This week’s post shines a light on the importance of processing grief and loss as a community. A reflection circle in the SCS interfaith chapel took place this week in response to a loss of life.
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare so many social realities that had remained below the surface for so many observers. The fragility of our society, already experienced by so many people marginalized and excluded by oppressive social and economic structures, was exposed in profound ways for all to see. Communities across the country and throughout the world suffered immeasurable loss of life and livelihood as a result of a public health event that felt at some point like it would continue indefinitely. Georgetown was no stranger to this suffering, as many in our community of students, faculty, staff, community partners, and alumni endured significant losses during this period and continue to recover the broken pieces.
The Mission in Motion blog has attempted over time to tell the story for readers about how Georgetown SCS lives out the University’s Jesuit mission and values. What is it about the Spirit of Georgetown, the 10 values taken from our Jesuit heritage and lived out in our multi-faith and interreligious way of proceeding, that brings this diverse, multi-campus community together? So often telling this story brings to the surface instances of great joy and celebration, whether they be student achievements, faculty innovations, university-wide ceremonies like Commencement and Tropaia, or promising examples of being People for Others through community engagement, service, and social justice. But sometimes, the most poignant expressions of mission and values are actualized during times of adversity and loss within the community.
This week featured such an expression when SCS students, faculty, and staff from Mission and Ministry came together to process as a group the profound feelings, memories, and hopes following the passing of a student. In moments like this, words alone are not sufficient to help a community move through its feelings of grief. It is critically important to create nurturing and supportive shared spaces in which community members can be together in their grief. The bonds that tie a group together depend on mutual trust, reciprocity, and kinship.
This week’s circle event demonstrated that there is something deeper and bigger, even transcendent, that animates this community of learners. The community circle that gathered did not erase the grief or cease the difficult feelings of loss. But the effort did help the healing process, one that so often takes a very long time. Theological traditions offer insights and resources for how to understand death, but, ultimately, this human experience is such a confounding mystery. In the face of this truth, we might feel consolation in the invitation to confront this reality of loss as a community.
What does it really mean to pursue community in diversity?
To address that I start with a point that’s admittedly obvious, but nevertheless warrants emphasizing so we don’t miss the nuanced meaning of this core Georgetown value.
You’ll note that the value we’re discussing is not simply “Diversity” but “Communityin Diversity.”
Community inDiversity means more than bringing a diverse group of people into a space together and congratulating ourselves for doing so. Communityin Diversity suggests something much deeper, and, to my mind, much more sacred than that. It’s about creating spaces of earned trust and demonstrated care that support each of us in showing up in the fullness of who we are with honesty and authenticity.
“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”
In the context of diversity, community that invites authenticity doesn’t just happen. It has to be carefully constructed.
A biodiverse garden in which every species thrives doesn’t just blossom from a bag of mixed seeds. Such beauty takes cultivation; caring, thoughtful, sensitive, sustained, and devoted cultivation. Like tending such a garden, cultivating community in diversity takes careful, thoughtful work. But cultivating community in diversity can be really fun, too, and profoundly rewarding, and reaps abundant beautiful blessings.
One of the most exciting ways I’ve seen Georgetown live its commitment to community in diversity is through a program I am now privileged to work with called In Your Shoes.
A signature methodology of The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University, In Your Shoes employs techniques rooted in theatrical performance and dialogue to bring participants of diverse political, cultural, and religious backgrounds and beliefs into deep, challenging, and mutually respectful encounters with one another to foster curiosity, self-discovery, and greater mutual understanding and appreciation.
The In Your Shoes process is rooted in paired, prompted dialogues between participants. The dialogue prompts give participants space to talk openly in ways that activate their own personal story, rather than merely opinions or statements of belief. Often the topics speak to common experiences that cut across ideological and cultural divides – loneliness, grief, hope, belonging, loss, anxiety about the future, family, faith, and the larger meaning and purpose of our human existence. These pair conversations are recorded and participants then curate sections of the other person’s words and transcribe into a script. Participant pairs then return to the group (or in some cases also to an outside audience), and metaphorically step into one another’s shoes by performing one another’s words!
