Poem: Maria Oliverio “of the swan”

By Admin

Jun

30

Also saw you it, mandilando, all night, in the black river? … You heard gaudy dark music he, fluting and of whistlingA – as he rains sending trees? – as waterfallKnifing underneath the black shelves? And saw you it, finally, as soon as under the clouds = white cross of A that flowed through sky, its leaves of the black of feetLike, he is flown likethe that stretched the light of the river? And felt you it, in his heart, how he belonged everything? And téngale finally to imagined why beauty is? And you have changed his life?

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Espiritualidad: List of sensations when their needs are satisfied

By Admin

Jun

30

HeadedcomfortablecenteredcontentequanimousfulfilledmellowquietrelaxedrelievedsatisfiedserenestilltranquiltrustingREFRESHEDenlivenedrejuvenatedrenewedrestedrestoredrevived of JOYFULamuseddelightedgladhappyjubilantpleasedtickledPEACEFULcalmclear of the EXCITEDamazedanimatedardentarousedastonisheddazzledeagerenergeticenthusiasticgiddyinvigoratedlivelypassionatesurprisedvibrantEXHILARATEDblissfulecstaticelatedenthralledexuberantradiantrapturousthrilledGRATEFULappreciativemovedthankfultouchedHOPEFULexpectantencouragedoptimistic of the heartedsympathetictenderwarmCONFIDENTempoweredopenproudsafesecureENGAGEDabsorbedalertcuriousengrossedenchantedentrancedfascinatedinterestedintriguedinvolvedspellboundstimulatedINSPIREDamazedawedwonder of AFFECTIONATEcompassionatefriendlylovingopen

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Prayer: Coronary of Edmundo, S.J.

By Admin

Jun

29

And touching our Societie, it is known you that we have done to a league – all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multiplicity must exceed all the practices England – cheers to take the cross that you will put envelope we, and to be hopeless its recovery whereas we have a man let to enjoy its Tyburn, or never to be tormented with its torments, or to be consumed with its prisons. The cost is counted; the company is begun; it is of God, he cannot be supported. The faith was planted so; it must so be recovered.

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Prayer: Charles Spinola, S.J.

By Admin

Jun

28

Mientras tanto, por noche y día, confirmamos nuestras almas por ejercicios de la piedad, nosotros regañamos nuestros cuerpos por azotar, las telas de crin, y otra como mortificaciones; y qué constituye nuestra consolación más grande, ministramos en el altar diariamente. Y ha estado seguramente por un providence especial de dios, ese las vestiduras y otros requisitos para los sacrificios santos fueron introducidos no vistos por los protectores, después de que hubiéramos estado al principio por varios meses privados de ellos e incapaces de restaurarse con ese pan divino de ángeles. Por mi parte overjoyed en esta ventaja especial de dios, logrando el deseo que me trajo principalmente aquí, y lo estimo sobre el esplendor de todos los dignities efímeros. Y justo, para San Pablo, después una vez de ser encarcelado triunfado más en la gloria de sus cadenas y enlaces, que en su mismo apostleship, llamándose, el `limita en el señor. ‘Me ruborizo para la vergüenza cuando pienso cómo por ningún mérito los míos, he obtenido esta gran tolerancia; cómo dios, teniendo antes de tan muchas personas santas que han cultivado este viñedo con tal celo admirable, ha echado sus ojos en mí, por último adentro los regalos de la naturaleza y del mérito. I, que puede aver que ahora comienzo a ser un discípulo de Cristo en medio del dolor y del confinamiento más grandes de la prisión, incluso cuando mi fuerza parecía que fallaba de hambre solamente, yo fui restaurado siempre por tales placeres de la consolación, que juzgaba todos mis sufrimientos experimentados en el servicio divino recompensado rico. Era todavía para pasar varios años en este Dungeon, el tiempo parecería a mí brevemente en mi deseo intenso del sufrimiento para su amor, que recompensa tan pródigo los trabajos de esta vida y hace incluso la tortura sí mismo dulce y deseable. Con todo dios debe ser servido principalmente para se solamente, porque él es la fuente de toda la calidad, y merece toda nuestra dedicación sin ninguna esperanza de la recompensa.

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Espiritualidad: The wonders of the dialogue

