Tag: Spiritual Life

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A Time for Discovery and Transformation: SCS Alumna Reflects on Ignatian Year Pilgrimage to Spain

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. 

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Bringing Interreligious Understanding to Life in the Classroom

With the fall semester approaching as summer courses enter into their final phase, faculty are reviewing and preparing their syllabi for next semester. One of the exciting parts of teaching at SCS is the ongoing opportunity to evaluate teaching strategies and make changes for the better. Teaching professionally applicable content and skills at SCS, which are dependent on ever-evolving trends in society and the marketplace, demands this kind of regular review. Through student feedback and other means, faculty are encouraged to continuously refine their pedagogical methods in pursuit of Academic Excellence, one of the core values in the Spirit of Georgetown. Regular evaluation that informs reflective action is also an essential component of Jesuit Pedagogy, a framework for teaching and learning inspired by the dynamics of Ignatian spirituality. 

This week’s post examines “Interreligious Understanding,” one of the Spirit of Georgetown values, by reflecting on a recent podcast on the topic put together by the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship. 

SCS has made considerable efforts in recent years to support its faculty with guidance and resources about how to incorporate the University’s defining mission and values into online and on-ground courses. The SCS “Strategies to Integrate Georgetown Values into Online and On-Campus Courses” takes each of the Spirit of Georgetown values and offers ideas about how to operationalize these values into practical learning activities. The value of “Interreligious Understanding,” which we hold dear at Georgetown given our long-standing commitment to honoring a pluralism of religious and spiritual traditions, deserves a closer look. In my experience, many faculty are uncertain about how to make this particular value animated in coursework or might be inclined to avoid it altogether because of the potential for conflict or misunderstanding about a sensitive topic like religious difference. 

Recently, Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) took up this teaching challenge by hosting a podcast, “Religious and Spiritual Diversity in the Classroom.” In a packed 30 minutes of insightful conversation, religious leaders at Georgetown representing Jewish, Muslim, and Dharmic communities offered insights about the concerns that arise for students when religious identity is marginalized or ignored. There are several important takeaways from the conversation that I would like to highlight as best practices for faculty who want to discern how to activate religious diversity as a valuable component of the learning process. 

Rabbi Rachel Gartner (most recently Director for Jewish Life), Imam Yahya Hendi (Director for Muslim Life), Brahmachari Sharan (Director for Dharmic Life), and David Ebenbach (Professor of the Practice at CNDLS and the Center for Jewish Civilization) point to the need for faculty to express humility and a willingness to listen and learn about religious traditions with which they are unfamiliar. 

Georgetown SCS produced a document, “Strategies to Integrate Georgetown Values into Online and On-Campus Courses,” to help faculty integrate values, like Interreligious Understanding, into the learning experience. 

First, false assumptions about religious traditions can be perpetuated unless the classroom fosters an open-ended atmosphere in which individual students are invited to educate the class about their religious or spiritual identities. Having book knowledge about a cultural or religious tradition is not the same thing as having felt knowledge based on a relationship of trust with someone belonging to that specific tradition. While sharing openly about religious identity might not be comfortable for everyone, it is good practice to provide the opportunity (either in a group setting or individually) for students to express this part of themselves during a class. 

Second, learning is inhibited when students feel like aspects of their religious identity are not properly respected or valued. This often comes up when seemingly harmless comments are made about religious practices related to wardrobe and eating. Faculty can encourage respectful engagement about such cultural differences by establishing a set of shared community agreements at the start of the course and then regularly reinforcing their importance during moments of conflict that come up along the way. 

Finally, learning is an opportunity for growth. In today’s increasingly globalized workplaces, there is an ever-greater need for interreligious literacy and understanding. By actively listening to the experiences of religiously and spiritually motivated students, especially those belonging to non-dominant traditions, classrooms can become a place where religious difference is more than merely tolerated. These learning experiences have the potential to be transformative for all involved.

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SCS Institute for Transformational Leadership Examines Body Intelligence & Leadership

This week’s Mission in Motion reflects on a recent podcast by Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. Listen to the podcast. 

Of the many deeply mission-aligned programs at SCS, the Institute for Transformational Leadership (ITL) is one of the most obvious. Mission in Motion has previously reflected on the deep connections between Georgetown’s mission and values and the work of ITL. Recently, ITL, through its podcast, hosted an important discussion about the relationship between body intelligence and transformational leadership. ITL academic director Bill Pullen interviewed Marcia Feola, a master certified coach and faculty member in ITL. 