The results of the In Your Shoes simple but profound process are incredibly moving to experience and to behold.
In the coming months, In Your Shoes will be expanding its offerings. I’ll share these opportunities with the SCS community as they develop, and hopefully have the blessing of moving through the process with members of the SCS community towards ever greater community in all our beautiful diversity.
This week’s post features the 2023 Dr. King Teach the Speech at Georgetown. Check out the January events and curriculum support guide to make this year’s selected speech, The Drum Major Instinct, come to life in your teaching at work at the University.
Georgetown’s annual Teach the Speech is a welcomed learning opportunity for all parts of the University, including the School of Continuing Studies. Mission in Motion has engaged with this yearly event and written about it in 2022 and in 2021 (the blog has also covered SCS Faculty Director Dr. Erinn Tucker-Oluwole’s participation in the 2021 MLK Initiative event on food equity in Washington, D.C.).
This year’s speech, The Drum Major Instinct, was delivered by Dr. King two months before his assassination and is filled with timely themes that can challenge and inspire our ongoing efforts to realize a beloved SCS community that honors the diversity of our members by striving for justice and the common good. The speech was then and remains today a provocative perspective on the two sides of greatness, significance, and the importance in each person.
The intention of Teach the Speech is to encourage faculty and staff to meaningfully incorporate the speech’s content into classes and work at the University. The best way to dig into the curricular and professional applications of this year’s chosen speech is to first read it or listen to it. If you were not able to attend Teach-In 2023, I encourage you to check out the portions of the event that were livestreamed and recorded. You can watch a lecture by Dr. Vicki Crawford, Director of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. collection, and a sermon and closing by Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. After all of this, I recommend that you engage with the comprehensive teaching guide that offers an array of suggestions about how to make The Drum Major Instinct come to life in your teaching or working context.
From the perspective of the professional and continuing education learning community at SCS, I think this year’s selected speech presents several avenues for deeper exploration. For one, adult professional learners are motivated by their desires for greatness and for public recognition. Being motivated to advance one’s career and enhance one’s professional prospects is a healthy reason to seek higher learning at SCS. But even this noble ambition can become distorted if the intention for greatness becomes a desire to be first at all costs. Selfishness can crowd out others in one’s life, leading to neglect of duties to family and community. Dr. King is realistic about the human condition as he says: “Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it. We like to do something good. And you know, we like to be praised for it.” But Dr. King invites the listener to consider the other side of the pursuit of the ideal of greatness.
For Dr. King, to be great is to be in service to others. The speech is an incredible expression of Dr. King’s humble embrace of his own mortality by giving the speech’s audience instructions for his own eulogy. In these instructions, we today hear a call to servant leadership. Dr. King does not want his memorialization to include his many awards and accomplishments. Instead, he says: “I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.” In this simple request, Dr. King is helping us appreciate what most matters in a life. A life of professional significance should be assessed on the basis of how one shares their gifts with others and helps realize a more just and inclusive community. We can take this lesson to heart as we pursue our professional ambitions at SCS. A life of professional development and advancement need not come at the expense of serving a higher purpose in life.
Dr. King’s speech also points us to the social justice dimensions of our educational enterprise. The Spirit of Georgetown invites a commitment to justice that moves from charity to acting for change in social systems and structures that contribute to injustice. Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice, Research, Teaching & Service (CSJ) offers some opportunities to commit to this deeper work of social change.
Rabbi Rachel Gartner, SCS Senior Adviser for Spiritual Care, embodied such a commitment this month while she spoke on a panel at the 2nd National Multi-Faith Conference on Ending Mass Incarceration. At this conference hosted at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., Rabbi Gartner presented this Values-Based Call to Action co-authored for the Jewish Council of Public Affairs. In this work, Rabbi Rachel demonstrates that contemporary movements for social justice, inspired by the example of Dr. King, are rooted in deep spiritual and moral foundations.
