Blog 9 (makeup of blog 7)

1st Week- Sin. I chose this picture because it reflects the three meditations in the first week of the spiritual exercises.

2nd Week-Jesus' Life. This picture is of me and my siblings. I chose this for the second week because my siblings are a huge part of MY life, just as in Jesus' life he had important people that influenced him to be the person he was.

3rd week- Jesus' Death- I chose this picture of my parents because no matter what, they are always there for me just as Mary was for Jesus when he died for us.

4th Week-Jesus' Resurrection- This picture is with my friend Helen who always makes me think of all the blessings God has given us in our lives. 

Blog 8

Out of all of the twelve ideals of Jesuit Education, I believe the one that closest reflects the jesuit ideals in my education at Loyola is Development of Personal Potential. I believe that through my classes at Loyola and through my time here at this institution, I have grown as a person. Not only do I feel like I have grown as a person, but I believe that as it says, I have realized my personal potential. I have understood how I have grown into the person and I am, but also how I can help others. Through my Jesuit education, my core values and moral standards have become more important than I have ever imagined.
Even though I attended a Catholic High School, I never thought that my appreciation for a spiritual presence in my four years here at Loyola would be so uplifting and appreciated. I have learned my self-worth, and gained the ability to love myself as a daughter of God. This is something that I had struggled with in the past, and I quickly learned that a closer connection spiritually helped me through some of my hardest times. Without the caring and inspiring professors who mostly follow jesuit ideals, I do not think my time here at Loyola would have been as enriching and meaningful.
In retrospect I do not believe that I would have reached my fullest potential if I had attended another education. I can honestly give all of my professors, mentors, and peers full appreciation for helping me to become the woman I have grown to be while attending this Jesuit institution. Attending this school has only made me more aware of the fact that I want to have children of my own that are privileged enough to attend Jesuit schools and have this amazing education for their own benefit.

Blog 6

I know for a fact that I struggle at finding balance in several areas in my life. I tend to allow something to affect me so much so that I drag myself down and can’t find a balance to make myself feel better. Too many times I fail to realize that a certain struggle I am going through does not mean the end of the world, and there is a bright tunnel to look forward to at the end. Reading this blog question is very significant in my life right now. Because it is coming to the end of the road for me in my college career, I am constantly thinking about what is ahead of me and what I will do with my life. Along with that, I think about my relationship with my boyfriend, which is long distance. I guess this is a tough personal thing to talk out loud about, but because we are several hours apart in distance, I allow myself to feel emotional and deeply sad when I can’t see him for several weeks at a time. While he is able to realize that we are going to be ok and everything will end up all right because we will be together in New Orleans starting in May, I fail to think about the positive light at the end of the road and make myself sad that I am not with him at that moment. When I am going through a hard time, I tend to cut off my loved ones and God from my life, when in fact this should be a time when I should realize that they are there for me and realize the unconditional love they have for me. I feel that all of these things are areas I need to work on so that I can achieve both balance and freedom in my life If I allow myself to focus on the good that will come out of things, rather than make myself feel saddened by little things that are happening in that moment, I can find that ultimate freedom that Ignatius talks about. 

Blog 5

It’s not the easiest talking about yourself, but maybe that’s a sign that I should be more appreciative of who God made me. When I think about it, I truly am so grateful for the gifts that God has given me. As humans, I think we take for granted the fact that God has made us each so unique with talents and skills that makeup who we are as individuals.

I feel I am who I am because of my parents. Yes, some of the talents and gifts I have are part of skills I have developed along life’s path, but the life skills and virtues I have are from the people who raised me. If I were to say I was proud of three certain virtues I have I would say they were kindness, respect, and compassion. I realize when I think about myself and truly reflect, there isn’t a day that goes by where those three virtues aren’t used. I know I am always kind to people and I genuinely feel that I always look for the kindest ways to treat people. I know that I like to be treated with kindness, and I feel that as people, it is so important to be kind to one another. Respect is another virtue that I feel I always obtain. My parents raised me to not only be respectful to them, but to everyone around me. I know that people have personally approached my parents about how impressed they are with the respect I show to them. Lastly, compassion is I think my strongest virtue. I truly have so much empathy and understanding for others. I am constantly mindful of what others are going through and have a heavy heart when I know someone is sad. I think what I want to do for a living shows my compassion. I am currently majoring in Theatre Arts at Loyola but next year plan to attend grad school in Special Education. I have worked with special needs children throughout my life and the love I have for those kids is hard to put in words. I feel so much compassion for them. My goal is to combine my talent in the arts and my passion for special needs children and open a theatre for special needs kids in the New Orleans area.