By Admin

Jun

27

Before Mass this morning, I was cleaning up the sacristy and I came across some old papers that I wanted to discard. I asked, “Is there a waste basket nearby?” and a woman gave me a full explanation of how recycling works in the parish house. And so I asked, “but is there a waste basket nearby?” and another woman confirmed the previous woman’s comments about the recycling process. They both were beaming at the ways they were very helpful to this priest who was new to the ways of their parish. I thanked them for their answer, but I told them that they did not provide an answer to the question I wanted to hear answered. A minute later I asked a third woman a different question and I received another answer only tangentially related to my question. I was perplexed. Why did they answer a question that I didn’t ask? They must have thought I meant to ask different one. Did they think that I really don’t know what I want and they have to tell me what they think I really mean? For all the requests I hear for an increase of dialogue in our church and world, I pause and wonder what people really want. I guess I first want to know if we have the same baseline definition of dialogue because it often doesn’t seem evident in our world. So many aspects go into our use of language and our ability to communicate and it becomes extremely unlikely that one can walk away from a conversation and say, “yeah, we both demonstrated we knew what the other person was saying and we both seemed to feel heard.” Isn’t that what we want: to feel heard and to convey that we can hear the position of another person? It seems to me that when someone speaks, it is best to convey to the speaker that you understand what he or she is saying. You can simply paraphrase their words. Once that baseline is established, the second person has a chance to respond. At that time it is good for the first speaker to convey understanding by paraphrasing that he or she heard the second speaker. It is a good process to begin to clear up potential miscomprehensions. It may take a bit of time at first until we get the hang of it, but it eradicates frustration. Of course, style, body language, deeper meaning, expressing feelings and desires, positions of authority or hierarchy and other aspects provide a richer context for our communication. If we are to be people of dialogue, we need to return to the basics and master that art before we move forward. As an exercise this week, notice the frequency that someone gives an answer to one of your questions that you did not ask. Just take note of it and how you feel about his or her response. See what interesting movements come up within you.

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Article: Friendship of KAIROS God

