A cradle Catholic, Debra Black received the gift of completing the full 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1998 under individual direction of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She repeated the exercises in 2001 and remained an Associate to the Loreto Sisters through 2009. In 2015 she was missioned through the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality to provide spiritual direction and lead the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. She also is a perpetual member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and a contributor to SpiritualDirection.com and CatholicMom.com. In addition to over 40 years of professional experience including 33 years of leadership in international higher education, her public service roles have spanned city commissioner, pregnancy clinic board of director, youth and college ministry, public citizen activism, and homeless street ministry. Debra is author of Belonging: An Invitation to Happiness for Millennial Catholics. For spiritual warfare: Kick Butt! The Quick Guide to Spiritual Warfare: Frontline Defense Strategies for Everyday Life; for spiritual growth: The Life Confession: A Discovery of God’s Mercy and Love, and for Advent preparation: Something is different…Advent meditations from the Gospel of Luke.