Ignatian Photo Essay By Fr. Ron Perry, SJ

Finding God in all things is one of the key practices in Ignatian spirituality. It leads to an appreciation of the world, a gratitude for all we have been given, and a desire to give back. It connects us with God on the level of our imagination, a powerful formative and motivational force in our life.

It’s possible to find God in all things only if we open our eyes to the world around us, take it in, reflect on it, and let its beauty suffuse our awareness. It is a type of theo-centric mindfulness, which sees all of creation as a manifestation of the goodness of God, and therefore holy.

The collection of images I offer in this showing represents moments which captured my imagination with a sense of order, beauty, or wonder—ordinary scenes from daily life experienced as somehow remarkable. My rendering of these images expresses my vision, my experience of the scene as a reflection of something beyond the surface, pointing ultimately to the divine intelligence, the divine love, which holds all creation in existence.

It is in our creative moments that we mirror this divine activity. I make no pretense that my creations are on a par with God’s, but I do offer them as one person’s interpretation of the world around us. I hope they give you as much pleasure as I had in making them, which was quite a bit!

Art is the “quintessence of wonder put into form.” Alfred Stieglitz

Fr. Ron Perry, SJ