By Admin

Jun

27

A talk used on the KAIROS Retreat on “God’s Friendship.” My talk is on God’s friendship and I played this song (Up On The Roof, In My Room, Out in the Country) because it is positive and reflective and because I have a private place where I first developed my friendship with God – in the middle of a state forest where my family lives. The place is incredibly pristine and isolated. We all need a place where we can escape and be who were truly, authentically are – whether it is in the safe confines of your room, up on the roof, out in the country, or any other special place. Since my family lives seven miles away from town, I was always able to find a special spot deep in the forest where I could get away from the crazy demands of life and the dysfunction of my family. I realized that I had great magical places to discover, much like the films “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” where the forces of good would come to aid me and defend me from the malevolent enemy. The forest and fields and the lake would be my source of refuge and a place where I could be free. I would find that I would begin to escape to the forest because I could sit among the trees and tell my story. At that time, I did not know that I was telling my story to Jesus, but as I look back on it, it was indeed a time in which I came to know the God made flesh, the God who is my brother. My family story, like most family stories, was very difficult and fraught with a lot of pain. I would escape to the forest to let the sting of my pain subside and there were times when I felt like I was talking with someone who listened and would reassure me. At first it felt like talking to air and I wondered, “Is anyone really listening?” or are these just voices in my head? Am I answering myself? But I noticed, that when I came to a certain point, I knew I could return home and I would be comforted in some way. I could go on for another day. It would be bearable. And I realized that I was beginning to trust my experience. And isn’t trust a big part of any relationship? I knew that stepping into the forest would help me do two things – to build up the walls around myself to protect me from harm, and to tear down that walls in my life that were destructive to my well-being. And this other voice, the voice that I now know was Jesus, was there to guide me. Jesus became an important friend. What are friends anyways? They are people who you like and like you back, but they see things differently from you and provide you with a different perspective. Friends don’t always agree with you or do exactly what you want them to do. Friends share a bond, but remain as individuals. If friendships are nourished and grow after a period of time and testing and absence, is it possible to develop a friendship with Jesus.? Let’s look at this. With friends, we have an initial curiosity about the other and we ask questions to find out what the other likes – the way he thinks – the ways she chooses – what the other values. We see if it lines up with what we like. If so, we hang out together sometime and we don’t do much of anything – we just exist and we play and we tell stories. We have fun with one another. We then listen and support and encourage and finally our support for one another begins to take risks. When we show compassion, we risk pain and suffering to ourselves as we hold someone else’s story with respect. That is when we know that we have grown to a new level of friendship and intimacy. We behold another person and are filled with appreciation. We cannot betray another person’s story. We build bonds that will last forever. We have to learn to do these very things with Jesus because he is the silent voice in the forest or up on the roof or in whatever place were you retreat and find consolation – just waiting to develop a deeper friendship with you. I suggest that when we go back into our favorite, private places, we spend time just being with Jesus, having no real objective, but to tell our own story to him. And as you know, you can tell him about not only your dreams and hopes, but also the areas of pain and shame that debilitate you. Anything goes in this talk. A fruitful time for me was when I made my silent thirty-day retreat when I prayed over the hidden life of Jesus. No scripture exists for this period and I had to imagine what Jesus’ life was like between the ages of 12 and 30. I thought I was completely lost. Well, as soon as I got into this prayer, I began to relate to Jesus better than I ever had. I imagined that I was 12 years old and he was 14 – a little older and wiser. He did things like go down to the lake and swim and ride bikes and scoop up pollywogs and frogs and look for snakes and glide on tire swings and cook over a campfire. We just had a blast. No parents were around and we spent all of our days together. This went on for some time and I realized Jesus liked me and I liked him back. In my prayer, I can return to the campfire to be with Jesus so we can just be in one another’s company and tell these stories of our day to one another. The grace is “spending time with one another.” During this time around the campfire, I was able to tell Jesus all the stuff that hurt me or concerned me or the things that I kept walled up from him and others. You know what? He accepted me. He accepted all that I had to tell him – even those areas of my life where I may feel shame. And then he told me lots about his life that I hadn’t known. We built a solid friendship because we told each other our stories, but he always asked me to integrate who I am and what I think into my public life. Integrity is key. Today, I can still share my hurts and concerns and my hopes and joys and he appreciates them, but he challenges me at times to open my heart to others, to myself, and to him. So it doesn’t stop there. We need our place of refuge, but we need to go back home or to our community and live the life to which Jesus calls us. If the forest is merely a place of escape, we risk losing the battle. The forest, or your favorite safe place, must be that fortress that gives us courage to persevere. Life is not easy; life is not fair and there are many destructive qualities to life and we must be in search of that which helps us find life and hold onto it tightly. Life has a way of helping us build walls around us, especially in those areas where we feel embarrassed or shamed. Those are areas where we need healing, not forgiveness, but healing. It comes from all angles – parents, schoolmates, friends and romantic interests, and many other places. What are some of these possible walls? o Do you add a brick to the wall by trying to manage or hide the fact that you or your parents are alcoholics, or that you are fond of drugs, that you are intrigued by pornography, that you are an overeater or have an eating disorder or find that you don’t like part of your body, that you are unlucky in love and you wonder if you will ever find someone to share intimacy with you. o Do you add another brick to the wall because by hiding yourself behind a false role because you are frustrated that you are not taller, more athletic, popular, wiser or more intelligent. Perhaps you compensate by cheating on exams. Perhaps you find that you are embarrassed by your family or someone in particular, that your brother has a mental illness or your sister is disabled. o Maybe the wall gets higher because you have been honest in a relationship and feel betrayed by someone else and don’t know how to get healing; that you have been violated in a date rape or forced to have sex against your will or better judgment; perhaps you took advantage of another sexually. Perhaps you have been a victim of another’s bullying power. o Perhaps you add another brick because you don’t want to feel like you stand out because you are of a certain race or nationality, that you are a gay man or lesbian, that you don’t feel like you have equal opportunities in life, that you are poor and are ashamed of choices your parents have made. o Do you add another layer of brick to protect yourself from more hurt because you feel unloved by one or both of your parents, that you don’t belong to a certain social group or class, that you are the reason for your parents’ divorce, that you are adopted. The list can go on and on. We have to be conscious of what we are building or taking down. Most times, we don’t even know that we are building a fortress around ourselves and we lose control of just how high it is. Many times we don’t even see the shame we carry – or hide – or deceive ourselves about. That is why we need friends. We need to learn how to listen to our friends and parents, to our teachers and coaches, to our guides and mentors, and most importantly to Jesus. He is the only one that can feel your deepest hurts. He is the one who can give you courage in your special place together, because you were made for the world, not for isolation. Step forth into this journey of life and tear down the walls you are creating before they get too high and too foreboding. It takes courage to take a hammer to what has protected us and served us well and what we have created. We have to take down the walls the debilitate us and keep us from being the most authentic person we can be. Pink Floyd’s The Wall is about a young man who is unknowingly taught to build a wall that nearly destroys him. People in his life who are well intentioned cause him to build the wall higher and higher, but in the end, self-acceptance and salvation are what is important. This young man, beaten down by life, has to face the judge who conducts a trial where teacher, mother, and lover stand as accusers and the accused. And for the love of this man’s life, taking sympathy for all the wrong that was done to him, the judge orders the man to tear down the wall that binds him. And he cannot do it alone. Nor can we do not do it alone, because, as the story progresses, we see that there are people outside the wall trying to reach us. People outside the wall are trying to stay in touch with you and keep you connected, and they will work until they drop until they reach you. They are not going to stop trying. Reach out to them in response. Together we stand, divided we fall. As the words to the story ends, we are told that “All alone or in two’s the ones who really love you walk up and down outside the wall. Some hand in hand. Some gathered together in bands, the bleeding hearts and the artists make their stand. And when they’ve given you their all, some stagger and fall, after all it is not easy banging your head against some mad bugger’s wall.” My friends, tear down the wall. Tear down the wall. Reflection Questions: 1: Do I have a favorite place where I can go and tell my secrets? 2: I build a wall around myself when I feel…. 3: Is there a brick in the wall I need special courage to take down?

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Song: Lyrical to daily God of Bernadette Farrell

By Admin

Jun

26

The Earth creator, daily, manufacturing God affectionate, Or Jesus, you who formed to us, alcohol of Or, reconstruct to us, come, are with us. In their presence, daily God, collects to us, Or Jesus, you have been called, alcohol of Or, to recover itself, we come, we are with us. The life of all the lives, daily God, love of all the loves, Or Jesus, hope of all the hopes, alcohol of Or, light of all the lights, comes, is with us. In our reclinación, daily God, in our rise, Or Jesus, in ours to hope, alcohol of Or, in ours to hope, comes, is with us. In our dream, daily God, in our audacity, Or Jesus, in our search, alcohol of Or, in our distribution, comes, is with us. God of the laughter, daily God, God of the pain, Or Jesus, the home and the shelter, alcohol of Or, hard and patient, come, are with us. The way of freedom, daily God, stars in the morning, Or Jesus, timeless curador, alcohol of Or, flame eternal, come, are with us. The word of gladness, daily God, word of the mercy, Or Jesus, word of the friendship, alcohol of Or, word of the challenge, comes, is with us. The calm father, daily God, brother faithful, Or Spirit.Loving Or, soft sister, Jesus mother, come, are with us. Our principle, newspaper God, our unfolding, Or Jesus, ours to hold, alcohol of Or, conclusion of the trip, comes, is with us. The hallelujah, daily God, now and always, Or Jesus, hallelujah, alcohol of Or, with all the ages, come, are with us.