What resonated strongly is an opportunity in the conversation to make more explicit the relationship between leadership coaching and a diversity of religious and spiritual wisdom teachings about the body. Bill and Marcia use the language of “whole person” to describe an approach to embodied leadership development, which links up nicely with the commitment in the Spirit of Georgetown to “Educating the Whole Person.” This value encourages all of our endeavors at Georgetown SCS to integrate the holistic development of the human person’s many facets – intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual – in the learning experience. 

The podcast helped me appreciate how much good leaders need to attend to knowledge of their own bodies in the work of exercising transformational leadership with and for others. It is common to speak of the need for emotional intelligence, a reflective self-awareness of how affective sensations influence one’s thoughts and behavior. But body intelligence is no less important. And this focus on the body is manifested in different religious and spiritual traditions. 

Ignatian spirituality, which gives rise to the Spirit of Georgetown, emphasizes the body as a location for encountering God. St. Ignatius of Loyola, in the Spiritual Exercises, invites the retreatant to experience the mystery and love of the Divine by encountering God in one’s own body and in the body of Christ. God’s desire to be in relationship with human beings does not occur in the abstract but through the fleshy, incarnational reality of the human body. The Australian Jesuits offer further insights about this connection between the body and the Spiritual Exercises in this piece: “Ignatian Spirituality and the Wisdom of the Body.” 

Other faith traditions also speak to the central importance of the body in the quest for spiritual insight and knowledge. The Jewish tradition describes the need for healthy living with particular emphasis on caring for the body. So many of the teachings and laws of the Hebrew Bible focus on care for the physical self. The Islamic tradition similarly draws attention to this connection between a sound body and a healthy spiritual life. For Muslims, the human body is a gift from God and humans are responsible for being good stewards of this gift. 

Practicing care for the body happens in many ways. A mindfulness meditation practice, like the one offered in the SCS Daily Digital Meditations (sign up here), typically begins with a body scan exercise that relaxes the body and makes one more present and aware of their physical sensations. The body communicates its status with all sorts of sensations, but making sense of these signals requires paying mindful attention to them. Reflective awareness of our emotions, another key feature of mindful meditation, depends on our achieving some sort of grounded centeredness in our physical bodies. In these SCS mindfulness meditations, one enters into greater emotional awareness through conscious breathing exercises. The body, the mind, and the spirit all co-exist in an interdependent and interrelated relationship. 

I encourage you to listen to the ITL podcast on body intelligence and reflect on how you might grow in deeper awareness of how your body affects – in both positive and negative ways – how you lead in the world. 

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A Practice-Based Approach to Interreligious Dialogue 

A hallmark of Georgetown University is a commitment to Interreligious Dialogue. This commitment, enshrined in the Spirit of Georgetown, is evident in many ways throughout SCS and across the campuses. The aspiration to ecumenical and interreligious engagement and understanding is more than theoretical, however. Georgetown seeks to live out the fullness of this value not just because interreligious commitment is integral to a Catholic and Jesuit education but because interreligious understanding is an important skill to be fostered in today’s world. 

This week’s post focuses on interreligious dialogue as a key value at Georgetown that is best realized through practice. During Ramadan, members of the University have been invited to join the Muslim community at the Iftar. You can learn more about all of the religious communities at Georgetown at the Campus Ministry website. 

A recent report from the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) makes clear that fostering interreligious dialogue and action is key to the social mission of Jesuit schools around the globe. The IAJU Task Force on Interreligious Dialogue and Understanding issued a document, “Encounter, Dialogue and Action in a World of Religious Plurality,” that emphasizes a knowledge- and skills-based approach to this work: 

“Jesuit education should expose students to other cultures to foster critical awareness, innovation and attentiveness by ‘leaving home’ – i.e. exiting their comfort zones of thinking and accepted paradigms. The practices of interreligious encounter have a value that transcends the strictly religious domain and can be applied to a range of fields, including supporting democracy, ecology, and reconciliation. University education can tend to apply scientific post-Enlightenment values as the only valid standard of judgment. In areas of deep secularization, religious literacy lags behind the realities of global religious diversity. In this light, interreligious encounters can be a prime educational tool and a value for our students, leading to enhanced intercultural competency in a rapidly diversifying yet interconnected world.” 

