Category : Art & Religion

IPS Student Patrice Nerone Awarded 2018 President’s Medallion

Each year, Loyola University Chicago honors its most outstanding students with the President’s Medallion.  This award recognizes students who exemplify the three words etched on the medal: leadership, scholarship and service.  Representing IPS in the roster of university-wide medallion recipients this year is Patrice Nerone, a dual degree M.Div.-MAPC (Master of Divinity-Master of Arts in Pastoral Counseling) degree student.

“Each of the recipients was recommended for this award by their academic dean because they exemplify a wonderful combination of achievement in scholarship, leadership, and service,” said Jane Neufeld, vice president for Student Development. “In short, they are students for which Loyola and its founders can take great pride.”

We reached out to Patrice to find out what this award means to her, as well as to learn how IPS has impacted her life.

What does the President’s Medallion award mean to you, Patrice?

I feel very humbled to receive this award and what means most to me about it is that I feel seen and appreciated as a valued member of the IPS community. To know that everyone here is supporting me and wants me to succeed has had a profound effect on my sense of belonging and my desire and ability to risk putting myself out there more. I’m learning that succeeding doesn’t mean I’m expected to do everything perfectly, but that my humanly often imperfect self is sufficient.

I understand you’re currently on a dual M.Div.-MAPC track here at IPS.  Can you tell us a little bit about what you were doing prior to enrolling at IPS?  How did you discern IPS to be your next step?

I was a holistic nurse at Cleveland Clinic working with a team of chaplains to provide complementary therapies and spiritual and emotional support for patients, their families, and the employees. I deeply connected with the chaplains and decided to study spiritual direction with their encouragement. At the same time, I was learning hypnotherapy and between the two programs of study I felt called to something more. Through the process of Ignatian discernment my spiritual director suggested I consider chaplaincy and recommended Loyola. I was very drawn to the dual degree at IPS because it encompassed all of my interests and that the focus was on pastoral presence rather than an intellectual approach to counseling was a key factor in my decision making.

What has your IPS journey been like so far?

My favorite experience with IPS was the Rome study. It was as much a spiritual experience as it was educational and I am eager to return to Rome with IPS for a pilgrimage experience. I can’t imagine a better group to make a pilgrimage journey with and highly recommend including this opportunity in your studies, if possible.

I am so appreciative of my time at Loyola and realize how much Ignatian Spirituality and the IPS learning environment has helped me grow in awareness, acceptance, and empathy for myself and others. The administration, faculty, and students have all demonstrated a level of compassionate care and unconditional positive regard that makes Loyola stand out amongst all the other schools I’ve attended. I will hold in my heart many fond memories of all those who shared this particular journey with me.

How do you envision life unfolding after IPS?

This is still a work in progress. I will most likely be looking for either a post-graduate fellowship or a chaplain residency program that enables me to continue developing experience and skill in both chaplaincy and counseling. I believe I still have much to learn and yet I also have much to offer so, I feel it’s time now to put my experience to work in a meaningful way while continuing to build on the foundation Loyola provided.

How have you ensured balance in your holistic life, given your IPS commitments?  Can you share a personal spiritual practice that continues to restore and re-energize your mind, body, heart and spirit?

My life journey thus far has helped me learn to accept my limitations without shame or guilt and that it’s ok, and moreover it’s necessary, to make my own wellbeing a priority. This means taking time to pay attention to what I am thinking and feeling, and not just intellectually or emotionally but physically and spiritually, too. The more I’m able to acknowledge what I’m experiencing the sooner I can do something to prevent a potential meltdown. The modality I employ to restore my equilibrium depends on what my particular need is at the time. For example, if I’m feeling stressed and anxious I will probably meditate more frequently, and if I’m feeling spiritually bereft I find Lectio Divina a particularly helpful practice for bringing me back into closer communion with God. Overall, being in nature gives me a profound sense of being grounded and connected to the Fullness of Life so I’m mindful of seeking opportunities to immerse myself in the beauty of creation as much as possible. Somehow, I never feel alone when contemplating nature.

For the university’s profile on Patrice as President’s Medallion recipient, go here.

Congratulations, Patrice, on this special honor.  Thank you for embodying the IPS spirit of creative, compassionate, and courageous service to church and society.

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If you want to reach out to Patrice, you can email her at pnerone@luc.edu.
To learn more about IPS, go to https://www.luc.edu/ips/.
For those interested in applying to IPS, go to https://gpem.luc.edu/apply/.
11-20-2018 | Comments Off on IPS Student Patrice Nerone Awarded 2018 President’s Medallion

Life in the Full: A Reflection on the Fifth Sunday of Lent from Dr. Peter Jones

 

Reading 1EZ 37:12-14

Thus says the Lord GOD:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

Responsorial PsalmPS 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

R. (7) With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the LORD.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Reading 2ROM 8:8-11

Brothers and sisters:
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.

Verse Before The GospelJN 11:25A, 26

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will never die.

GospelJN 11:1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany,
the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil
and dried his feet with her hair;
it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.
So the sisters sent word to him saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
hen Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
The disciples said to him,
“Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you,
and you want to go back there?”
Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him.”
He said this, and then told them,
“Our friend Lazarus is asleep,
but I am going to awaken him.”
So the disciples said to him,
“Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.”
But Jesus was talking about his death,
while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly,
“Lazarus has died.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
Let us go to him.”
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples,
“Let us also go to die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this,
she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying,
“The teacher is here and is asking for you.”
As soon as she heard this,
she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her
saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her,
presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping,
he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

3-30-2017 | Comments Off on Life in the Full: A Reflection on the Fifth Sunday of Lent from Dr. Peter Jones

Stazioni Quaresimali: A Reflection on the Roman Lenten Tradition of Station Churches from Dr. Michael Canaris

https://youtu.be/sVe-cVo4VGw

Click on the map of Rome below, to learn more about this Roman tradition.

3-23-2017 | Comments Off on Stazioni Quaresimali: A Reflection on the Roman Lenten Tradition of Station Churches from Dr. Michael Canaris

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