Zen, Ignatius, And The Voice That Heals

What if the center of your grief isn’t emptiness, but a voice that calls you "Beloved"? We explore a quiet, radical shift inspired by Ruben L. F. Habito’s Zen and the Spiritual Exercises, bringing Zen attention and Ignatian prayer together to meet sorrow without shame. Instead of ranking life by wins and losses, we invite you into a gentler metric—inner freedom rooted in identity rather than performance.

We walk through the baptism of Jesus as a living scene, not a distant story. With sensory imagination and simple breath, we step into the water, hear the heavens open, and receive the naming that steadies the heart: “You are my beloved; with you I am well pleased.” From there, grief looks different. Not smaller, but held. You’ll learn how contemplative stillness can soften the tight loops of comparison, how Zen’s don’t-know mind releases deadlines for healing, and how Ignatian discernment guides daily choices toward what actually brings life.

Across the conversation, we offer a short, practical practice you can repeat when waves rise: sit, breathe, listen, return. We talk about letting go of inherited rules about “strong” mourning, making space for tears without apology, and building a small rule of life—journaling after hard moments, naming the one you miss, and choosing companions who bring freedom. If you’ve ever wondered whether faith and mindfulness can speak the same language to a broken heart, this is a hand on your shoulder and a path under your feet.
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SPIRITUAL DIRECTION WHILE GRIEVING IS AVAILABLE

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Transcript

Candee 0:43

Welcome to Solace: Soul + Grief. I'm glad you're here. My name is Candee Lucas. I'm a grief chaplain and spiritual director. The loss of a loved one can be especially difficult. I created these podcasts so you would have a resource to accompany you on your journey. When you have a chance, please look back at our catalog for any missed episodes that might be useful to you. Remember, you're always welcome in our circle of healing, love, and support.

Introducing Habito And Lenten Lens

Challenging Conventional Wisdom

Zen Freedom And Jesus’ Mastery

Contemplating Baptism And Identity

Candee 1:27

Today I want to share some thoughts from a book called "Zen and the Spiritual Exercises" by Ruben L. F. Habito. He's a professor of world religions and spirituality at Perkins School of Theology. Mr. Habito was a Jesuit for a time and was exposed to the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius during that time. He later became a Buddhist. And hence this volume. I think it offers special thoughts about Jesus during this Lenten period. This is from a chapter called Putting on the Mind of Jesus. The conventional wisdom makes us think that life and death, wealth and poverty, sickness and health, honor and dishonor, success and failure, and other such pairs that are part of our experience in this life on earth are mutually opposing values, whereby one is preferred over another. The conventional wisdom holds the slippers are to be worn on the feet and not on the head. Rich people are to be honored, and poor people despised or pitied. The powerful are to be respected while the powerless are to be ignored and so on. Rather, a spirit of total freedom in a given situation and a mastery over life and death is most desired. Zen practice is precisely meant to cultivate and bring about this spiritual freedom and mastery in the seeker who takes on this spiritual path. As we continue our contemplative exercises on the words and actions of Jesus, we come to appreciate how Jesus exhibited this total inner freedom and mastery over the various situations he encountered. He becomes for us no longer the son of a carpenter, an itinerant Jewish teacher who two thousand years ago walked about the land in Palestine and gathered a group of followers around him. In taking the invitation to behold Jesus in contemplative exercises, we may be able to see him as the one who shows us the way, who points us to our true self that emerges as we die to our old self, still caught in the delusion.

Guided Stillness Practice

Grief Reframed As Beloved

Weekly Release And How To Reach Us

Candee 4:36

THE BELOVED-- In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan, and just as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart, and the spirit descending like a dove on him, and a voice came from heaven. --You are my son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased.-- That's Mark 1-9-10. Ignatius recommends the repetition of certain exercises that call for further deepening and tasting. In this spirit, we begin to take up a passage from earlier in Matthew 3:13-17. As we contemplate this pivotal moment in Jesus' life, we are given a glimpse of Jesus' identity, and more importantly, of our own. We place ourselves in the setting with Jesus in the water, and we sit in stillness and pay attention to our breathing. We immerse ourselves into the waters of stillness, slowly allowing ourselves to go deeper and deeper. We remain there, rapt in stillness. Listen. All is still. And in the midst of this, the voice resonates throughout our entire being. --You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased--. Jesus emerges from the water with this deep realization of what and who He is. We emerge from the stillness with this deep realization of what and who we are. --You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased--. With this realization, everything else in our lives can be seen in fresh relief. The answer to life's most pressing questions somehow falls into place. As we allow that voice to resonate within us, without us, and through everything we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and imagine. As we continue along our grief journeys, what do the steps feel like when they are accompanied by a voice that echoes in you? --You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased--. You are the beloved survivor. You are special in your grief. God is pleased with you always in your pain and suffering. He holds you exquisitely next to his heart, so you can lie there in repose and begin to heal. A new one drops every Friday morning. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Reach out to me as my contact is in the show notes. If you have any questions about grieving, when to find a grief group nearby or are seeking spiritual direction while grieving. Travel with God always by your side.