IVC-NCA’s Rebecca C. Ruiz has served as a spiritual reflector in Northern Virginia since 2016. We asked her a few questions about her role with IVC, and what she enjoys most working with our Service Corps members!
Tell us about your background, and what led you to become a spiritual reflector.
I’m a third-generation graduate of Jesuit higher education so the Jesuits and Ignatian Spirituality have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.
I was first introduced to spiritual direction in college at Holy Cross. Over the decades, my meetings with my own spiritual director became a time that I treasured because I was aware that it wasn’t just me and my director but also God making God’s self known through these conversations. My call to enter into formation in the ministry of Spiritual Direction was one of the fruits of these sessions. I am trained as an Ignatian Spiritual Director through Fairfield University.
When we meet for reflection sessions, we make space in busy schedules to pause and step away from all the distractions of day-to-day life. Upon this backdrop, I often envision the reflection session as the reflectee knocking at the door about which we read in Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” In our sessions together, we get to peek behind that door that Jesus is opening and notice all the ways in which God is working in the reflectee’s life every day.
The practice of spiritual reflection harkens back to the very first days of the Church and the practices of the first disciples. I have a strong belief that, in the future, the Church will return to these early practices with much more lay involvement and individual ministering of members to each other.
How did you first connect with IVC?
I first learned about IVC in the early 2000’s through two wonderful IVC volunteers, Neota Hall and Ann Johnson, that were working with the Arlington Diocese Office of Migration & Refugee Services where I was employed at the time. I loved how they were answering Pedro Arrupe’s call to be “people (men and women) for others” in concrete ways. When they mentioned their City Group Meetings and retreats, I was intrigued by what sounded like a very supportive community and I was excited that it was based in Ignatian Spirituality. So, when Jim Kelley invited me to join the Northern Virginia Advisory Council in 2016, I was honored to accept his invitation.
What do you like most about working with IVC members?
I am honored to walk along with reflectees on their spiritual journeys. I am acutely aware of the spiritual reflection session as being a very sacred space where we tread together upon holy ground.
Regardless of the session content, I always come away in awe of the depth of my reflectees’ faith and inspired by their ardent, relentless search for God in the day-to-day. I am inspired by their generosity of time and talent as they serve. I rejoice as they relish glimpses of God’s hand in their lives and mourn with them in their sorrows. Four additional words come to mind when I think of them: integrity, authentic, beloved and blessed.
What have you learned from them?
IVC members go out into the world every day holding out the Christlight to the individuals that they serve. They witness incredibly difficult situations and continue serving because they are rooted in the Hope of Christ. From them, I’ve learned to stay rooted in Hope. Saint John Paul II’s words come to mind when I think of IVC members, “We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!”
What advice do you have for IVC members on their own spiritual journeys?