Sons of Ignatius podcast: Human formation

February 18, 2022 in Featured Podcasts, News

In their latest podcast in their Sons of Ignatius series Niall Leahy SJ and David Lugo SJ talk about the importance of understanding what it means to be ‘fully human, fully alive,’ Niall says that we walk the spiritual path as human beings, and our humanity and our spirituality cannot be separated. He quotes St Thomas Aquinas, a down-to-earth Dominican, in spite of all his intellectual accomplishments, who notes that God’s grace perfects nature but doesn’t replace it.

Both Jesuits are clear in their conviction that the full breadth of the church’s mission needs to be better understood. So in this podcast series, they look at different elements of evangelisation. It means much more than simply talking about God, they say. And it certainly means looking at how we prepare and develop ourselves if we want to be people on a mission.

If Christian believers want to share the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ then they have to look after themselves and develop all their skills and potential in a holistic way. So this podcast focuses on the importance of working on all aspects of our humanity as an integral part of evangelisation or being a missionary disciple.

“This Sons of Ignatius podcast series takes faith for granted, and we are very much preaching to the converted,” says Niall, who is a curate in Gardiner St Church in Dublin. “The question we are more interested in exploring is how Christian believers can respond to the call to mission,” he says adding, “Being spiritual doesn’t mean that we are not human. And having lots of missionary zeal and high ideals does not mean that you don’t have needs. If we want to be missionaries for the long run then we need to be aware of and attend to our human needs.”