This week, members of the SCS staff and faculty community made their way out to Georgetown’s Calcagnini Contemplative Center for a day retreat. Nestled between the gratitude themes of Thanksgiving and the joyful anticipation themes of the coming holidays, the day-long retreat offered a welcome bit of pause from the demands of daily work.
I co-led the retreat with Rabbi Rachel Gartner, SCS Senior Advisor for Pastoral Care, and we began the day by inviting the group to open themselves up to the experience. While the day retreat might feel like a limited window for meaningful reflection, we encouraged everyone to allow themselves to fully experience the transformative potential of a few short hours away from campus.
This week’s Mission in Motion is about the SCS Faculty and Staff Retreat, “Reconnection, Relaxation, and Reflection,” that took place at Georgetown’s Calcagnini Contemplative Center this week.
In a circle, retreatants reflected on the meaning of work in their lives and how that meaning has potentially shifted over the years of pandemic, transition, and return. Offering wisdom from the Jewish tradition, Rabbi Rachel invited the group to consider the joys, the challenges, and the so-so of work life.
Rabbi Rachel’s series of questions invited deeper reflection on each person’s “why” at work. This open-ended question led to a final question about the possibility of making a change, either internally or in an external action of some kind, that puts one in closer touch with the why of their day-to-day life. The group grew in its understanding, empathy, and kinship by listening to what individuals anonymously named as their own thoughts and feelings. Within an hour of arriving, the group had already begun to develop some significant communal bonds.
In the afternoon, I offered a short presentation on the examen of consciousness and then led the group in the practice. By taking stock of each component of the “long, loving, look at the real,” we can appreciate that taking time for pause and quiet in our day, reflecting on the meaning of our daily experience, is possible even without a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains. A daily examen can happen anywhere and its practicality reflects the Spirit of Georgetown value of Contemplation in Action.
Like the retreat offered for SCS students last spring, this was the first in-person retreat of its kind for SCS faculty and staff in over three years. The desire to be reconnected to one another in person, in a community-building setting, was evident throughout the experience. I noticed the joys that are possible when colleagues, some who did not know each other, come together in a relaxed and reverential setting with the explicit purpose of slowing down and savoring the particular details of our daily lives. I noticed myself feeling deep joy overhearing laughter and energized conversation at lunch. I also noticed the formation of deeper relationships between co-workers and a deeper appreciation of the possibilities of living out the Spirit of Georgetown.
The retreat focused on practices intended to spur deeper individual and communal reflections about the meaning of work.
We left Calcagnini with a renewed sense of how we can serve Georgetown’s mission as individuals and as a community. And we left the retreat with an energy about the need to pause every day to notice and savor the world around us and the world within us.
Rabbi Rachel ended the morning session with Rumi’s poem, “The Guest House,” which is a fitting affirmation of the need for retreats like this one.
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
I am delighted to be writing for this wonderful blog, and even more so that Jamie’s last post, along with the occasion of this last weekend’s graduate student “Rest, Recharge, Renew” retreat give me such a powerful entry point.
During my last 11 years on the hilltop, it has been a consistent joy to discover aspects of Ignatian spirituality that resonate with aspects of Jewish tradition and the other traditions represented on campus. My hope in interfaith engagement is always that different traditions can provide new angles, food for further thought, and sometimes even deeper illumination into the places where they connect. All this, without needing to connect in every place!
This week’s post is offered by Rabbi Rachel Gartner, SCS Senior Advisor for Spiritual Care, who reflects on the contemplative themes and interfaith possibilities of last weekend’s “Rest, Recharge, Renew” retreat for graduate and professional students. Rabbi Gartner also shares about the way that sacred events, like Shabbat, help us step outside of ordinary life in order to move toward it more contemplatively.
Jamie’s last blog post explored one such area of connection and resonance. One of my favorites, quite frankly.