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The thirteenth Sunday in ordinary time

By Admin

Jun

26

June 27, 2010 Paul frames our state of life in some amazing words: For freedom, Christ set us free. Too often the lectors at Mass speak too rapidly and we do not get to digest the import of the words we have just heard. Did we hear what was just spoken? Christ has freed us. Our questions become: from what and for what? For Paul, we are set free from the slavery brought on by sin and death and is most in evidence by own desires of the baser earthly life rather than the life of the spirit. When Paul writes about the life of the flesh, he is not writing only about sexual acts committed outside of one’s primary relationship, but about those behaviors that bring down another person, like gossip, lies, slander, or anything that causes division among peoples. Paul says that we are free, but we have to use our freedom responsibly, that is, through serving one another through love and loving your neighbor as yourself. The whole law for Paul is summed up in this statement. Jesus catches on fire with his mission as his determination to enter Jerusalem builds even as opposition to him increases and hospitality is denied him. He is focused when he encounters three potential disciples who ask to join him and he outlines stringent consequences of joining him on mission. His first response stresses mobility and itinerancy (having no place to call home), the second is to be urgently immediate in moving forward to care for more people than only one’s family (and letting the dead bury the dead), and the third, unlike the prophet Elisha who receives his mission in the first reading, is told to resolutely look forward (not even to say goodbye to one’s parent) in order to insistently proclaim the imminent arrival of the kingdom of God. For Jesus, discipleship means an abrupt and complete halt from one’s earlier life so that he or she can give it entirely to the service of the kingdom. Discipleship is difficult and one has to be resolutely available for the inherent unexpected demands. The change one will experience will be irrevocable. While many preachers reflect upon vocational stories from these passages, I think of it as our personal degree of receiving Christ into our midst. To what degree are we hospitable to Christ? The Samaritans, who were ancient enemies of the Jews because of competing scriptural interpretations including the proper location where God is to be worshipped, adamantly refused hospitality to Jesus. Two of the potential disciples who approach Jesus are given exacting consequences of following him. Jesus practices truth-in-advertising. His responses ask them to consider whether they can do it. Jesus asks the other to follow him, tells him to forget the past, and to go on mission. We have no idea if any of these people accepted the invitation. Discipleship, whether it is a religious vocation or one manifested in other ways, demands that we fully receive Christ’s mission into our lives as our own and that we are essentially changed by the degree of our response to him. He is asking us, “how much does the fulfillment of God’s vision to mean to you” and “how much do I mean to you?” I wish I knew the answer the three potential disciples eventually gave. I wish I knew your answer. Quote for the Week Vatican archaeologists announced an image of Paul was found as part of a square ceiling painting that included icons of three apostles – Peter, John and Andrew – surrounding an image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. “They are the first icons. These are absolutely the first representations of the apostles,” said Fabrizio Bisconti, archaeology superintendent for the catacombs. Inside the intimate burial chamber, its walls and ceilings are covered with paintings of scenes from the Old Testament, including Daniel in the lion’s den and Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac. The gem is on the ceiling, where the four apostles are painted inside gold-rimmed circles against a red-ochre backdrop. The images in the catacomb – with their faces in isolation, encircled with gold and affixed to the four corners of the ceiling painting – are devotional in nature and are the first known icons. They are the most antique testimonies we have. The images of Andrew and John show much younger faces than are normally depicted. Themes for this Week’s Masses First Reading : In the book of Amos, the Lord God declares that he will keep his word and will not be like the unfaithful Israel who cares not for God or each other. The Lord wants the people to seek the good and hate evil. This will bring about life. Amos explains the origins of his vocation as prophet saying that the Lord told him to prophesy to Israel that its wife shall be like a harlot and its sons and daughters shall fall by the sword. A great exile will occur. The Lord will scatter the people and will cause a famine of food, but mostly because the people will crave to hear the word of the Lord. Gospel : Jesus tells potential disciples that the Son of Man has no place to lay his head and a disciple’s home is wherever Jesus leads them. His mission brings him to the area of the Gadarenes where he exorcises two demoniacs and causes great havoc in the town. Jesus crosses the sea by boat to his home town where he cures a paralytic and causes more havoc by forgiving his sins. He creates more distress by summoning Matthew, a dreaded tax collector, to follow him. He spends time with sinners and betraying tax collectors. Saints of the Week Monday: Irenaeus, bishop and martyr , was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John the Evangelist. Irenaeus was first a missionary to Lyons, but on a mission to Rome, the church back in Lyons was facing severe persecution. Upon his return he was made bishop. He is known for combating heresies in the early church and for declaring that creation is good, but made sinful by fallen human nature. Tuesday: Peter and Paul, apostles , are two of the great apostles upon whom the church was built. Both were martyred in Rome. Peter is regarded as the chief of the Apostles and Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles. These two men are celebrated for their significant contributions of dealing with internal and external church conflict. Wednesday: The First Martyrs of the Roman Church are honored today because they were the first to be killed during Nero’s persecution after the great fire that burned down the city. Christians were made the scapegoats so they could be mocked and brutalized. A monument in Vatican City honors their lives. Thursday: Junipero Serra, priest , was a Franciscan missionary who founded missions in Baja and traveled north to California starting in 1768. The Franciscans established the missions during the suppression of the Jesuits. San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara are among the most famous. Serra’s statue is in the U.S. Capitol to represent California. Saturday: Thomas, apostle , is thought to have been an apostle to India and Pakistan and he is best remembered as the one who “doubted” the resurrection of Jesus. The Gospels, however, testify to his faithfulness to Jesus during his ministry. The name, Thomas, stands for “twin,” but no mention is made of his twin’s identity. This Week in Jesuit History • Jun 27, 1978. Bernard Lisson, a mechanic, and Gregor Richert, a parish priest, were shot to death at St Rupert’s Mission, Sinoia, Zimbabwe. • Jun 28, 1591. Fr. Leonard Lessius’s teaching on grace and predestination caused a great deal of excitement and agitation against the Society in Louvain and Douai. The Papal Nuncio and Pope Gregory XIV both declared that his teaching was perfectly orthodox. • Jun 29, 1880. In France the law of spoliation, which was passed at the end of March, came into effect and all the Jesuit Houses and Colleges were suppressed. • Jun 30, 1829. The opening of the Twenty-first General Congregation of the order, which elected Fr. John Roothan as General. • Jul 1, 1556. The beginning of St Ignatius’s last illness. He saw his three great desires fulfilled: confirmation of the Institute, papal approval of the Spiritual Exercises, and acceptance of the Constitutions by the whole Society. • Jul 2, 1928. The Missouri Province was divided into the Missouri Province and the Chicago Province. In 1955 there would be a further subdivision: Missouri divided into Missouri and Wisconsin; Chicago divided into Chicago and Detroit. • Jul 3, 1580. Queen Elizabeth I issued a statute forbidding all Jesuits to enter England. World Cup The World Cup is certainly a world event that has gripped the attention of all sports enthusiasts, even in the United States. Much drama has unfolded and many stories of honor and respect have been witnessed. While I’m half-Italian, I’m sorry to see Italy drop out of the competition, but I’m thrilled that my host country, New Zealand, has remained undefeated (though they did not advance.) All eyes remain fixed on the generous hospitality of the host nation of South Africa, as it represents the continent of Africa. May tons of goodwill be generated by the good sportsmanship and high levels of competition involved in these games.

