Kintsugi of the Heart: How the Ignatian Retreat Restores Our Broken Pieces

by Taz Pollard, photography by Samantha Toolsie, Jim Jones and Molly Chesworth

https://americana-uk.com/small-town-jones-kintsugi

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oday, I would like to describe the process of an Ignatian retreat using the image of kintsugi (golden joinery), the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold.

The first step in restoring a broken ceramic piece is to clean it carefully. In the same way, the retreat begins with a gentle purification of the heart. Through silence, prayer, and the Examen, we begin to clean both the inside and the outside of our lives—our thoughts, memories, and attachments. We are careful not to rush over the fractures. The wounds of our lives must not be ignored or hastily covered, because they are precisely the places where God’s grace will later work most deeply.

Next, the broken pieces must be examined. We look closely at the fragments and discern which pieces should be joined first so that the whole will eventually fit together. In the retreat, this resembles the slow work of discernment. With the help of a guide, the retreatant revisits the different pieces of one’s life—relationships, desires, choices, wounds, and graces. Nothing is forced into place. Like using masking tape to test the fit, we patiently explore how the pieces of our story may come together under God’s gaze.

Once the order becomes clear, the pieces are prepared for joining. In the retreat, this moment corresponds to the grace of deeper understanding: we begin to see how God has been present even in the broken parts of our history. What once seemed scattered now reveals a hidden order.

Then comes the adhesive. In kintsugi, the glue is carefully mixed, often with gold powder. The mixture must be balanced and prepared with care. In the spiritual life, this “adhesive” is the grace of God working through prayer, Scripture, and spiritual conversation. It is not something we manufacture ourselves. Rather, we allow God’s grace to bind the fragments of our lives together.

The adhesive is then applied along the fractures of the broken pieces. This is done gently and only where the pieces are meant to join. In the retreat, God’s grace touches precisely the places where we have been wounded—our failures, fears, and losses. These are not hidden or erased; they become the very lines through which grace enters.

After the pieces are joined, they must remain still for a time while the glue hardens. This moment of stillness is essential. In the Ignatian retreat, silence and patience play the same role. The retreatant waits, allowing God’s work to settle deeply within the heart. Transformation cannot be rushed.

Only when the first pieces have firmly held together do we proceed to the next. In the same way, the retreat unfolds step by step through the movements of the Spiritual Exercises—beginning with conversion, moving through the contemplation of Christ’s life, and culminating in union with God’s love.

In the end, kintsugi does not hide the fractures. Instead, the cracks are traced with gold, revealing a beauty that was not there before. So too in the Ignatian retreat: our brokenness is not erased but transformed. The very places where we were wounded become the places where God’s grace shines most brightly.

This insight about brokenness and restoration has also found its way into contemporary music. One contemporary voice that captures this same insight is the singer-songwriter Jim Jones. He returned to recording after several years away from the studio. In his music, he draws deeply from his own life story. His songwriting is shaped not only by memories of a troubled youth but also by his professional work accompanying young people—as a mentor and someone involved in youth justice—helping them navigate their own broken paths.

In the latest album entitled "Kintsugi," the lyrics of his song “Mr Kintsugi” resonate so strongly the Ignatian Kintsugi Retreat. Speaking to a therapist, the protagonist begins to see beyond the cracks of his or her own brokenness, Jones writes:

Oh Mr Kintsugi

What gold you speak to me

This brokenness you see

Is so part of the beauty, Mr Kintsugi

Our cracks are not simply defects to be erased; they are places where meaning and wholeness quietly take shape. In time, if we allow God to work and reveal them at the right moment, a beauty emerges that could not have appeared any other way. St Augustine of Hippo writes: “He alone created  you... you were created whole... you are continually being created and preserved.” What once looked like weakness becomes the very place where God’s healing is made uniquely and manifestly beautiful. Fr JM Manzano SJ

PS: Available in this link is a free music streaming of the Small Town Jones: Kintsugi new album.