Taken, Blessed, Broken, and Given: An Examen
A new audio examen on how we’ve been taken, blessed, broken, and given.
Author Archives
Andy Otto
My name is Andy Otto. For two and a half years I was a Jesuit in the Society of Jesus. It has informed and transformed my life. I have a BA in Communication and a minor in Psychology. I love travelling, swing dancing, Disney, and have lived in Boston, New York, DC, Jamaica, and Orlando.
The Principle & Foundation: Ignatian Spirituality in a Nutshell
Ignatian spirituality can be summed up in the few paragraphs at the beginning of the Exercises: sharing life with God and responding in gratitude to God’s gifts in freedom.
Love Doesn’t Make Sense
The way Jesus radically loves doesn’t make sense if you use the criteria of this world.
Partial Knowing
Take, Lord, my understanding. Ignatius’ prayer calls us to mystery and unknowing.
Change! The Kingdom is Near!
What does Jesus mean when he talks about God’s “kingdom”? He spends a lot of time offering many metaphors for it.
Praise, Reverence, and Serve
Ignatius says our purpose is to praise, reverence, and serve God. But this sounds like a rather selfish God.
Discerning Advent – Nativity
God’s incarnation makes sacred our very decisions and even the process of discernment. Every decision we make becomes an incarnation, a little Christmas through which God enters the world.
Discerning Advent – Preparation
People had to discern John the Baptist’s message. Was he the messiah? What were the signs they saw? Discernment includes many signs, consolation and desolation, and movements from the spirits that prepare the way to a choice.
Discerning Advent – Annunciation
God illumines a light into the world through the Annunication. Mary’s yes comes in a place of freedom, hope, and not clinging. Ignatius gives us several exercises for making decisions with this kind of freedom.