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A Virtual Lenten Morning of Prayer for Spiritual Directors
The Third Week of the Spiritual Exercises invites us to be present to Jesus as he enters into the mystery of human suffering through his life, passion and death.
How can our presence to the suffering Jesus inform our spiritual direction practice as we sit with directees who are suffering or struggling?
What does the experience of the Third Week reveal to us about Ignatian compassion when we are tempted to alleviate suffering in the life of those we accompany, “fix it” or avoid it altogether?
How can we be drawn into deeper mystical communion with Christ’s suffering?
This program invited spiritual directors into the gritty grace of the Third Week of the Spiritual Exercises, drawing near to the suffering Jesus as he is crucified. Attendees gained insights, knowledge and skills for bringing Ignatian presence and compassion to spiritual directees who are suffering or struggling in painful situations. They grew in their ability to be empathetic and attentive to their directee's pain/struggle without trying to alleviate it or avoid it and were drawn into deeper mystical union with Christ's suffering. The reflective nature of this program offered Lenten spiritual sustenance to spiritual directors who attended.
All are invited to have a visible image of a crucifix present during this program.
About our Presenters
Nancy Sheridan, SASV, is a Sister of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, a Congregation founded in the province of Quebec, Canada. She has been a guest spiritual director at Campion Renewal and Conference Center, at Eastern Point Retreat House and Genesis Spiritual Center for over twenty-five years. She has also directed retreats in Korea, Ireland and Canada and engages in the formation of retreat directors at St. Beuno’s Jesuit Retreat House in North, Wales.
For the past thirty years Nancy has facilitated a spiritual direction supervision group at the College of the Holy Cross.
Nancy spent time on the permanent staff at Eastern Point Jesuit Retreat House and nine years on the team at the Center for Religious Development in Cambridge, MA. She served on the leadership team of her religious congregation with a special interest in formation of associate members and mission awareness. She has been involved in the supervision of the first group of Jewish spiritual directors at Hebrew College.
Nancy’s loves are literature, poetry, theatre, and the Spiritual Exercises. Three of her holy places are Cape Ann, MA, Cape Cod, MA, and North Wales. Presently she lives with and learns from a five-year-old cancer diagnosis.
Jim Fleming, SJ, is a Jesuit of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus and has been a priest for 28 years. He is a member of the pastoral team at Ignatius House, a Jesuit retreat center in Sandy Springs, GA. Prior to that, he was Executive Director of Campion Conference & Renewal Center.
Previously, he was President of Wheeling Jesuit University (WJU). Before joining the leadership team at WJU, Fleming taught at Boston College (BC) and served as Director of Mission Assessment & Planning in the Office of Mission and Ministry, where he led a national research project related to the spiritual development of college students. While at BC, he served as spiritual director for student retreat programs and offered retreats and spiritual direction for faculty and staff. He trained as a spiritual director at St. Bueno’s in Wales, UK, at Cova de Sant Ignasi in Manresa, Spain, and at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JSTB).
Fleming earned an MDiv at Santa Clara University (SCU) with a focus in scripture and spirituality. He holds a PhD in educational program evaluation from the University of California, Berkeley. He served as lecturer and the Director of the University Academy at the University of San Francisco, and as an instructor of Urban Education at SCU. Fleming is a member of the National Board of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps and serves on the Board of Trustees of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA.