by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. When we’re having a hard time—grieving a loss, looking for a better...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 11: We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. When we look at most religions, especially...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 10: We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. One of the best gifts of Ignatian spirituality is a simple prayer called the Examen. Ignatius considered it so important that he allowed...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 9: We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. The Ignatian way of thinking and living encourages people to be practical while being spiritual. We recognize that God...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 8: We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. The first part of the Spiritual Exercises is all about sin. Various prayer practices help the person think about all kinds of sin—sin of...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 7: We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. Step 7 might sound a lot like Step 6, but there is a difference between being ready for God to change us and actively asking God to do so. Asking is an act of openness and...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 6: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. At the heart of Ignatian Spirituality is the concept of spiritual freedom. This is not the free-so-I-can-do-whatever-I-want kind of freedom—which really...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 5: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.   The language of step 5 in the Twelve Steps points to wisdom about sin and human nature. Referring to “the exact nature of our...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. One of the first “assignments” given to people who seek spiritual direction in the Ignatian tradition is the writing of their spiritual story. The person spends...

by Vinita Hampton Wright   Step 3: We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. One of the most freeing discoveries to make is that “God” is beyond our names and definitions. No name or description could ever...