You are in the right dirt if it is light dirt;

if you feel earthed, grounded, and you are steady;

if the dirt is sacred and you are thankful

that you had the privilege of being there;

of walking that way, of treading that path,

at your pace, using your skill, your talents;

that your life feels bigger and richer

and spacious and free, and you feel impassioned

to want God as your companion, sustainer, enabler,

and you can look in the eyes of the people you meet,

and you find Jesus there, blessing you

with more blessing than you are giving.

You are in the right dirt if it is light dirt

and you are happy to take your shoes off

and feel the touch of your earth-work

with nothing between you and God’s desire;

And there is something joyous about the mud or the sand,

something life-giving, perhaps energising.

You know you are in the right dirt when you are free

to say you are tired, that you need to have a break,

and that although you are skilled and good at your work,

too much of it turns you from God instead of to God;

too much of it is sin, and sin takes the life from you

and from those who love you and from the kingdom of God.

© Marlene Marburg (Marlene is member of the Campion Centre of Ignatian Spiritualty Team)

Listening for God –

An Invitation to the Centres of Ignatian Spirituality.

Dear Friends, Ignatius discovered that God can be found in all things, in all events, in every moment. Learning to listen to the movements of his heart, he was led to a profound faith in Jesus and he invited others to journey along the path he trod. Generations later we call this path ‘Ignatian Spirituality’. It is a pilgrim’s path, a way that respects each one’s life journey, but profoundly challenges the pilgrim to hear, to decide and to journey onwards.
At the Centres of Ignatian Spirituality you are invited to deepen your ability to discern the ways God speaks to you, hearing God’s voice in the depths of your heart, your life, your story, your history. God calls us as individuals and as a community. We can hear where God is calling us to grow and we can hear where God is calling us to go. We can know who God is calling us to be and we can know what God is calling us to do.
One of the loveliest gifts we have been given is to have been made co-creators with God. God gives us a share in building our own future and a share in shaping a future for our world. The world and all that’s in it is a work in progress. Each of us is a work in progress. We each make our own contribution to God’s creation as we develop and use our God given talents and share with our brothers and sisters in God’s family the blessings we have been given.
In our Catholic tradition, when we talk of preparing people to share more effectively in the mission of Jesus, we speak of ‘formation’. Formation is much more than training or education because it is about the internalisation of values, attitudes and ways of seeing and the maturing of faith. It is something that we do in co-operation with God. Formation seeks to develop in us a sensitivity to where God is leading us in our lives and in our mission.
We invite you to choose one of the programs at any of our Centres of Ignatian Spirituality in Australia, to talk with one of our experienced spiritual guides. It is our hope that you will find with us an environment of prayer and the guidance that will help you discover God’s presence in your life.

Fr Steve Curtin SJ
Provincial of the Australian Society of Jesus