INSIGHT: The St. Ignatius Portland Practicum for Contemplative Life

Starts Sunday, January 25^th, 2026,12:30-2:30pm

in the Parish Office, and continues on 4^th Sundays of the month

People from all backgrounds are invited to participate in a model of formation, discovery, and growth, offering three opportunities:

1) As a Student of Contemplative Life and Literature

2) As a trained Spiritual Companion, or

3) With possible certification as a Spiritual Director

Monthly formation opportunities for all three tracks include face time with topical discussions, fellowship with the INSIGHT community, and camaraderie around resources and materials, as well as coaching in how to live a contemplative life, i.e. how to be an active contemplative. Additional break-out sessions for those choosing the Spiritual Companioning or Spiritual Direction track will be determined with the participants and the instructors.

INSIGHT offers a five-fold “star” of spiritual development and direction, and includes:

• Ignatian Spirituality and The Spiritual Exercises, including Guidelines for The Discernment of Spirits, participation in a 19^th Annotation Retreat, familiarity with the Annotations that start Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, and The New Spiritual Exercises in the spirit of Teilhard de Chardin

• The Franciscan Tradition, including the life and work of Ss. Francis and Clare, the creation of a personal rule of life, an approach to the created world as sibling, and the development of a one’s personal calling as a friend of the marginalized

• The Carmelites, including The Dark Night of the Soul and The Interior Castle, the Ascent of Mt. Carmel as a model for spiritual development, and the practice of John of the Cross’ dictum that “El centro del alma es dios” (The center of the soul is God)

• Women Mystics, drawing on the writings of women mystics throughout the ages, including Julian of Norwich, Theresa of Avila, the Beguines, Thérèse de Lisieux, Catherine of Siena, Evelyn Underhill, Cynthia Bourgeault, Joan Chittister, and more

• Psychology, including the Desert Fathers and Mothers, The Cloud of Unknowing, Thomas Merton, the work of Gerald May, Bruce Tallman’s spiritual archetypes, the Drama Triangle, Family Systems Theory, and the Enneagram

Formation Opportunities

• Student of Contemplative Life and Literature

Open to anyone interested in learning about the saints and the mystics, especially in how those before us (as well as those presently among us) live lives of contemplation and compassion. What does it mean to encounter God in one’s daily life? Who am I as a spiritual person? How am I being invited to live more fully in discernment with the Spirit? How might my relationship with Jesus reflect my relationships with the rest of the world? These, and other questions, will be held in contemplative prayer and shared in guided discussions.

• Spiritual Companions

Open to those interested in learning to listen to another’s sacred story, Spiritual Companions spend time honing their listening skills, creating a rule of life, reading and learning from provided materials, engaging in personal retreat experiences, and with the help of a spiritual director, they begin practicing the Discernment of Spirits, as exemplified in The Spiritual Exercises, using the language of movement and countermovement, desolation and consolation. Companions will choose, with the guidance of the Spirit, someone to accompany in the spiritual life as a listener and spiritual friend. Companions join with Spiritual Directors for fellowship and mutual sharing at each of the quarterly INSIGHT sessions, where they will be placed in cohorts of group spiritual direction which will meet regularly between the quarterly insight sessions.

• Spiritual Directors

After interviewing, Spiritual Directors-in-Formation are trained in the art of listening and accompaniment. In the words of William Barry, SJ, and William Connolly, SJ, in their book The Practice of Spiritual Direction, spiritual direction is “help given by one Christian to another, which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with God, and to live out the consequences of that relationship.”

Interested? Contact Joseph Byrd jbyrd@sipdx.org

Registration:

INSIGHT-registration form.docx

Download DOCX • 15KB