The document goes on to consider how fostering an atmosphere of dialogue and encounter contributes to meaningful actions at a Jesuit university in service of the common good, which is at the heart of a humanistic Jesuit education. 

During this season’s religiously significant sacred observances for multiple traditions (Easter, Passover, Ramadan, and Pascha), Georgetown has realized a practice-based commitment to interreligious dialogue. One particularly moving example of this is the way the University community has celebrated Ramadan with its Muslim community by actively participating in the Iftar, or the evening meal in which Muslims end their Ramadan fast at sunset.

During the holy time of Ramadan, different offices and groups have sponsored Iftars for the Muslim community, including the Office of the President and Dharmic Life. In sharing the opportunity with the community, Dr. Vrajivhari Sharan, Director for Dharmic Life, encouraged attendance by articulating a present connection between living traditions and appealed to the “examples of our great Dharmic Spiritual Teachers.” President DeGioia’s welcome message for Ramadan to the Muslim community noted that followers of other religious traditions can deepen in their own faith by engaging with the religious practices of others. And Provost Groves’ recent blog post, “The Nurturance of Groups: Large and Small,” reflected that the Iftar was an occasion of value because it was “being with those whose shared experiences at Georgetown, to gather sustenance from the bonds with those shared experiences.” 

My invitation is to experience the practices of another religious tradition as an opportunity to grow in your own interreligious literacy and skills. Fostering this competency is especially valuable for students entering professional industries that are increasingly global in their focus. You might take advantage of Georgetown resources for this kind of encounter by first signing up for the newsletters of one of the many religious communities represented and animated at the University. 

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Students Find Community, Contemplation, and Snow at Annual SCS Retreat 

This past weekend, over 20 SCS students from across 11 different programs experienced an overnight retreat at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New.” The first in-person SCS student retreat since the global pandemic began, the experience invited registrants to say “yes” to a weekend of rest and to recharge along with interior spiritual practices taking place in individual and group activities. 

The 2022 SCS Student Retreat, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” took place at Georgetown’s Calcagnini Contemplative Center.

A series of pre-retreat readings and preparation activities framed the weekend. Students had a chance to read in advance about silence as the foundation for meditative practices by exploring some of the wisdom offered by the Center for Action and Contemplation, a contemplative teaching organization grounded in the Christian tradition that explores interior practices from an inter-spiritual lens. In addition to silence, students read about the relationship between meditation practice and inter-religious dialogue from the book, “We Walk the Path Together: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh & Meister Eckhart.” More than reading, registrants were also encouraged to practice mindfulness meditation in advance of the retreat and to select a sacred object to bring along to help them more deeply introduce themselves and their sacred stories to their fellow Georgetown classmates. 

The weekend offered some surprises. A mid-March snow and wind storm made for an unexpected background throughout the overnight event. And while the spring retreat did not feel “spring-like” in a certain sense, the packed snow offered a layer of natural beauty in the already breathtaking setting of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Retreatants explored the snow while taking advantage of the Calcagnini Contemplative Center’s many walking paths and trails during solo and group nature walks. Much of the retreat took place indoors in the Arrupe Community Room with chairs arranged in a circle and a fireplace warming up the space. Group mindfulness and Examen meditations encouraged participants to experience silent reflection in a community setting. And a time for individual contemplative reading about Jesuit notions of interior freedom helped realize the retreat’s theme of “seeing things new” in the spirit of the Ignatian 500 year. 

 A snowfall made for a beautiful natural setting on the SCS student retreat. 

Beyond the potential mindfulness and spiritual benefits, the retreat was also fun! Delicious meals and the ever presence of snacks, coffee, and tea made for enjoyable conversation and fellowship among students, many of whom had never met others outside of their program at SCS. By the time the retreat concluded, a common refrain was a wish that it had lasted longer. 

 Students enjoyed the fireplace in the Arrupe Community Room, using the space for individual and group reflections and meditations. 

