Our prayer …

Hope leads everything.

For Faith only sees what is.

But Hope sees what will be.

Charity only loves what is.

But Hope loves what will be.

In time and for all eternity.

• Charles Péguy

“The experiment of hope is neither certain nor an easy way, but it is the way of life in the midst of death. Not entering into it would mean not being ready to live at all in order to avoid the pain of disappointment as well as the happiness of love. Not entering into it would also be to act as to avoid becoming guilty as well as forgiven. Hope leads us into the whole of life.”

~ Jürgen Moltmann, The Experiment of Hope

As the Advent season unfolds, a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas, we are delighted to continue with a new year-long offering as part of Career Services for Ministry at CTU. ~Gerald Doyle and Herbert Quinde.

Welcome to Career Accompaniment: Week 2 (here’s a link to Week 1)

Introduction to the Inspiration Strand of Tri Cosain

In our Tri Cosain work, we invite our participants to weave together three strands of inquiry and practice – inspiration, learning, and career. 

Because inspiration is so personal and unique to the individual, we use inspiration in a broad sense to include whatever calls a person forward. Sometimes, inspiration is expressed as a sense of purpose, vision, or mission — what we hope for. 

Sometimes, it takes the form of goals. Sometimes, it takes the form of values. It sometimes appears in words, images, pictures, music, and inspiring physical objects or scenes. Sometimes, as one or more works of art. For people of faith, inspiration may be experienced as a sense of calling, divine presence, spiritual invitation, or inner knowing. 

Whatever it means for you, we always invite our Tri Cosain participants to open space to discover and bring their personal sense of inspiration to life – as a core foundation and motivation for what they wish to bring forth in their lives. In Tri Cosain, we especially invite people to inform their career ministry journeys and learning journeys with their sense of personal inspiration. 

If your sense of inspiration seems well-developed and vibrant, we encourage you to “crystallize” it somehow. We are now thinking of ways to make that inspiration visible to yourself and others in an evocative manner so you can turn to it often for refreshment, motivation, renewal, and the growth of “green shoots” for personal and collective growth and service.  

Some ideas we can offer and/or invite for crystallization of inspiration include;

• A written summary of your sense of purpose, mission, values, calling, or vocation
• A personal map of your inspiration journey or an illustration of what inspiration looks like for you now
• A personal symbol or icon that recalls your inspiration for you
• A journal where you can record the evolution of your inspiration, as well as a current, distilled crystallization of inspiration as it exists today
• A vision board or vision box where you keep images, quotations, or objects that recall your inspiration for you
• An inspiring piece of music, work of art, or performance that crystallizes your inspiration for you, whether digitally recorded or otherwise
• The remembrance or image of an admired person, “hero’ or role model who inspires you
• A presentation or physical installation you have created as a way to share or express your sense of inspiration with yourself and others

Whatever form of crystallization you might choose, we encourage you to keep it visible and accessible in a revered place of honor for you so that its energy continues to refresh and enliven you in life and work.

We invite our participants to share their sense of inspiration with trusted collaborators to keep it vibrant and active, encouraging others to develop and express their sense of inspiration and as a context for co-creation and shared learning about inspiration within circles of relevant communities. 

In our journey with you in Tri Cosain, we expect to return often to the theme of inspiration, particularly as we examine and develop career and learning journeys. We hope you will be keen to journey in this way with us and that your sense of personal inspiration will enlighten your path and that of many others.  

For those many people who sense their inspiration is still in development, we are keen to support you within the inspiration strand of Tri Cosain.  Our book of resources for exploring inspiration is freely available to you.  It includes several quotations, exercises, and references we have found valuable for inspirational journeys. 

As always, Gerald Doyle and his colleague, Herb Quinde, are available to support members of the CTU community in discovering, crystallizing, and/or bringing a sense of personal inspiration to life.

Please be invited to Week 2 of our year-long series of installments, introducing our framework perspective Tri Cosain, Irish Gaelic for three pathways: inspiration, learning, and career.

We are pleased to accompany you on this journey.

Monday, 4 December 2023

Gerald Doyle, Career Services for Ministry, CTU

Copyright Scott Downs and Gerald Doyle 2023 

Residing in Chicago, Gerald Doyle provides ministry placement research and consulting for Career Services at the Catholic Theological Union.

Scott  Downs, a former investment banker, management consultant, and entrepreneur, now works as an Agile coach, seeking to call forward great leaders and great organizations based on great cultures. He is a consultant with Expleo Group and is an associate of the TrustTemenos Leadership Academy. 

Scott and Gerald are co-founders of Tri Cosain, a practice that weaves inspiration, learning, and career for leadership in life and work. Gerald and Scott co-authored 9 Questions for Leadership in Life and Work, Conversations of Inquiry, and several other volumes in the Tri Cosain series.  Their work embraces equity, inclusion, diversity, and well-being as foundations for personal leadership.