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Prayer: Pope Clement I of Rome

By Admin

Jun

25

It is to the humble-mattered one that Christ belongs, not to which they are raised on its multitude…. Mr. Jesus Christ did not do, for all their energy, does not come wrapped in presumptuous pomp and presumptuous pride, but in a frame of the humble mind.

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Prayer: Juan Cassian

By Admin

Jun

24

The objective of our alive one is the God kingdom, but of us carefull must ask so we must aim. If we did not watch very carefully in this we will use outside towards in strivings useless. For that they travel without a noticeable way is the work of the trip and no arrival in a destination.

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Poem: San Juan Baptist of Guillermo Drummond, earthy century XVII

By Admin

Jun

23

Herald past and greater of the king of the sky, fitted with the rough skins, hies to the wild deserts, between that wild young bringWhich of wood advanced he who to have found more inoffensive and smooth: Its food was lobsters, and what young means of doth, with the honey that of virginal beehives distilled; The dried body, hollow eyes, certain thingMade coarse he appears long ago of the exiled Earth. There explosion it advanced: “All the YE, whose God of relyOn of the hopes, with me admist these deserts is in mourning; Sorry, sorry, and as an older person returned from the errors. ” Who listened to its voice, obeyed his shout? Only echoes that he did that they are appeased, step of his marble excavates, regrets, sorry.

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Prayer: It accepts Bethune

By Admin

Jun

22

Who offers the food, offers to one same one. This is truth of my to give emparedado to a person in the door; or of my friendly entertained in the kitchen or the dining room. It is also truth of banquets, where they are the ambassadors and the representatives the servants of the host who gives the food. It is truth of the farmers who raise the food, of the butchers who dress the meats, of the bakers that make the bread, of the grandmothers who put boundaries, of any person who peels, she cooks, or she prepares the food for others. It is also truth of each Christian who offers the bread and the wine in the sacrifice of the Massachusetts.

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Poem: Of “all the desires known” by Janet Morley

By Admin

Jun

21

… and I was nothing but leaving she goes and that was heldand there it was not any word and thereneeded to be any words and we did not flow… and they gave until andin dark the dark me that was not lostand desire was as fullness and I carry out couldhardly it and was andyou maintained was dark and warms up and without words and you of andwithout of the time stopped to me.

