Giving the Spiritual Exercises is a rich Jesuit heritage that began with Ignatius and continues today; it is emphasised as part of our Universal Apostolic Preferences. At Arrupe Jesuit University we take a course on Ignatian Spirituality, which has both theoretical and practical components. For the practical training, we participated as spiritual directors in the Magis Retreat in Daily Life (RDL) that took place during Lent. This responds, once again, to a rich Jesuit heritage that has become a UAP – the accompaniment of young people.
A great challenge this year was the Covid-19 safety restrictions which meant that we had to hold our meetings virtually rather than in-person. What were the pros and cons of this method and what lessons were learned? It enabled greater flexibility of meeting times, since we never had to worry about transport or location availability. It opened the door to using virtual media for helping people to find God. However, network connectivity problems were heavily disruptive, it was tempting to rearrange meeting times, it lacked a personal touch, and there was no way of reading verbal and body language cues. Would we recommend virtual spiritual direction as a norm? It can supplement an existing in-person spiritual direction relationship, but not effectively replace it.
We are grateful to the Magis team for arranging a beautiful and well-coordinated retreat. The RDL was a good lesson in walking with young people on their journey of finding God.
Reflection from Tansi Community
Beautiful reflection. Thanks to Tansi Community.
Thanks brothers.
You are welcome.