In the last blog post Jamie sagely reminded us of the potential spiritual and emotional pitfalls of an overcommitted lifestyle, warning: “[E]ven busy adults who have important tasks to accomplish everyday can develop an unhealthy relationship to time.” One of the dangers of a utilitarian relationship with time so prevalent for so many of us these days is that it can make time into a possession that we need to use productively, and using time to contemplate doesn’t fit into our notion of productivity and therefore is a waste of our possession.
Indeed. In a context in which we don’t see contemplation as productive, it can be really hard to make the case for it. My experience in multifaith settings over the last two decades tells me that making the case for contemplation has become one of the central roles for contemporary clergy of any background, precisely because it has become so profoundly challenging and precisely because we believe so profoundly in it.
Thankfully, for me, it’s easy to make the case. Enter the Torah.
Jews like to joke that, through Torah, we brought the world the concept of the weekend; in the form of Shabbat. During Shabbat, Jews construct what Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel called a cathedral in time:
“Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals.”
As the sun sets on the eve of Shabbat, we light our plain white candles – one for everyone in the household – raise a glass of wine or juice, break simple bread, and step into that sanctuary in time. There, we leave behind the regular flow of time and the productivity we imbed in it. We do this not in order to escape life, but in order to enter into it more deeply. We step outside of ordinary life so we can then turn toward it contemplatively and “see and taste” (Psalm 34) the goodness of all of life.
If Shabbat were a person, she would high-five, fist-bump, or elbow-bump the Jesuit Walter Burghardt for naming and affirming contemplation as a “long loving look at the real” which inspires as “experiential awareness of reality” and a “way of entering into communion with reality.”
Judaism, in particular the mystical strain of Judaism, teaches that all of reality is a manifestation of the Divine. That God not merely permeates reality, but reality is an expression or embodiment of the essence of God. Seeking metaphors to describe this hard-to-grasp concept, Jewish mystics often refer to reality as a garment of God. This garment is woven of aspects of God’s very being – so it is itself ultimately Divine in both origin and nature. Jewish mystics teach that our spiritual goal is to attain the awareness that this is the true nature of all of life. We do this through what they call devekut (lit. cleaving). Devekut is essentially a communion with the Divine (through, in part, our experiential awareness of reality) that allows us to see and sense the godliness hidden within every single aspect of the material world. Through devekut we come to know intellectually, as well as to sense in our very being, the ultimate truth that all of reality is sacred, all of reality is One.
Through rest, reflection, song, prayer, communal conversation, and Torah study, Shabbat becomes a weekly, extended, and communal contemplative pursuit of – and ideally the attainment of – devekut.
We conclude Shabbat the way we begin it. In a ritual called havdallah (lit. distinction) we light candles, we drink wine or juice, and in place of eating sweet challah, we smell aromatic spices – a symbolic last whiff of the extra-soulfulness we are granted on Shabbat. Unlike the singular and white Shabbat candle, the havdallah candle contains many wicks and strands of wax composed of a rainbow of colors. The multifaceted candle invites us to weave our singular Shabbat consciousness into the glorious multifaceted activities of the week ahead. This idea is affirmed in some communities by actually placing a drop of havdallah wine or juice on our eyelids, as an invitation to see the rest of the week through Shabbat eyes. Or, as Burghardt, S.J., might express it, to turn to all of reality with a long and loving look that invites communion with it.
In Judaism, devekut is a highly valued end in and of itself. Its reward is deep joy. Through it, we find greater meaning and satisfaction in all that we do in life. And at the same time, there is a desired (even commanded) outcome of equal importance – namely, to live with greater intention, righteousness, kindness, and integrity as a result of our loving encounter with the real.
Contemplation, Shabbat, devekut are meant to lead to living in a way that honors what we come to know through them – that everything and everyone is ultimately divine in origin and nature. It’s our joyful and sacred obligation to live according to that awareness and to become maximally productive in the things that matter most: what we bring to this world and how we treat one another in it.
May it be so.