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Poem: First light of Opunake

By Admin

Jun

20

Tranquillity. No, still. Silence. Dark. Only. Squeak of the sport slippers. Fog. Fog. Clouds. Gray. Sea. Lost. Attack. Wind. Blown hat. Here. Where? Silence. Dream. Wonder. Vague? Revolvimiento. Where are you? To dawn. Rays. Mountain. Tips. Snow. Songs. Shout of astonishment. Ascent. Majesty. Green. Brilliant. Fog. Mystic. Trip. Long walk. Solitaire. Idiot. Unicornio. Irish hills. Stones. Hills. Castles. No, homes. Castles. Lamb. Comfort. Placed. Peace. Relájese. Cows. Earth. Ground. Clean. Hard. Virulent. Fragrance. Pure. Long walk. It reflects. Step. Others. Forward. Time. Of length. Place. Upside-down. Moved away. Rural. Slab. Smile. Heat. Company/signature. Hands. Heat. Stoic. Hard. Quiet. Light. Calm. Presence. Laughter. Push. Deeply. Down. It penetrates. Only. Connected. Flesh color. Equals. Honor. Music. Routine. Another day. Forward. Libración. Always. Close. Still. AUTHORIZATION. Movement. Very well. Friend. Yearning. Who? With firmness. Respecting. Consoling. Now. Now. Tolerance. Still. Tranquillity.

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Prayer: Aloysius Gonzaga

By Admin

Jun

20

Maria santa, my queen, I recommend myselfto its blessed special safekeeping of protectionand, and to the chest of its mercy, today and of each dayand in the hour of my death. My soul and body that I recommend you. I trust to you my hope and consolation, my signal of aid and misery, my life and its completion. Through his intercessionand more santo with his meritsmay all the actions directedaccording to its will and the one of its Son.AmenMemorial: 21 of June

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The twelfth Sunday in ordinary time

