel message he came to share.

Truth and Healing with Indigenous Communities: On Holy Thursday, we were invited to reflect on narratives we learned about the first Thanksgiving, false narratives that painted Indigenous Peoples in a way that justified the colonization of what would become the United States.

Restoring Our Relationship with Christ Who is Risen: Unlike Christmas, celebrating the Resurrection can be confusing. In a matter of days, Jesus goes from being praised like a king as he enters into Jerusalem and enjoying the Passover meal with his disciples, to being condemned, abandoned, and murdered by the Empire.

Reconciling the Sale of 272 Enslaved People by the Society of Jesus: As noted last Monday, during the Fourth Week of the Spiritual Exercises, we will be focusing our first newsletter each week on ways in which work to advance racial justice and equity is enacted in our church and society.

Easter Morning at the Tomb: As we engage the Fourth Week of the Exercises, we will enter into many of the Gospel passages focused on the Easter season.

The Joy of Easter: Entering the “Fourth Week” of Our Discernment Series: Having just celebrated Easter Sunday yesterday, our newsletter now turns to what St. Ignatius of Loyola calls “The Fourth Week” of the Spiritual Exercises.

Lamenting Racial Injustice: What might it have been like to be the women who had waited at the cross watching Jesus die a slow excruciating death? How about John, the disciple, who stayed with them, and cared for them once Jesus had died?

Solemn Intercessions of the Day of Our Lord’s Passion: During the Good Friday Liturgy, following the readings and the homily, the Church prays the Solemn Intercessions together. In this newsletter, we invite you to pray a Solemn Prayer for the church and our country, that we may no longer turn a blind eye to Christ’s suffering in the world, but stand with he who is crucified every day in our nation.

Crucified Christ Among Us Today: Indigenous Peoples: It is important to note that when we speak of Indigenous peoples, we are not speaking about a monolithic group of people who share the same experience and culture. Today, there are over 500 federally recognized Indigenous communities in the United States of America.

Who Could Believe What We Have Heard?: Over the last few weeks, we have been reflecting on the ways Christ suffers in our Church today. Now approaching the Passion of Our Lord, we invite you to pause and do what St. Ignatius of Loyola calls a repititio – a repetition – on the prayers of the Third Week of the Spiritual Exercises.