Please consider joining me and Jamie for upcoming retreats as they are announced. We’d love to see you at them.
This week’s post is about the upcoming Graduate and Professional Student Retreat, “Rest, Recharge, Renew,” taking place October 15-16. SCS students should sign up here
Some might assume that graduate and professional students, unlike traditional full-time undergraduates, do not desire dedicated time and space for spiritual growth and community-building outside of their class time. This thinking assumes that adult learners in graduate and professional programs are already “formed” in their spiritual lives and are too busy for anything outside of classroom tasks. The theory might be that these adults carry so many other obligations of family, work, and social life that crowd out any interest in activities considered non-essential. To some degree, these assumptions have validity. It is true that most adult students have to be particularly discerning about how they choose to spend their school time in the midst of so much else. And it is also true in terms of human development that many graduate and professional students have already cultivated a well-developed sense of their personal, spiritual, and career identities by the time they arrive at Georgetown.
While it is true adult learners have different needs than other students in the life cycle, it is not the case that graduate and professional students do not need dedicated mission and ministry programs. In fact, the style of reflection, prayer, meditation, and community-building inspired by Jesuit spirituality (in particular, the Examen approach to consciousness awareness) offers particular benefits to adult learners. Adults learn best from their experience and desire to be in spaces with other adults who want to learn from their experiences, which we might call the “texts” of their own lives. Jesuit spirituality begins in this place by starting with a person’s lived experience and then entering into reflection and ultimately action on how to become an even more generous and giving person in the world. Respecting the context of these adult learners is the best way to design programs intended to build spiritual community.
SCS has made such reflective activities a key part of student experience. An annual student retreat in the spring semester has provided students with an opportunity to build relationships with other SCS students and grow in awareness of the need for quiet, reflective time and space in the middle of a demanding academic program. SCS will offer this dedicated retreat just for its students again in Spring 2023.
This fall presents a new cross-campus opportunity for cultivating reflective habits among SCS and all of the other graduate and professional students at Georgetown. From October 15 to 16, an overnight retreat “Rest, Recharge, Renew,” is being made available for all graduate and professional students at the University. Georgetown Law Center’s Campus Ministry is taking the lead on the retreat but other partners at the University, including SCS, are supporting delivery of the retreat. The intention of the retreat is simple – to give graduate and professional students an opportunity to take a break from school and reflect, relax, and build relationships with other students across Georgetown. Taking place at Georgetown’s Calcagnini Contemplative Center, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the retreat setting offers some welcomed time away from the business of daily life.
Inter-campus encounters can be rare at a big university but these opportunities are precious for developing a shared sense of community at Georgetown. I encourage SCS students to consider signing up for the retreat as spaces are limited!
Cura personalis is one of the most popular and widely cited values in the Spirit of Georgetown. And this makes sense because this particular value points to the need for individualized attention and care in all relationships at the University, especially among teachers and students and between employees and managers. Caring for the whole person in this way, attending to the individual’s gifts and talents as well as their challenges and limitations, requires that we get to know each other at more than a surface level. By encountering each other’s unique stories and lived experiences, we begin a relationship of work or study from a place of meaningful context. The relationship is more meaningful when both parties involved are willing to listen attentively to each other’s needs out of a place of deeper personal recognition.
This week’s post is a reflection on Georgetown Staff Appreciation Day, relating the values of care for the person (cura personalis) and care for the work (cura apostolica). Pictured: SCS staff members enjoying the picnic lunch.
This week, Georgetown hosted a Staff Appreciation Day on the Hilltop campus and many members of the SCS team attended this festive event. With food, dancing, and the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company on a beautiful day in the late summer, the three-hour celebration was a welcome but rare occasion of bringing together the staff community from across Georgetown. The experience also invites deeper reflection about how the staff at SCS and across the University uniquely bring to life the Spirit of Georgetown in their daily work. To assist with this deeper reflection, I’d like to connect cura personalis to the value of cura apostolica, or care of the work.
