Jerry McMahon trained in the Ignatian tradition at the Jesuit Center, Wernersville, PA. Jerry enjoys accompanying people who are experiencing a curiosity and desire to move more deeply into their relationship with God. An article of faith for Jerry as a spiritual companion is that we are made in God’s image, we are inherently good in God’s eyes, and, as Philip Newell states beautifully in “Listening for the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality”, we and all creation bear within us the essential goodness of God. At our deepest level of being, we long for and feel most at home and most whole when we are in relationship with God, as beautifully expressed in Psalm 63:
O God, you are my God; early will I seek you; My soul thirsts for you, My flesh longs for you, Like a dry and thirsty land without water (Ps. 63:1)
Jerry’s conversations with fellow spiritual companions never wander too far from exploring this companion’s relationship with God. Key facets of these conversations include: Helping the one being accompanied to pay attention to a God who longs to meet us, growing in awareness that these encounters may occur at place, times, and in events that may be surprising and not ordinarily thought of as “sacred spaces”; and helping the one being accompanied recognize their reactions to these encounters and decide on their responses to the Divine, including telling God how the encounters makes you feel.
Jerry has a Ph.D. in environmental planning and recently retired after working for 27 years for the U.S. Geological Survey researching topics such as water quality, ecosystems mapping, and climate change. He is interested in the process of how science-based knowledge and faith-based values can be integrated into personal and public decision-making.
Jerry can meet with people at St. Thomas More, at West Raleigh Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, and at his home in Raleigh.