Making time and space for such an intentional physical retreat from daily life is an important ingredient of the whole person education articulated in the Spirit of Georgetown. Students had an opportunity to reflect on what the time away meant to them and how it shaped their self-understanding. This is a sampling of what the students shared: 

  • “I feel more calm and centered.” 
  • “The retreat brought about some important interior awareness that I should further explore and contemplate.” 
  • “I feel grounded in my sense of peace and community here at Georgetown.” 
  • “I feel more conscious about not judging myself so harshly. I feel more conscious about the importance of leading a balanced life.” 
  • “I am more grounded in the present moment and noticing things that I want to work on in myself. I feel great about the connections that I made with others.” 

If you missed this year’s retreat but are still interested in exploring opportunities for spiritual growth at Georgetown SCS, you might consider: 

  • signing up to receive newsletters from the different religious chaplaincies operating at the University (sign up)
  • registering for the SCS Daily Digital Meditation that I lead on Zoom Monday-Friday at 12 p.m. ET. I offer a version of the centering mindfulness meditation on Monday through Thursday and an Examen on Fridays (sign up) 
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President DeGioia Delivers Sacred Lecture in Georgetown’s Ignatian Year, Invites University Community To Live Questions of Meaning

President DeGioia delivered a Sacred Lecture as part of Georgetown’s Ignatian Year 500. You can watch a recording.

On February 17, 2022, in Dahlgren Chapel, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia contributed to the University’s celebration of the Ignatian Year 500 by offering a Sacred Lecture: “Formation and the Practice of Discernment” (you can watch a recording). President DeGioia delivered the lecture at the invitation of Ignatian Year 500 working group co-chairs, Fr. Ron Anton, S.J., Superior of the Georgetown Jesuit Community, and Kelly Otter, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Continuing Studies, along with Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Vice President for Mission and Ministry. This event was conducted in coordination with the Office of Mission & Ministry, who produces the Dahlgren Chapel Sacred Lecture Series. These lectures imitate a tradition in the early history of the Jesuits when lecturers, outside of the context of formal preaching and liturgy, sought to instruct, edify, and challenge their listeners to apply the content of religious education within their daily lives. The lectures functioned then as now as a kind of adult education or adult faith formation. This feature of early Jesuit history, like the fact of St. Ignatius being a military veteran who suffered wounds in battle, is another meaningful connection between Jesuit tradition and the characteristics of SCS.  

President DeGioia framed his presentation in response to this question: an injury suffered in Pamplona launched Ignatius of Loyola on a journey that we honor five-hundred years later. What is the meaning of this moment for a University community? The lecture covered a wide range of territory, including the biography of St. Ignatius and the cannonball moment that gives life to the Ignatian Year, the Jesuit framework for the “discernment of spirits,” and the relevance today of St. Ignatius and Jesuit spiritual tradition. One of the primary takeaways, based on President DeGioia’s reading of early Jesuit and spiritual master St. Pierre Favre, is that the spiritual life is rooted in affective movements. Not discounting the intellectual, Favre raised important awareness about the need to pay attention to “felt understanding” or “experiential and affective knowledge” in discerning our interior movements. This understanding of human experience, which is informed by the Spiritual Exercises, a guided retreat that St. Ignatius designed out of his own experience that continues to be shared today at Georgetown and throughout the world, gives rise in Jesuit education to a focus on caring for the whole person. 

There were many moments of significance in the Sacred Lecture, but some of the most important exchanges of ideas occurred during the question-and-answer session. Four Georgetown students had opportunities to share questions with President DeGioia. The issues and concerns on the minds of these students reflect common questions raised often at Georgetown, grounded as it is in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition, but meaningfully committed to multi-faith chaplaincy, inter-religious dialogue, and a respectful pluralism of ideas and philosophies. One student inquired about how a Jesuit discernment framework is relevant to those who do not profess a belief in God. President DeGioia’s answer is instructive and points all of us at Georgetown, regardless of our religious identities, to the enduring practicality of Ignatian spirituality: 

“Whether you believe in God or not, I believe that we all have these interior movements. Interior movements that may lead us to a greater sense of fulfillment, or a sense of flourishing or meaning. And other experiences that may lead us away from that. Now what Ignatius offers, and what the Jesuit tradition offers, is a way of making sense of that in relationship to God. For those for whom that does not resonate, there is still the interiority that is calling for your care, calling for your attention, calling for your engagement. I said in the remarks that we come up with other words to describe this experience in modern language. This moment in the life of Ignatius for the life of a university like Georgetown. But you can no doubt think about what words might work. Contemporary psychology, for example, the work around ‘flow’ or integral psychology, it’s secular, it doesn’t really presume a belief in God. Some of the fusion of Eastern and Western traditions, not clear for me how a spiritual reality might fit in that moment, but those are questions that you can live with. Questions that you can explore. What I would encourage you is to live with the question you just asked me. Because that’s your question. And coming to terms with that, that’s where meaning will be for you, in your life.”


