Finding God in the Mess: Meditations for Mindful Living

by Jim Deeds, Brendan McManus, SJ (Photographer)

Overview

Our busy modern lives distract us and cause us stress. Technology, media, jobs, family, appointments, hobbies—it can all feel like a mess. How do we carve out time for mindful contemplation and prayer? How can we make our prayer time mindful and fruitful and perhaps even restorative? Finding God in the Mess is the perfect tool to help us learn to pause, to take time to be with God, to contemplate our lives, and to recognize God’s presence in all of it, especially the hard times.

Conflict, stress, and worry arise, but these challenges can be overcome. The spirituality of Saint Ignatius of Loyola teaches us that God holds us close, loves us, and desires the best for us at all times. This truth is a solid foundation upon which we can build our lives, find an anchor amid life’s storms, and bring us through our darkest hours.

You can use the meditations within Finding God in the Mess independently or in a parish group setting and at any point during your day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780829449105
Publisher:	Loyola Press
Publication date:	01/17/2020
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Jim Deeds is a husband and father from the wonderful and wounded city of Belfast, Ireland. He works as an author, poet, retreat giver, and pastoral worker across Ireland and beyond. During his life Jim has also worked as a busker, a film maker, a play write, a bartender, a social worker, a therapist, a manager of a children's home, and a health service manager. He enjoys playing music and walking the streets and hills in his native city, drawing much of the inspiration for his writing from his life experience and from finding God in the sounds and sights, people and events around him. Jim is passionate about creating sacred space where people can pray, relax and come to know the great love God has for all God's creation.


Brendan McManus, SJ, is an avid hiker whose love of pilgrimage emerged during his Jesuit training when he and a companion begged their way across northern Spain. He currently works as a spiritual director and retreat giver in Belfast, N. Ireland. He also serves as Spirituality Delegate (national coordinator) for the Irish Jesuits. 
 

Table of Contents

Joyful Mysteries 9

The Sacred Heart 10

Individually loved 14

The Gift of Time 17

Freedom to Say Yes 21

Irrepressible Mystery 25

Breathe Life 29

Holding onto the Moment 33

Luminous (light) Mysteries 37

Endings 38

Lakeshore Meditation 42

Reflected Light 46

Let your Light Shine 50

Joy and Happiness 54

Forces Working on Me 58

Connected/Related to Others 61

Sorrowful Mysteries 65

Depression 66

Surviving Suffering 70

Converting Violence 73

Woundedness 77

Fear 81

Dark Night 85

Dealing with Anger 89

Moving on from Sorrow 93

Glorious Mysteries 97

Accepting Myself 98

Believe in the Unseen 102

The Web of Life 106

Rewind the Day 110

Handling Distractions 114

From Small Seeds 118

Gratitude 122

Epilogue 126