At different points in Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, he invites retreatants to reflect on the nature of the world’s history and to see the parallels with today.
Human Nature
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Tom Allen
Ignatius and Gratitude
Practicing gratitude leads to trusting that God will be present in all things – the “positive” and the “challenging.” It leads to trusting that one can live in the present moment, rather than getting lost in past or future.
An Alzheimer’s Story
Then Alzheimer’s said, “Let us journey on our way together.”
The First Presidential Debate and the Ignatian Tradition
I know the title of this piece sounds like an oxymoron. Wow, what a “free for all” that first debate was! I have been struggling like most with my emotions. I have a hard time understanding why so many in our country don’t think or feel the way I do. I feel tempted to...
Wise and Discerning Choices During COVID-19
My wife Julie is in hospice nursing home care in late stages of Alzheimer’s. She tested COVID positive. We were faced with end of life choices. (Miraculously, she survived, while 18 other residents around her died). I joined thousands of others in...
Painting on a Smaller Canvas
by Tom Allen As I grow older, I am faced with increasing limitations and diminishments, especially as an Alzheimer’s caregiver. I imagine myself as an artist painting / expressing my life on canvas, and the canvases grow smaller. I imagine God saying to me:...
Leaning Into Death
By Tom Allen My wife Julie is in late stages of Alzheimer’s. She is child-like and vulnerable. While I can walk with her in her suffering and death, I can’t protect her from it or go with her. And yet, I keep feeling responsible to do something. It...
So, Is That Okay?
by Tom Allen I regularly tell stories in sessions with my own spiritual director about my not being my best self / dealing with shortcomings / disclosing my shadow- self. These are also common conversations in sessions where I am serving as spiritual director to...
I Can Hardly Wait to Grow Old! -blog
by Tom Allen On April 14, 2010, at the age of 57, my wife and I were told that she had young onset Alzheimer’s. We totally restructured our lives. Selling our home and moving into independent senior living Entering Julie into an adult day care program Leaving my...
Practicing the Presence of God: Holy Imagination
by Tom Allen Richard Rohr contends that our post- modern secular culture has forgotten how to experience an “enchanted” world. We can choose to live in the reality that all of life is sacred. Our imaginations are a resource. Walking down the street, relishing the...
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