           After writing this blog I realized how thankful l am for the talents and virtues God has given me. Realizing these gifts I have more on a daily basis I feel will help me be more thankful for who I am as a person and will bring me even closer to God.

Blog 4

I guess it is always hard comparing my life to someone who was such an influential religious leader, but when learning about Ignatius’ life, I quickly realized that he was a person just like me. Ignatius went through several different aspects of his life like any average person goes through. He had to suffer at times, go through his young wild days, question his spirituality, go through schooling, etc… There are several aspects of Ignatius’ life that I would compare to mine. First of all, his romantic side as a young man is something I would relate to myself. I would consider myself someone who is a romantic. While he was a man who wanted to win the hand of a woman as a knight, I would consider myself like a girl version of this. His conversion is also something I would relate to. Although I wouldn’t say I went through the same kind of conversion, at the age of 18, when I first started college, I feel I started to realize more of who I was as a spiritual person and who I’d grow to be throughout my time at college. This I feel is similar to Ignatius and the way he began his spiritual journey to a better understanding of Christianity. Another important part of Ignatius’ life that I would relate to my life was his time of service. When forming the Jesuits, he knew service would be a huge part of their order both in working in schools and helping the sick. One of the most important times in my life was when I got the opportunity to travel with my church to Belize. There, I was able to work in schools and religious communities spreading the word of Christ, helping the sick, and rebuilding a church. This is the aspect of my life that I would most relate to Ignatius’. With all of these moments in my life, I realize how closely I could relate to the life of Ignatius Loyola and even the life of many of the Jesuits. It is amazing how to see how we can all grow in our faith throughout our lives. 

Blog 3

As we see at Manresa, Ignatius strongly believed in the spirit world, and especially in the presence of the devil (the evil one as he calls it.) Do you believe in an evil spirit?

I definitely believe that there is an evil spirit out there, and I consider that evil spirit the devil. In our lives, we are forced to make certain decisions. I think that when we make smart decisions that benefit others, and ourselves we are following Jesus’ way. But, there are times when we make decisions that are harmful to others, and ourselves, and I believe that those decisions stem from the devil. The devil is spirit that I believe is around us to temp us, and make us stray away from God and doing good. Because of the devil, we are more likely to sin.  I think the devil is certainly the enemy of not only God, but all of mankind.

I know I am faced with temptations all the time and I feel these temptations stem from the devil and his actions. Without him tempting us, there would be no sin in the world. I feel that the evil that is done in the world is committed by the devil through others. I feel that every day we are faced with the battle between good and evil, even in simple decisions we must make in our lives. I believe we must suffer in our lives because of the actions of the devil, but through our faith in God, we can steer away from the bad actions of the devil and focus on the good that God has planned for us. 

Blog 2

“If you want to be of use to others, begin by taking pains with yourself:  the fire that is to enkindle others should be lighted at home.”

I think this quote by Ignatius is something that is very true and important for us to realize. When it comes to relationships with other people, the way in which you interact is always rooted in how you treat yourself and how you were treated at home.  But, I don't only think that Ignatius only meant "lighted at home" as in your family or the place you call home, but home as in you yourself. The fire should begin with you, and the way you care about yourself completely determines how you will interact and treat the people around you. When Ignatius said "be of use to others" I think he meant it more in a way of "treating others." We are "at use" to people when we treat them with respect. We are "at use" to people when we care about helping them and when we make them realize we can be there for them. When Ignatius said "by taking pains with yourself" I think he meant that you have to take care of yourself and watch that you don't harm yourself. I think we are too harmful to ourselves and need to be careful with ourselves and realize that the way in which we view ourselves will determine how we view others. For me, I have always been seen as someone who treats others with the utmost respect because that is what people deserve. I know that it is because of how I was raised and how I was treated by my parents and the rest of my family. The interactions I had growing up in my household were all respectful. I always knew the correct way to talk to my parents and my siblings. I always knew the way I should talk to my elders and event the people that were my age or younger than me. I was always taught from day one that the way I should treat all people is how I would want to be treated.