By Admin

Jun

19

June 20, 2010 The question that Jesus asks his disciple is brilliant in its penetrating depths. He asks them this rephrased question: “How does my presence in your life transform it?” It surely is good to ponder and it is not an answer we want to give without reflection. The 62nd Psalm is cleverly selected today as it answers the same question: “O, God, you are my God whom I seek.” Our answer changes as we grow in maturity and wisdom, and we can’t answer the question without imagining we are looking at Jesus squarely in the face for if we can’t experience him, it is difficult to give a personal answer. “What does your presence in my life mean for me today?” As I personally answer for today alone, he is the reason I am in a remote, rural, coastal, country town of New Zealand three thousand miles away from my Jesuit brothers who are dispersed throughout Australia and I am half a world away from my province, friends, and family. I feel united with them through him and because of that, I do not feel alone. The Gospel in integrated with Paul’s Letter to the Galatians as it explains that putting on Christ means that we become essentially different from those of pagans and others who do not believe in Christ. Christ brings us into a new family and a new social system that is free from the normal constraints of the varying societies in which we find ourselves. We are bound to be different when we imitate Christ, but we learn to free others from terrible societal restrictions, mostly from unjust designations, that a dominant culture has imposed upon them. For salvation in Christ, we all have equal status, even though we retain our differences. It gives us pause when we encounter layers of stratification within our church structures (parish-wide or otherwise) or when we find the use of authority that does not further one’s hope of sanctification. If Christ frees us from our bonds, we would not be acting in Christ to impose bonds upon others. It is amazing how our Eucharist is both a leveler and a vehicle for raising up a person. When we begin Mass, each of us confesses that we are a sinner before God and that we need God’s grace to live in holiness. As we look around, one’s wealth or poverty, achievements or failures, honor or shame just doesn’t matter. What is important is that God has called us to be together to share in the life of Christ of whose body we are a part. We are equal in status in God’s eyes. If only we could learn to see as God sees. This is one of the goals of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius – to come to love the world and one another in the way that God loves us and all of creation. We have a lot to learn and if we follow Christ’s ways we may face hardships and persecutions, but what other choice to we have if we answer the questions he poses to us today: Who am I to you? What difference do I make in your life? Beware that answer this question leads to a deepening and risky discipleship. Quote for the Week As we celebrate the Nativity of John the Baptist this week, we remember Zechariah’s song as he gazes upon his newborn son. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; He has come to His people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of His servant David. Through His holy prophets He promised of old that He would save us from our enemies,from the hands of all who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant. This was the oath He swore to our father Abraham: To set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship Him without fear, Holy and righteous in His sight all the days of our life. You, My child shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our Lord the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Themes for this Week’s Masses First Reading : In 2 Kings, the Lord God sends the Assyrians to conquer Samaria because they did not keep the covenant and turned to the ways of other nations. Hezekiah hears of Sennacherib’s plans to conquer Israel but the Lord hears the prayers of Hezekiah and during the night an angel of the Lord strikes down 185,000 men and sends them back to Nineveh. Hilkiah, the priest, gathers the king and the people, assembles the holy books, and reads the entire contents of the book of the covenant aloud. The king declares he will follow and observe all the ordinances, statutes, and decrees, thereby reinvigorating the covenant. During Zedekiah’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldean forces besiege the city for months and captures the king and the people who are brought into exile. The book of Lamentations punctuates in song the loss the people were experiencing. Gospel : The Sermon on the Mount continues with instructions on refraining from making judgments when you have judgments that can be made about yourself. Treat what is sacred with great respect and follow wisdom’s counsel even though it is a more difficult road. Be aware of those who will lead you astray. You can tell a prophet or shepherd by the work he produces, just as a good tree produces good fruit. When the sermon was finished, Jesus comes down from the mountain and cures a leper, thereby placing himself on the outskirts of society by coming in contact with a ritually unclean person. Heading into Capernaum, Jesus encounters a Centurion with a servant paralyzed by illness. The Centurion places his trust in Jesus and finds his servant is healed. Jesus, showing he is powerful in words, reveals his power in deeds by healing many people and driving out evil spirits. Saints of the Week Monday: Aloysius Gonzaga , is one of the youthful Jesuit saints. He was born to a noble family in Lombardy and after much family pressure joined the Jesuits in 1585 in order to go to the newly settled missions. However a plague hit Europe and Aloysius went to Rome to care for the sick and dying in a hospital. Unfortunately, he caught the plague and died within three months. Tuesday: Paulinus of Nola, bishop, became a Christian convert because of his wife’s faith. He was ordained a priest and moved to Nola in central Italy to live a semi-monastic lifestyle and to help the poor with his riches. He was a friend to many of the Fathers of the church. John Fisher, bishop and martyr , was imprisoned for treason because he would not sign the Act of Succession in 1534 that would have granted a divorce to King Henry VIII. The Pope elevated John to the rank of Cardinal, which infuriated the King who decided to behead John. He was a great friend to Thomas More. Thomas More, martyr , was beheaded nine days after John Fisher because he would not consent to the King’s divorce. He was originally courted by Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry VIII to serve at court, to which he reluctantly agreed until the Act of Succession forced him in good conscience to resign. Thursday: The Nativity of John the Baptist is celebrated around the summer solstice, which is six months from the winter solstice, which became to signify the victory of light over darkness, hence the birth of Christ. In the readings, John’s father, Zechariah, is struck dumb when he asked for a sign to confirm the angel’s message that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son in her advanced age. Zechariah’s tongue was loosened when he indicated that his son was to be called John. The great Benedictus followed. This Week in Jesuit History • Jun 20, 1626. The martyrdom in Nagasaki, Japan, of Blesseds Francis Pacheco, John Baptist Zola, Vincent Caun, Balthasar De Torres, Michael Tozo, Gaspar Sadamatzu, John Kinsaco, Paul Xinsuki, and Peter Rinscei. • Jun 21, 1591. The death of Aloysius Gonzaga, who died from the plague, which he caught while attending the sick. • Jun 22, 1611. The first arrival of the Jesuit fathers in Canada sent at the request of Henry IV of France. • Jun 23, 1967. Saint Louis University’s Board of Trustees gathered at Fordyce House for the first meeting of the expanded Board of Trustees. SLU was the first Catholic university to establish a Board of Trustees with a majority of lay members. • Jun 24, 1537. Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and five companions were ordained priests in Venice, Italy. • Jun 25, 1782. The Jesuits in White Russia were permitted by the Empress Catherine to elect a General. They chose Fr. Czerniewicz. He took the title of Vicar General, with the powers of the General. • Jun 26, 1614. By a ruse of the Calvinists, the book, Defensio Fidei by Francis Suarez was condemned by the French Parliament. In addition, in England James I ordered the book to be publicly burned. World Cup Let’s pray for those who have traveled to South Africa to watch the World Cup. May South Africa represent the potential of all Africa and Madagascar in grace and dignity. Through these games may we come to understand one another better and be enriched by learning new cultural traditions. I am delighted that all eyes are on Africa as it showcases its warm hospitality. Happy Father’s Day (Father’s day is September 5th for Australia and New Zealand) We pray today for blessings on the many dads, grandfathers, and uncles who are celebrated on this day to honor the paternal care given to our children. Let us also remember those couples too who want to become parents but find that they are unable to conceive. Though it does not take away their pain, I’m sure many of these men have been a positive father figure to someone who looks up to them in gratitude for their example and concern.

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Prayer: Teresa de Avila

By Admin

Jun

18

Although he has left to him often, Sir of Or, you never have left to me. Its hand of the love outstretched always towards me, even when I watch obstinate the other way. And its calm voice calls to me constantly, even when rejection obstinately to listen.

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Prayer: Francisco Borgia, S.J.

By Admin

Jun

17

Quienquiera wishes to obtain these spiritual works of the society needs to be in the cross, that is to say, mortification de la Cruz. (1) to feel the cross of Christ. (2) to be troubled itself in the suffering. (3) a cross when there is no cruzado. (4) to feel the cross with my life, to give it for Christ. It is madness to believe that without the cross, difficulty, the suffering, we can obtain the type of works of the spiritual that our society has like objective.

