Breakwater at Eastern Point in Fog

News & Updates | January 2025

Dear Friends,

A few weeks ago, I attended the Christmas Octave retreat at Eastern Point Retreat House. It was three days of silent retreat after Christmas and before New Year’s Eve. One day we were “socked in.” The fog was thick. It was like being within a cloud. That morning I walked the breakwater at the end of Eastern Point. The dense fog surrounded me. All within me and around me was very still.

As I looked down the granite rock wall that separates Gloucester Harbor from the Gulf of Maine, I could see about 100 yards in either direction but neither the shore nor my destination. I stopped in my tracks and reflected: This is much like my day-to-day perspective. Once in a while I have the blessing of seeing an outline emerging from the fog which shows me where I have been or where I am headed with more clarity. But for many of my days, I am fortunate when I see clearly the path beneath my feet or the beauty in the faces of the people beside me.

As I looked into the deep fog, the prayer phrase that I have been sitting with as of late in my contemplative prayer practice came to mind.

Breathing in, “Lord Jesus Christ;”

Breathing out, “I trust in You.”

Some of my prayer time at this retreat was spent looking back over 2024, asking for God to shed light upon my past year to witness and savor where Christ met me and led me. I realized that if this prayer was truly answered, I would be blinded by God’s glory shining through my days. At other times, as I brought my struggles and questions to prayer, anxiety and frustration creeped into my dialog with Christ.

Impatiently I wished to see more clearly God’s plan for me: For what are You preparing me? Where are You leading me? I encountered self-doubt: Will I be up for the task? And then, graciously, release: Is it really so hard, my dear one, to stand on this path in the times when you see only the fog, if you remember that I, the Christ, am with you, in and through all things? What if it is OK for you not to know these things you desire to know and it is enough to just take the next faithful step that you can see?

“Lord, Jesus Christ, I trust in you.”

Holly Hoffmann

Spiritual Director and full-time PhD Student in Formative Education at Boston College

Psalm 139:7-14

New American Standard Bible

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

If I take up the wings of the dawn,

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hand will take hold of me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,”

Even darkness is not dark to You,

And the night is as bright as the day.

Darkness and light are alike to You.

For You created my innermost parts;

You wove me in my mother’s womb.

I will give thanks to You,

because I am awesomely and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well.

RESOURCES

to help you reflect back and look forward 

Three Spiritual New Year's Resolutions with Julianne Stanz

(AMDG Podcast, 40 minutes) Julianne offers 3 possible (and accessible) spiritual resolutions for the new year: 1) Sit somewhere new in church or move over to leave space for someone next to you; 2) Rather than doing more of something, try something new which takes you out of your comfort zone! 3) Walk with someone in faith. Listen to learn more!

The Big Feelings Examen

by Eric Clayton (short read); A new take on the familiar Examen. A great way to look back on the day…or the year.

Photo Divinia or How I Pray With Throwback Photos

by Jennifer Sawyer (short read); Maybe you're familiar with lectio divina or even visio divina. In this article, explore the idea of praying with your own photos. It's visio divina meets the Examen.

More Resources

Ignatian.info

Our go to resource for all things Ignatian. From our friends at the Office of Ignatian Spirituality.

Pray as You Go

Daily meditations (and more) from Jesuit Ministries. Also available as an app.

USCCB Daily Readings

Sign up to receive the daily readings in your email box.  

From Our Ignatian Maine Community

While praying the retreat I came to a very deep conviction that God loves me perfectly, independent of my faults and imperfections.

Lately I have experienced a shift in my attitude, a result of falls, of getting older, and living through a very difficult move back to Lewiston. I have become short, impatient, and easily upset. The only constant during this time has been maintaining my time with God, and the deep conviction that He/She continues to love me perfectly within my shortcomings.

The fact of finding God in everyday life is why I continue to look for healing where it can be found: in JESUS.

~ Pat D.

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This message was sent by the Jesuits East Office of Ignatian Spirituality (OIS) on behalf of the Ignatian Spirituality Partnership of Maine. OIS is pleased to provide communications support to Ignatian Maine.