Grace Upon Grace (ePub)

Grace upon Grace: Savouring the Spiritual Exercises through the Arts is an inclusive and contemporary retreat to be prayed daily for 30 weeks. This retreat has the same dynamic seasons as that of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola written in the early sixteenth century. Grace upon Grace is necessarily an adaptation of Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises for the 21st century.

Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises invite a person into an ongoing experience of freedom, releasing spiritual gifts of enlightenment and empowerment. In Grace upon Grace, freedom is understood as an ongoing release from spiritual ignorance and psychological entrapment in destructive thought patterns and behaviour. Freedom is co-creativity with Mystery known by many names, such as God, Source, Love or Presence. Mystery is not restricted by concepts or retreat processes, but calls us to participate fully in the creativity that brought us into being in the first place. The spirit of Grace upon Grace: Savouring the Spiritual Exercises through the Arts, like that of the sixteenth century Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, makes real the calling of God on human life, and fosters attentiveness to the future which is already budding within us.

A person who prays this retreat can expect to be invited into full engagement and integration of their whole self in relationship with Mystery. The retreat supports creative expression of that relationship. The specific graces of each 'season' may be experienced by anyone opening themselves to God, in all things, and the sacred connection between all things.

The book reflects the poetic nature of the Christian scriptures, particularly the gospels, thus extending their relevance beyond the usual Christian audience to anyone who wants to participate in living their authentic humanity fully and freely. While using the Judeo-Christian scriptures, the theology underpinning these spiritual exercises refutes any claims to elitism and the ultimate truth of any religious system. This refutation at the same time affirms that there are multiple interpretations of the content of any belief system. At best, theology only ever points to God. Thus this retreat is offered to all women and men, and attempts to remove all presuppositions of patriarchy and gender inequality.