News & Updates | August 2025

REFLECTION

Considering the Retreat in Everyday Life? Judith Pollack, 2024-2025 Retreatant, reflects on her experience...

Dear Friends,

Nothing has had the impact that the Spiritual Exercises Retreat in Everyday Life has had on my life. Chief among my profound experiences in the retreat is that I came to believe and deeply feel that Jesus actually loves me. For the first time this was not just an intellectual assent to Scripture and the teaching of the Church.

The methods, practice, and prayer of the retreat finally opened me to accept what God has been offering all along. I don’t have words adequate to describe the love of Christ I now know and savor. And I find I want so very much to share this love with everyone. I pray that everyone experiences God’s love and comes to know true joy and peace.

My life after this retreat will never be the same, and my gratitude to God, St. Ignatius and the Team who made this possible is boundless.

Judith Pollack

2024-2025 Retreat in Everyday Life Retreatant

MUSIC MEDITATION

Christ in Me Arise

Song by Trevor Thomson

Performed by Saint Anne's Choir (Byron, CA)

Christ in me, arise and dispel all the darkness

Christ in me, arise with Your power and Your strength

Christ in me, pour out Your blessing and healing

Christ in me, arise, and I shall rise with You

Be now my vision open these eyes

Showing me all that I must see

Onward to the kingdom, You are the way

Arise in me, and I shall rise with You

Christ in me, arise and dispel all the darkness

Christ in me, arise with Your power and Your strength

Christ in me, pour out Your blessing and healing

Christ in me, arise, and I shall rise with You

Be now my footsteps leading the way

Taking me where I must go

Onward to the kingdom, You are the way

Arise in me, and I shall rise with You

Christ in me, arise (Christ in me, arise) and dispel all the darkness

Christ in me, arise (Christ in me) with Your power and Your strength

Christ in me, pour out (Christ in me) Your blessing and healing

Christ in me, arise, and I shall rise with You

You know my heart and You know my ways

You who formed me in my mother's womb

I live and move in You, my whole being thrives in You

Christ in me, arise and dispel all the darkness

Christ in me, arise with Your power and Your strength

Christ in me, pour out Your blessing and healing

Christ in me, arise

Christ in me, arise

Christ in me, arise, and I shall rise with You

Listen now.

Response for the 2025-2026 Retreat is Strong

The Ignatian Maine community’s recruitment efforts for the Spiritual Exercises is working, and the cohort is growing. No need to rest on our laurels! We hope you will continue to keep talking, sharing, and praying for inspiration. Who in your life is God asking you to invite? 

Might you...

• post an announcement in your parish bulletin?  
• speak with fellow parishioners who might be interested?  
• inspire friends to want to learn more?  

We have resources on our website (short announcement, long announcement, and a trifold brochure) to help you spread the word, but the best recommendation is your own invitation, in your own words, describing your experience.

There are only a few more weeks left to register. Invite, invite, invite!

REGISTRATION OPEN

Retreat in Everyday Life

If you haven’t completed the retreat, consider yourself most cordially invited! Apply now by clicking the links below.

Registration is open from now until early September, or until the cohort is full. The program runs from early October until June. The group meets once each month virtually, and individuals also meet monthly with a spiritual director either in person or online.

Visit Spiritual Exercises Retreat in Everyday Life for more information and to apply.

WHAT'S NEXT???

With a mission to keep you connected with the Spirit and each other, Ignatian Maine works to be a clearing house for opportunities to be together. Join us as you can and please invite those who need to share the joy with us.

See below for our current list of happenings.

EVENTS

Book Groups Forming

Gathering with like minds to read and discuss books is an easy, enriching way to build community. The same goes for spirituality!

Preparations are now underway for a faith-book group to begin in the fall.

The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God

Sr. Ann Boyle, rsr, will offer to facilitate a group exploring The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God by Becky Eldredge. For more information, click here.