Relating cura personalis to cura apostolica helps us appreciate in a more significant way how the staff at SCS and across Georgetown are instrumental to the realization of the University’s mission. Each member of the staff serves a unique role in the organization, manifesting a diversity of professional expertise and skill in all the daily tasks that need to be realized in order for Georgetown to function well. So much of this activity occurs outside of the view of students and faculty. Staff members care for the universal work of Georgetown’s mission with their particular contributions. Regardless of one’s specific job responsibility, however, staff members do more than just make the organization function and operate efficiently. They bring the mission to life in vital ways.
By paying attention both to the person and to the work for which they are responsible, the Spirit of Georgetown relates individual personal attention and collective purpose and mission. Care for the whole person is valuable for its own sake. But as an institution of higher education rooted in the Jesuit tradition, purposeful care and attention toward the individual ultimately serves the larger purpose of our educational goals. The Jesuits around the globe have noted that these two values are sometimes in tension but can fruitfully come together when co-workers collaborate “towards the service of the mission” but also recognize that they themselves are a “form of mission.” More than serving the mission, staff are themselves the mission. As Stephanie Russell puts it in an article entitled “Cura Apostolica Revisited:”
“Cura apostolica is the complement to cura personalis, but it is not an institutional counterweight that tempers our warm and fuzzy inclinations to provide personal care (that is, the Ignatian version of good cop, bad cop). Rather, through cura apostolica, the same intimate knowledge and compassion found in cura personalis is extended, beyond any single person, to encompass our shared personhood and mission. … We matter to each other; we matter together for the common good.”
Staff Appreciation Day was a reminder of how much individual staff members, however behind-the-scenes their work might be, serve our communal mission. Appreciating the staff in this way can sharpen an awareness about how the Georgetown educational experience is a shared endeavor.
As a professional school, SCS is committed to transforming the lives and careers of lifelong learners and does this, according to the School’s mission, in order to “improve employability and develop workforces; and to contribute to building a civic-minded, well-informed, and globally aware society.” On the eve of the Labor Day holiday, it is fitting that we reflect on the nature of work and how such reflection can inspire our actions as members of the SCS community. How can we infuse the preparation of lifelong learners for professional practices that reflect the mission and values of the Spirit of Georgetown? How can we as diverse professional members of this community strive to live out an understanding of the “work” of society in a way that justly honors workers and fosters greater equity and the common good?
Labor Day, intended as a holiday that honors the American labor movement, has the potential to give rise to deeper reflection about the contributions of laborers of all kinds in the work of the nation. The themes of work and the proper place of work in our lives are taken up by the teachings of diverse religious and spiritual traditions. Pope Francis, for example, has written extensively in recent documents about the need for political, economic, and social structures that support the dignity of all workers, most especially those marginalized or oppressed by these systems. In his teaching document Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis calls for the realization of “integral human development” through the creation of economic systems and practices that value community production above exploitative models of economic growth that simultaneously harm the environment and workers.
These ideas from Pope Francis echo a long tradition of Catholic Social Teaching and its seven principles, which includes “The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers.” This principle maintains that:
“The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected – the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative.”
At Georgetown, advancing the dignity of work is evident in a number of University initiatives, including the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor whose purpose is to develop creative strategies and innovative public policy to improve workers’ lives. And at SCS, programs across the School consider pressing ethical questions about labor within the curriculum. For example, the Master’s in Supply Chain Management has been exploring how supply chain issues and inflation have adversely impacted the charity sector (“Helping Charities Defend Against Inflation’s Double Punch”).
As a values-based professional education institution, it is important that we regularly consider the dignity of labor and the rights of workers. My hope is that this Labor Day provides time and space to pause and reflect on just principles of work and how we as Hoyas can join in contributing to a society and a world that brings these principles to life.
