Tongues as of Fire

All Products (6)

• All Products (6)
• Audio (6)

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Download this free PDF supplement, containing the text for all of Father Dufford's narration.

Bob Dufford, SJ — known for both his solo work and his work with the St. Louis Jesuits — has created a one-of-a-kind resource to aid the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. However, this resource can also be used for other retreats, personal prayer, religious education and more. It serves as a great way to deepen faith and spark imagination.

Retelling stories from the Gospel, Bob invites listeners to follow the life of Christ — from major moments to daily common life. His narration serves to both guide and inspire the creative mind. Each of the three CDs comes with an instrumental pairing, allowing listeners to embark on their own journey as a disciple of Jesus. A booklet of Bob’s narration accompanies this 6-CD set, for listeners to follow along or use as teaching material.

Bob has chosen the use of leitmotif to carry recurring themes of the Gospel. Attentive listeners will note the spiritual and emotional effect of these melodies and will be able to point them out in conjunction with the narration. When encountering the instrumental tracks, each leitmotif will act as a guide through prayer and reflection.

What St. Ignatius of Loyola called Spiritual Exercises are a patterned set of prayerful reflections aimed at helping people to become aware of and deal with the harmful habits and tendencies of their lives, and learn to respond honestly and intimately to the promptings of God. They were created by Ignatius when he was a layman and are intended for all who are serious about their life of faith. Originally used by Ignatius in the form of a retreat of about 30 days, he later adapted them into several different forms.

The pattern of the Exercises is divided into four “weeks” (not necessarily seven days), which are four areas of attention toward:

• Week 1: God’s generosity and mercy responding to the evil both in myself and in the world
• Week 2: The early, hidden life and then the public Life of Jesus
• Week 3: The suffering and death of Jesus
• Week 4: The risen life of Jesus

The music in this 3-volume set is divided this way:

• Volume 1: God's generosity, mercy and call (First Week)
  Jesus' infancy and childhood (Second Week, Part 1)
• Volume 2: Jesus' public ministry (Second Week, Part 2)
  Beginning of Passion (Third Week, Part 1)
• Volume 3: Jesus' Passion and death (Third Week, Part 2)
  Jesus' risen life and Pentecost (Fourth Week)

These pieces were originally meant to support people making the Exercises, but experience has widened their use to support anyone’s real desire to open to God. They can be used in groups gathered for shared prayer, in simple daily prayer, in the car on long trips, or as a way to deepen the experience one once had in a retreat. The advantage of a retreat with a trained “director” is having help for learning to interpret the actual prayer experiences one has.

The first three tracks on Volume 1 are further explanations and suggestions to prayer. In addition, the booklets that form the covers for each volume contain more reflection on the individual weeks.

The goal of any form of prayer is to help one better respond to God's gift of faith, God's merciful love and the grace of God within our everyday life. The fruit of this is to “know You more intimately so as to be drawn to love You more deeply and follow You more closely” — Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam (for the greater glory of God).