Joseph A. Tetlow has written a manual for spiritual directors through the 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises. I have done this 19th annotation through Creighton University Online Retreat and Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life in Portland, OR. (The information meeting is tonight if anyone wants to go. I highly recommend it.) I have this manual Choosing Christ in the World for when I help others through the Exercises next year, but at the end, he has a thing called Lightworks, which is an 18th annotation. Ignatius had a motto: "Do what is doable." I love that. So the 18th annotation is a shorter version of the Exercises. I am doing Tetlow's version through the summer and will end on August 18th.
So, the first two days have been so good. Ezekiel 11:17-21. I had been given the directive to put these verses in my manual of the Exercises, but I cannot remember if I ever did. I am praying that God will continue to give me a "heart of flesh" which reminds me of Ignatius talking about approaching the Exercises with a generous and magnanimous spirit.
The desire of this first week is: "I want to appreciate the world, my life, and my self for what they all are: outright gifts from God, my Creator and Lord."
SO PERFECT. All is gift! This week is about thankfulness and there needs to be a soft heart to do this, and praying through this passage in Ezekiel was so deliciously good for me!
The second passage (only three per week to ponder which is again "doable"!) is the "gift of motherhood God gave to Mary." It is no coincidence that when I did my "Three Circles Exercise" this week, two of the things I was anxious and afraid about had to do with feeling like I was not a good mom because I had not gotten on top of getting Paul's graduation announcements from college out and a party and a trip that we had promised both of them (Michael graduated in 2017, and we were waiting so we could combine trips.) Anywho, God spoke to me in the "do not be afraid" to Mary. I had to stop and GIVE THANKS for being a mom! I never thought I would be married, let alone a MOTHER! I am still amazed and cannot get over that God gave me the gift of George and then on top of that the gift of Michael and Paul! And whenever I do my Examen prayer, the most meaningful parts of my weekend are when our kids come home, and we have a meal together and go to church together. Yesterday was especially meaningful, because in my "Three Circles Exercise" God spoke about my anxiety with the grad announcements by telling me I am a "Communicator"! So I communicated with Paul. He did not want to hear about my anxiety about it (I love how Paul always shoots straight with me and tells me what is what about stuff like that.), but he did want to talk about it. So, my Mother's Day afternoon was spent shooting photos of him in the yard, neighborhood, and park. Then, we selected the pics and made an announcement on Shutterfly. "Do not be afraid." So we also talked about having a party. He was honest that 1) he doesn't like BIG things for him and 2) most of his friends from childhood are all out of town now. So, we decided to do something very low key, like a dinner with one other family or even just our family. So, that anxiety from my Thursday Three Circle Exercise was over. YAY! I feel like this morning God is telling me 1) "live" thanks for all gifts, including being a mom, and 2) to know that I am a "favored one" as a mom.
There you go. 15 minutes is exactly how much time I needed to get this freewrite written.
BYE!
I am going to see I can upload the grad announcement on here later. TTFN.
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