Mission in Motion has spent over a year shining a light on the significance of the Ignatian Year, the 500th anniversary of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, undergoing his personal transformation that eventually led to the birth of a new religious order and a global network of schools, like Georgetown. A recent post describes a series of pilgrimage immersions in Spain that took place this summer for students, faculty, staff, and alumni who desired an even deeper engagement with the meaningfulness of St. Ignatius’ own sacred story and its relevance today.
This week, we hear directly from SCS alumna Karim Trueblood, who participated in Georgetown’s alumni pilgrimage to Spain. Mission in Motion has previously interviewed Karim about her reflections on Georgetown SCS, the relationship between Ignatian principles and her professional life, and how the Jesuit Values she experienced as a student in the Master of Professional Studies in Emergency & Disaster Management (EDM) program have shaped her vocation.
Having taught Karim in the SCS Jesuit Values in Professional Practice course, I can personally attest to how much she has appropriated the principles and characteristics of Jesuit education and spirituality in her life. It is fair to say that Karim’s life has been transformed by her Ignatian experiences, so much so that she is currently pursuing a doctorate in these topics. What I find so important about Karim’s reflection below is the way that she interprets the Ignatian holy sites in a way that respects both religious diversity and the integrity of the Jesuit tradition.
In this week’s Mission in Motion, SCS alumna Karim Trueblood (pictured second row, middle) reflects on her time in Spain as part of an Ignatian Year pilgrimage with Georgetown alumni. Credit: Javi Valdivieso
As part of the celebration of the Ignatian Year, I recently participated in a Shrines of Spain Pilgrimage following the Footsteps of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. This pilgrimage for Georgetown alums was guided by Jesuits Fr. Mark Bosco and Fr. Jerry Hayes. The trip took us to Spain, starting in Madrid and finishing in Barcelona while visiting influential places in the life of Saint Ignatius along the way. The meticulously curated itinerary provided an array of magnificent thought-provoking stops, delightful people, and delicious food.
To be transparent about my experience, this was my first time traveling with a group, and to say that I was hesitant is an understatement. Additionally, in our home we share our faith between Catholicism and Quakerism. I have found that the Society of Jesus and the Society of Friends share similar values and were eager to start the journey. I started this journey with 20 strangers and many questions and ended the journey with 20 friends and even more questions.
It was only after returning home, intentionally reflecting on the pilgrimage and reviewing my notes, that I understood the significance of this unique opportunity. In retrospect, this was a journey to deepen my relationship with God, myself, my husband, fellow pilgrims, and locals that graciously shared their country, customs, and history. Part of my commitment to increase awareness required me to limit the use of technology, so pictures are limited, but there are enough notes and journal entries to write a book.
In addition to deepening my relationship with God and others, I found the experience was closely related to the Jesuit values guiding Georgetown University. It was an opportunity for community building and to practice intentionality regardless of religious background. The visits to sites like the Loyola Castle, Saint Ignatius’ place of birth, or Pamplona, where Saint Ignatius was injured in battle leading to his spiritual conversion, were perfect for engaging our minds and hearts in imagination and contemplation.
Montserrat, pictured here, is a sacred place in the life of St. Ignatius. Credit: Javi Valdivieso
The visit to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Arantzazu, nestled in nature and visited by Saint Ignatius on his way to Manresa, evoked tranquility while highlighting the importance of Caring for Our Common Home. It was important for the Franciscans there that people felt the impact of nature while in the basilica. From my perspective, the feeling of being connected with nature was undeniable, perhaps one of my favorite places during the pilgrimage. The visit also prompted questions about my role in advancing or hindering environmental justice due to everyday decisions.
The visit to Montserrat was spectacular and provided the perfect preamble to Manresa. In the Cove of Saint Ignatius in Manresa, where Saint Ignatius wrote the Spiritual Exercises, I found a deeper understanding of the value of learning directly from these places that inspired Saint Ignatius, how a life in disorder and spiritual desolation was crucial to engaging in deep reflection to seek to conquer the self and discern our purpose.