As SCS students prepare for this weekend’s retreat at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” we will take to heart this lesson that all of us can grow as individuals and as a community when we commit to interior practices that help us journey the questions that have meaning in our lives.

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Lent Provides Reflection on Our Need for Individual and Collective Healing and Mercy

 This week’s post takes up the Christian season of Lent, which Georgetown marks with a daily devotional that you can sign up for here. Lent is a special time for the Christian community, but its meaning and practices can apply to anyone. 

Christians around the world entered into the time of Lent this week, a 40-day preparation for the celebration of Easter. While the significance of this sacred time has a particular meaning for Christians, the observance of Lent also offers spiritual insights that people of all religious and humanistic traditions can integrate into their daily practices. 

In his introduction to this year’s Lenten Devotional (sign up to receive the daily reflections), produced by Georgetown’s Office of Mission and Ministry, Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., summarized the Christian story at the root of this observance: 

“It is time, once again, to enter into the holy season of Lent – a time of preparation and repentance in which we ponder our own brokenness and sinfulness, and thus ponder our need to die and rise with Jesus. Christians everywhere begin the ancient spiritual practices of self-denial and fasting, prayer and reflection, and almsgiving to those in need.”

Fr. Bosco goes on to situate this year’s Lent in the larger context of our current time in history: 

“As we continue to negotiate a world brought low by pandemic, as we ponder the injustices of racism, poverty, and environmental degradation, as we look at our own pettiness and wounded hearts, we pray that we might see and touch the Lord, who enters into our weaknesses and failings, who enters into the darkness of our world in order to shed His light and His merciful love.”

It is within this broader frame that we can appreciate how the Lenten journey can resonate with each of us regardless of our religious identity. At its heart, Lent is an invitation to deeper recognition of the ways that we are all in need of forgiveness, mercy, and love. We grow in this awareness through the three foundational practices of Lent: fasting, prayer and reflection, and almsgiving. 

Fasting: Taking this Lenten journey seriously depends on taking stock of what in our lives is in need of healing and repair. One of the pillars of Lent, fasting, helps with this recognition. A common practice of giving something up for the 40 days of Lent often means taking a break from chocolate, social media, wine, or other pleasures that we can easily go without. We can become overly attached to anything in our lives, even the good things, when these things become an excessive focus and get in the way of our generous activity in the world. Lent helps us make more room in ourselves for generosity by acknowledging how some of our habits have become unhealthy or too much a center of our attention. Fasting can even help us grow in greater solidarity with others in the world, especially those in greatest material need, because we can inventory what we have in abundance that can be shared with others. 

Prayer and Reflection: Lent invites us to create intentional plans for regular interior practices like prayer and meditation, which help us grow in greater self-awareness. Regular silent reflection actually fosters more other-centeredness because that time for self-examination leads to more recognition of how we can be of service to others. In the same way that fasting makes room in our lives by getting rid of some things holding us back from leading more authentic lives, time for silent reflection makes more room in our interior lives to focus on the things that matter to us and help us live out our deeper purpose. Next week’s SCS Student Retreat, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” is a good example of making space in our inner lives as are our ongoing SCS Daily Digital Meditations hosted at 12 p.m. ET every weekday. 

Almsgiving:  Serving with and for others is a hallmark of the Spirit of Georgetown. In light of the global refugee crisis, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, there is a great need in our world for generous action. This can mean taking up acts of charity or contributing to the work of justice in our communities and in the broader world. We might ask ourselves in this season: How am I called to greater love of the people around me – my family, friends, neighbors, community members? How am I called to greater love of the people in the world suffering because of systemic injustices? Lent invites us to move beyond our own concerns to the cares and concerns of the larger world. 

In whatever ways you mark this season of Lent, my hope is that this spiritually significant time can raise our individual and collective awareness about the need in our lives for healing, mercy, and justice.

