A ‘Recollection, as understood in respect to the spiritual life, means attention to the presence of God in the soul. It includes the withdrawal of the mind from external and earthly affairs to attend to God and Divine things. It is the same as interior solitude in which the soul is alone with God’. We all need silence and solitude, to listen to the promptings of the Almighty, especially for educators, that they may be recollected by taking an hour, amidst the duties of an active life of teaching and learning. Advent is a time of waiting, preparing, and expecting the event of ‘God became human” event. Keeping this in mind Educate Magis undertake Advent-Christmas Recollections every year for the Global Jesuit educators. Our recollection is an application of the mind to the Divine presence within us and a call to mind that our souls are the temples of God.
Advent has been seen as an exploration of faith, an inner search of the mind and heart. Advent guides us to explore what Christmas means to us personally and to discover the greatest gift we can give to our family, friends, and the world! As Teachers, how can be that gift to all?
The theme of this year’s recollection was, “Do you See What I see?” The Recollection was animated by Jodie Scordo, who is currently the Director of Campus Ministry at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Milwaukee, United States. She facilitates first-year employee Ignatian formation and is a spiritual director for the Spiritual Exercises. Prior to Cristo Rey Milwaukee, Jodie completed her theology and philosophy studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. Jodie guided the Global educators to take a silent walk to this Advent to help us prepare to welcome Jesus our Saviour, God made man in Bethlehem and to hear his call to see what He sees.
Advent is the first season of the church year and marks a time of great expectation and hope. We had the opportunity to tune our eyes anew to God’s vision for us as individuals and humankind as a whole. In this recollection, educators were guided to take a step out of time to look upon the earth with the Trinity as St. Ignatius invites us in the Spiritual Exercises. As Jesuit school educators, we took a step back into our own world and look for the coming of Christ within our schools. Where is God being born in our schools each day? Who are we welcoming as the Christ child? How can our renewed vision help us be co-creators with God and generate greater faith and hope within our schools?
After Introducing the theme of the Recollection, she send the participants to small break up groups to discuss the three questions she proposed in Spiritual Conversation method. The small group sharing was so encouraging, because the small groups was formed by people from different regions and nationalities. After half an hour of intense sharing all came back to the plenary meeting in which a few of them gratefully shared their experience and the Recollection was concluded with a prayer.
Overall, it was a great preparation for Christmas! Thank you to all the participants!
You can watch the reflection below or on the dedicated Recollection page where Jodie’s reflection is also available as a downloadable file.