The pilgrimage was not strictly about religion, but thinking about religion allowed me to reflect on the impact religion has on culture and individuals. The pilgrimage reminded me of the importance of community and how flawed individuals searching for unique answers can come together and become grounded in love. This opportunity was only possible because of Georgetown. I was reminded of the value of discovery and transformation.
In order to grow, it is imperative to experience new things, engage with different people, and visit new places. Georgetown University is a place with unlimited opportunities to engage in discovery and transformation. Seek more in the spirit of Magis and for the Greater Glory of God regardless of career path or religious background; you might surprise yourself, just like I continue to do even after graduation.
This week’s post describes the Jesuit reflection sessions experienced by the 2022 cohort of the Summer College Immersion Program (SCIP). This was the first in-person version of the reflection instruction offered since the pandemic began.
In his book, An Ocean of Light: Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation, contemplative and academic Martin Laird makes the case for contemplative practices. To advance his argument early in the book, Laird brings together two unlikely thought partners: the post-modernist author David Foster Wallace and the contemporary Christian mystic Thomas Merton.
“Composed over fifty years ago, ‘Contemplation in a World of Action’ remains one of Merton’s most important essays. Wallace acknowledges our need to have sufficient skills of interiority in order to become aware of our own self-centered patterns of thinking and behaving. He likewise realizes that we can actually choose what we give our attention to. In choosing to give our attention to something other than the monologues going on in our heads, we meet the possibility of becoming less self-centered and more compassionate people. Merton would have no problem with Wallace on this point, but Merton would say that we have to go yet deeper – journey much deeper into our own uncharted lands.”
Over the last three weeks, students in Georgetown’s Summer College Immersion Program (previously discussed by Mission in Motionhere, here, and here) have had the opportunity to develop the skills of interiority through four reflection sessions that I’ve led. The purpose of these four sessions is to introduce the rising high school seniors, who come to Georgetown for three intensive weeks from KIPP, Cristo Rey, and other similar schools around the country, to the critical importance of developing habits of self-reflection. While four sessions are not enough to go as deep as our “uncharted lands” as Merton would prefer, there is no doubt that students leave the experience with a clearer impression that Georgetown strives to live out its commitment to educating the whole person by embodying contemplation in action.
The sessions are structured as a movement in four stages. The first session is a broad introduction to the mission and values of Georgetown with a special emphasis on the University’s interreligious character and principle of inclusive spiritual life. Students learn early about the Examen of Consciousness, a uniquely Jesuit approach to reflecting on daily experience.
The second session explores different strands in the historical development of spiritual practice. Students learn about different ways of praying and meditating, appreciating the distinction between image-less models (called apophatic) of prayer and models that rely on concepts, ideas, and texts (called kataphatic). These ideas are applied through a practice of silent meditation that resembles the tradition of Centering Prayer.
Session three introduces the Jesuit concept of discernment and demonstrates its inherent practicality and applicability to personal and professional life. Students learn about what ingredients are necessary for an authentic discernment and are invited to begin considering their own discernments. With the college decision process animating their lives, the SCIP students especially appreciate this opportunity to further reflect on what they are deeply seeking from the college admissions process.
And finally, the fourth session brings the reflection sessions to a close with a focused look at the Ignatian decision-making framework. Students have the opportunity to listen to each other and share advice about how to approach their biggest decisions in the coming year. Almost everyone raises similar questions about the college search process. During the mock interview process at the end of the final week in which the students are paired with Georgetown staff and faculty acting as interviewers, I had the opportunity to ask students to share more about their desires and goals for their college search. I could tell in these interviews that the techniques of Jesuit discernment introduced in the reflection sessions had begun to take hold.
The SCIP program is truly one of the most mission-aligned efforts led by Georgetown SCS. The opportunity to introduce such promising young people to the invitational and inclusive style of Jesuit reflection practiced at Georgetown is a joy. In a way that would likely satisfy Laird, Merton, and Wallace, students learn firsthand how to practice inner reflection in a way that encourages them to be even more generous and other-centered in a noisy world.