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Upcoming SCS Student Retreat: “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New” 

This week’s post is a promotion of the upcoming SCS student retreat to be held at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center from March 12–13, 2022. All SCS current students are invited to RSVP by March 4.

Retreats exemplify Georgetown’s commitment to a whole person education. During their time at the University, Georgetown students are invited to grow and develop beyond the classroom, paying attention to all aspects of their lives, including their spirituality. At the heart of the Spirit of Georgetown, uniquely expressed in the value of Contemplation in Action, is a recognition that leading lives of generous action in the world requires taking time for silent reflection. In simple terms: our doing depends on our being. We have an opportunity to lead deeper lives of meaning, belonging, and purpose when we make time and space for intentional quiet. The beauty of a group retreat is that it encourages both personal and communal growth, which is especially important at SCS where students come from a diversity of academic programs. We are fortunate at the University to be able to facilitate this kind of experience for students at the beautiful Calcagnini Contemplative Center, a spiritual home away from home that is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. 

This year’s SCS weekend retreat for students will take place at Calcagnini from March 12–13 (current students should RSVP here!). Offered in-person for the first time since 2019, this relatively new annual tradition at SCS has become a welcomed touchstone in the student life experience. The retreat’s theme this year, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” reflects how societal realities like the ongoing pandemic, the persistence of social injustice, and the continued fragmentation and polarization in our culture are profoundly affecting our interior lives. Over the last two years, Mission in Motion has highlighted the many health, wellness, and spiritual resources that Georgetown offers to support students during these challenging times. The upcoming retreat is another opportunity for SCS students to develop habits of reflective self-awareness that are so important for cultivating ethical leadership in a world that desperately needs it. 

Students can expect 24 hours filled with intentional meditation, reflection, relaxation, contemplative conversation, nature, and discernment. Even this short time away from home, work, and other obligations can create needed space in one’s interior life. The retreat’s focus will be on interior practices, like mindfulness meditation, the Ignatian examen, nature walks, etc., that can support us as we journey through life. A particular emphasis will be on the potential for healing the polarization that ails our society through the practice of deep, active listening. The art of dialogue, especially dialogue across differences, requires this kind of listening and learning in a spirit of mutuality. 

The retreat will also pick up some themes from the Ignatian 500 Year, which we have been exploring this year at SCS and across Georgetown. In the same way that St. Ignatius saw things new as a result of his own response to the adversity of a cannonball collision, we too are invited to broaden our imaginations in response to the social, economic, public health, political, and cultural divisions that we continue to experience.

Sign up for the retreat by March 4, 2022, and direct any questions to the retreat leader, Jamie Kralovec, SCS Associate Director for Mission Integration, at pjk34@georgetown.edu. 

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The Spirit of Georgetown Animated in New University Campaign 

The University recently launched an exciting new campaign to shine a light on how the Spirit of Georgetown, 10 foundational values that take their inspiration from Jesuit education and spirituality, binds our diverse community together and encourages meaning, belonging, and purpose. In the last few years, in the context of the ongoing pandemic, Mission in Motion has amplified how SCS students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners live out Georgetown’s Jesuit mission and values in work and study. This larger campaign at the University is exciting because it provides a valuable opportunity to appreciate how the Spirit of Georgetown, animated in unique ways within the contexts of particular Georgetown schools and departments, is an invaluable resource for addressing the pressing challenges of our time. 

The Spirit of Georgetown campaign launched with this inspiring video. You can find all of the campaign’s content at this website. 

The campaign kicked off with the release of a Spirit of Georgetown video (watch here!). In two short minutes, viewers are introduced to a panorama of images, sounds, and words that inspire. Whether a long-time member of the Georgetown community or completely new to the place, one finds in the video clear indications of how the University presents its mission as a university grounded in a Catholic and Jesuit heritage. Narrated from the perspective of students walking the historic Hilltop and traversing the streets of the monumental city of Washington, D.C., the video presents religious diversity as a central pillar of Georgetown’s approach to mission. 

While so much of the University’s iconography and visible presence reflect Jesuit tradition, it is also obvious to someone watching the video that Georgetown creates spaces where diversity of expression and belief find a home. I feel this most especially in the video’s concluding scenes featuring Georgetown’s team of multi-faith chaplains leading worship for their respective communities. There is unity on display in this diversity as Georgetown lives out its mission principle that “serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding.” 