Two book groups will be offered at Our Lady of Hope Parish Hall this fall:

Jesus: A Pilgrimage

Jesus: A Pilgrimage, by Fr. James Martin, SJ, will be read over the course of several months. The group will meet EVERY OTHER Wednesday afternoon from 1-2 pm in the Parish Hall with Fr. Larry, beginning on August 27 and concluding on December 8. 

Please register through the parish office ourladyofhope@portlanddiocese.org with your email address, so that we can send the reflection guide(s) to you ahead of time.

Seeing with the Heart

Six weekly sessions will be held for Seeing with the Heart, by Fr. Kevin O'Brien, SJ. This group will meet EVERY Tuesday evening from 6:30-7:30 in the Parish Hall with Fr. Paul, beginning on September 23 and concluding on October 28. Fr. O’Brien will visit the parish on November 8 (see below).

Please register through the parish office ourladyofhope@portlanddiocese.org with your email address, so that we can send the reflection guide(s) to you ahead of time.

FOR SPIRITUAL DIRECTORS

Two Languages, One Voice: The Trauma-Informed Spiritual Exercises

A Virtual Series for Ignatian Spiritual Directors and Givers of the Spiritual Exercises

Presented by the Ignatian Spiritual Direction Initiative

Program Leader: Rev. Rob McChesney, SJ

Sept. 11, Oct. 9, Nov. 13, 2025; 3:00pm to 5:00pm ET

Contemporary trauma studies and clinical practice point to the impact of trauma on the mind and emotions. But what of the impact of trauma upon the soul and related implications for spiritual practice, Ignatian spirituality, and pastoral care? Trauma-informed care requires a focus on body and soul, mental health and spirituality – two languages, one voice in the recovery process.

This program is for Ignatian spiritual directors, supervisors, and givers of the Spiritual Exercises who seek to grow their understanding, capacity, and skills to accompany affected victim-survivors and those who love them.

A SPECIAL EVENT WITH FR. KEVIN O'BRIEN, SJ

Seeing with the Heart: A Guide to Navigating Life's Adventures

Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Our Lady of Hope Parish Hall, 492 Ocean Ave., Portland

*Spiritual directors are also invited to a special afternoon session at 1:00 PM

Respected Jesuit educator and spiritual director Fr. Kevin O’Brien, SJ, invites you to recognize the opportunities to uncover your meaning and purpose as you navigate the turbulent river of life. O’Brien reveals how we can realize our potential by embracing our struggles with courage, our questions with curiosity, and our destiny with boldness as we tap into our deepest desires and live lives of authenticity.

Email ignatianme@gmail.com for more information and to register. 

VOLUNTEERS WELCOMED!

The Ignatian Spirituality Partnership of Ignatian Maine is run by a small group of volunteers, the "Steering Committee."

The group meets monthly for one hour and is responsible for organizing the Retreat in Everyday Life and planning special events throughout the year. Included among our responsibilities:

• Writing this newsletter,
• Maintaining the website,
• Developing, planning, promoting and implementing coming events of interest to our community.

Volunteers help when and where they are able. Send your name, email address, phone, and thoughts to us at ignatianme@gmail.com or use the Contact Us page on our website.

Thank you for considering us!

RESOURCES

Ignatian.info

All things Ignatian

New to Ignatian Spirituality?

It’s about finding God in all things.

Click here to learn more.

IgnatianSpirituality.com

Good source of prayer material, reflections, etc.

Click here to try ”A Little Exercise to Recharge Your Spirit,” by Vinita Hampton Wright.

SacredSpace.com

Daily reflections, run by the Jesuits of Ireland

Wrestling with repetitive thoughts? Brendan McManus has some ideas.

Jesuits.org/news

From the US Jesuit Conference

Click here to read “Saints Among Us and the Stories They Tell” by Katherine Piderman.

If you know someone who might be interested in any of our offerings, please share!

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.