From a Word from Becky, my monthly newsletter to my readers
Dear friends,
One of the many reasons I appreciate Ignatian spirituality is the practical tools it provides that impact both our interior and exterior lives. The more I live and teach Ignatian wisdom, I am convinced there are hidden gems that I wish more people knew about and how to apply them to their lives. At the top of my list would be the prayer tool of “naming the grace we seek” at the start of every prayer period. This simple practice can change not only our prayer lives but also our lived experiences.
I was reminded of this recently when I re-read my journals from the last few years. Each journal entry included the date, a grace I was seeking that day, and a note on the scripture I prayed with that day. The graces I named included interior things such as knowing the movement of the Holy Spirit, intimacy with Christ, and interior freedom. There were also many graces named for external parts of my life such as help with forgiving, courage to act or speak, or concrete actions. As I flipped page after page, I was struck by how God answered so many of the graces I asked for—in God’s own way and time of course!
I shared this recently with my spiritual director on my silent retreat. He smiled and nodded in that elder-wisdom kind of way, and said, “Isn’t it something that the graces we seek so often align with God’s deep desires for us?” I keep savoring the way he connected the grace we seek with God’s desires for us.
Where does this practice come from?
St. Ignatius invites us to name the grace we seek at the start of every prayer time: “to ask God for what I want and desire” (Spiritual Exercises No. 48). In the Spiritual Exercises, the retreatant is given a grace to pray for during each meditation and exercise. St. Ignatius goes on to say more: “The petition has to be according to the subject matter; that is, if the contemplation is on the Resurrection, one is to ask for joy with Christ in joy, if it is on the Passion, one is to ask for pain and tears with Christ.”
Naming the grace we seek allows us to claim the desires of our hearts and get in touch with what God might be offering us to learn more about. As David Fleming, SJ, says, “Perhaps expressing what I truly want from God may also act as a preparation of my inner being for an openness to God’s entrance into a particular area of my life” (Draw Me into Your Friendship, p. 43).
Naming the Grace We Seek:
We can apply this wisdom even when we are not making the Spiritual Exercises. Pausing to name the grace we seek at the beginning of our prayer period invites God into our innermost desires and longings of our hearts. We may enter prayer feeling tired or weary and we ask for the grace of rest. We may enter seeking help with a discernment question or for guidance on a situation in our lives, and we can ask for the grace of clarity. And on and on.
The more we practice this simple prayer tool of “naming the grace”, the more we come to realize that the deep desires we seek ring in harmony with God’s deep desires for us. It’s amazing, isn’t it?
What about you? What is the grace you seek in your life right now in your interior life? What about in your external life? What deep desire in you is beckoning to be named to God in prayer? Ignatian spirituality is a spirituality in real life. What we ask for in prayer impacts how we show up in the world, what we do with our time, how we encounter others, how we act, and how we speak.
I encourage you to boldly name the grace you seek to God. My hope is you discover how aligned these are with God’s desires and dreams for us.
Know I am praying for you!
Peace,
Becky
Photo by Getty Images on Unsplash
Becky Eldredge
June 26, 2025