These themes are amplified in the first published story of the series, “What It’s Like To Attend Georgetown as a Non-Catholic: Takeaways From Current and Former Students.” The testimonies of the students interviewed for the story reflect how a common set of shared religious values enriches the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional experiences of particular religious communities. 

Perhaps surprising to some, the presence of vibrant religious chaplaincy for particular traditions fosters more, not less, interreligious dialogue and community. By directly experiencing the practices, beliefs, and imaginations of different traditions, one better appreciates their own. Doha Maaty (NHS’23) captures this well by the way she has connected the principles of her Muslim faith to Jesuit values: “While she was expecting more of a focus on medicine than Jesuit identity in the program, she was surprised by how much the Jesuit values intersected with many in her own faith.” 

 The first article in the Spirit of Georgetown series is about the diverse religious traditions represented at the University. 

This inspiring content has put me in touch with some examples from SCS that illustrate our living out the Spirit of Georgetown. Retreats for SCS students and faculty and staff invite deeper exploration of what a shared mission means for developing our interior lives. Examples of service and justice point to the need for action in a world that desperately needs it. And an abiding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion demonstrates how the Spirit of Georgetown is indispensably important to meeting social justice challenges arising in our communities. These are just a few examples of the distinctive SCS approach to animating Georgetown’s mission and values. 


Spend some time following the new Spirit of Georgetown campaign. And reflect on how you find yourself moved to explore in more depth what these principles mean for your time at Georgetown.

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Hoyas, Hope, and the Holidays

It is that time of the year. The final push in classes as final exams, projects, and papers loom. Colder, darker, wintry days are upon us. And students, staff, and faculty across Georgetown eye the exits to the break as we enter into a holiday season at the end of a year that few will ever forget. Many are anticipating time away from campus duties and welcoming the opportunity to take some rest and reset from a challenging semester. Georgetown, anchored as it is in its mission and values, encourages all of us not to rush this precious time period but pay special attention to the themes of this spiritually significant season. As the Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah and Christians enter into Advent in anticipation of Christmas, now is a gifted opportunity to reflect on the gratitude we have experienced together as a learning community and the possibilities of hope at the end of 2021. 

The holiday season at Georgetown is a festive time of year. The Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah and the Christian community enters Advent in anticipation of Christmas. 

In his opening reflection for Georgetown’s 2021 Advent Devotional, Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Vice President for Mission and Ministry, sets the context for the challenges we have endured as a University community: 

“We enter this liturgical season having struggled and survived through almost two years of the COVID pandemic – a time that has kept us sober about the fragility of life, yet aware of the hidden graces that God has revealed to us amidst this new reality. … Indeed, as we have found ourselves in close and sustained proximity with our family and only the closest of friends, we have been challenged to think more deeply about the preciousness of life, as well as the profoundly new ways in which we can support and sustain one another. … We anticipate coming out of our own COVID fog yearning for God to come and set the world right with perfect justice, truth, and peace. Welcome to this season of hope.” 

This reason for hope – the possibility of a more peaceful and just world – gives life to this season and animates the religious traditions celebrating their special holidays. Mission in Motion reflected at the beginning of the fall semester about this theme of hope expressed during the opening year Mass of the Holy Spirit. The takeaway message from President DeGioia’s remarks, rooted in the writing of Fr. Otto Hentz, S.J., still resonates in this holiday season: We can be hope for one another. The next few weeks, filled as they might be with final projects and parties, can also be a time to grow in generous service with and for others.  

SCS helped the community celebrate the holidays by programming a series of events. 

At SCS, this commitment to others as a reason for hope has been actively on display in recent days. The SCS Programming Task Force has put together a series of community-building events intended to help us take a short break from the press of end-of-semester obligations. From a scavenger hunt to a trivia game and much in between, including decorating holiday cards for kids at Children’s National Hospital, the SCS community has been spending quality time with one another. These events pointed us to what is possible when we invite others into our lives and make space for new encounters and new friendships. 

For me, in this season of anticipation and waiting, the greatest joy comes from savoring the gifts in my life – friends, family, and community. This gratitude can then give life to greater generosity and inclusiveness, wondering if I can be more hospitable in sharing these gifts. As we journey deeper into these December days, I hope you can find a little time to savor some gratitude and generate some generosity toward friends and strangers alike.