“Let us see Your face, let us hear Your voice”
Our community was blessed to have Fr. Ignatius John Schweitzer, O.P. lead our annual retreat this year, entitled “The Ecstatic Stance of Contemplation and Service.” He is a Dominican priest of the St. Joseph (Eastern) Province, ordained in 2011. He spent six years living as a monk in a Carthusian monastery. He then returned to the Dominicans, discerning a strong call from the Lord to help others grow in the spiritual and mystical life.
Through a week-long series of conferences, Fr. Ignatius John took us deeper into the root of the word “ecstasy” from the Greek “ekstasis,” literally: “to stand outside one’s self.” To be ecstatic in contemplative prayer does not (necessarily) mean that we will be granted the extraordinary favors that some of the mystics were gifted, but rather to be truly drawn out of ourselves, out of our own self-seeking, to be caught up in the beauty, power, and wisdom of God. And it is this ecstatic stance that also leads us to seek to serve our neighbor, again being drawn out of ourselves to love and serve another. Father led us in praying more deeply using the Living Word of God—the Holy Scriptures (“we must live in the Sacred page!"), as well as putting before our eyes the living examples of the radiance of God—the mystics and saints, especially Our Blessed Mother Mary—to show what this “ecstasy” can look like in our lives.
We pray for everyone to be drawn to Our Eucharistic Lord in His Holy Catholic Church, to receive Him worthily and with great love, and to let Him transform us as we love and adore Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We seek the transformation that St. Paul speaks of:
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Father is currently the prior of St. Catherine of Siena Priory in New York City (411 East 68th Street) and he hopes to be of service to the Lord’s loving cry to souls and souls’ cry for the Lord: “Abyss calls to abyss!”
You can read more of his writings and sermons here: http://www.uppergarden.org or watch his video reflections on prayer (and those of his fellow Dominincans) at: https://www.youtube.com/@dominicanhouseofprayer/featured
Please pray for him and for all the souls Our Lord has entrusted to his care!