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Sermon: Matthew 6 – Prayer of the gentleman

By Admin

Jun

16

I worked at a men’s maximum security prison for a year and when I met with them for weekly prayer, one of the guys would start out by shouting out a question, “Whose Father?” to which everyone responded “Our Father, who art in heaven.” At first I thought it was a bit hokey, but it stayed with me because of the unity that it signified in their worship. This is certainly Our Father who we come to worship each day at Mass. The first reading shows great unity in worship as the author of Sirach sings praises to the great prophet Elijah. This reveals a community that is happy and at ease with itself. As I reflect upon the unity that we have under our Father in heaven, I look at ways in which we come to worship. We do so much of it as individuals rather than as a community and we have to strive to bring the community dimension to the foreground. Let’s look at some of the ways we act as individuals. • No one knows if we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation because it is a private affair. • We schedule infant baptisms to be held after Mass. • Weddings have become private celebrations. • At Mass, we might not joyously greet our brother or sister by extended arms of peace. Some of us might withhold it for only those we care for most closely. Some won’t even smile or look at each other in the eyes. • We sit in rows where we don’t have to look at another person and we certainly would get bent out of shape if someone sat in our seat. • We stand in line to go to communion while in the past we lined up side by side and we knew our neighbor would receive the bread of life (not that we ought to return to this way.) • We choose which celebrant we want to hear; we drive to go to a parish that suits our needs. When did our communal worship become privatized? These are not necessarily negative aspects, but it creates a challenge for us to realize that we are of one family, one community under God, who is our Father, or as some experience, Mother, loving creator, and this God wants us all to do better than just get along. This God wants us to share the song of praise of one another just like the author of Sirach has for Elijah. We can come to see the world and love the world in a way that resembles how God sees the world and its people. This is the purpose of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. I invite you to glance around the chapel today and really take notice of your neighbor because he or she has been invited by God to be here with you. Reflect upon the goodness of the person next to you or across the room from you. Appreciate that you are not alone and that God is working thoroughly through your fellow disciple of Christ. We do this together. Put on the mind of Christ as we go to the table in a few minutes and do the same when we pray the words that he taught us. It is our Father in heaven who provides for all of our needs and has given us the perfect prayer as strength to live joyfully as a united family.

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Spirtuality: In Mysticsm de Anthony de Mello, S.J.

By Admin

Jun

16

“Cómo hace una unión de la búsqueda con dios?” “El más duro usted búsqueda, más la distancia que usted crea entre él y usted.” “Qué hace uno haga tan sobre la distancia?” “Entienda que no está allí.” “Hace ese medio que dios y yo seamos uno?” “No uno. No dos.” “Cómo es eso posible?” “El sol y su luz, el océano y la onda, el cantante y su canción — no uno. No dos.”

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Prayer: Pedro Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

By Admin

Jun

16

The greater humanity becomes, more humanity is united, with the sense of, and the master of, his potentialities, the most beautiful creation will be, the most perfect adoration will become, and at the most the Christ finds, for the mystical extensions, a worthy body of the resurrection…. The star which the world is hoping…. He is necessarily same Christ, in whom we hoped. The universal Christ… is not any except the authentic expression of Christ of the gospel. Christ, renewed, is truth, by the contact with the modern world, but at the same time, Christ even makes greater in sequence still continue being the same Christ.

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Prayer: Gualterio Ciszek, S.J.

By Admin

Jun

15

After twenty-three years inside the Soviet Union, fifteen of them spent in Soviet prisons or the prison camps of Siberia – I have been asked… “How did you manage to survive?” … To me, the answer is simple and I can say quite simply: Divine Providence. But how can I explain it? I don’t just mean that God took care of me. I mean that He called me to, prepared me for, then protected me during those years in Siberia. I am convinced of that; but then, it is my life and I have experienced His hand at every turning. I had decided I was going to be a Jesuit, so one morning I caught the train to New York without telling anyone. Somehow, I found my way to the office of the Jesuit Provincial. The brother in charge of the door told me the Provincial wasn’t in. I wouldn’t tell him what I wanted; I just asked when the Provincial would be back. He said the Provincial would return that evening, and I asked if I could see him. The brother shrugged his shoulders and I left. At 7:0 I returned to the Provincial’s residence and asked if he had returned. The brother told me to take a seat in the parlor. About eight o’clock, Father Kelly, the Provincial, came into the parlor and asked me what it was all about. I told him who I was, and that I wanted to be a Jesuit. He looked at me for a moment, then sat down. He wanted to know about my parents. I told him I was twenty-four years of age and the decision was mine to make. Then I reminded him of St. Stanislaus’ walk from Warsaw to Rome to see the Jesuit Provincial there. Father Kelly just stared at me, so I rushed on, trying to explain why I wanted to be a Jesuit… Father Kelly returned to tell me things would probably work out all right, but that I should go home and wait for his answer…. It was more than joy – it was a deep and soul-satisfying peace. It was something more, too, than just the quiet and release from tension that follows the settling of any emotional problem – it was a positive and deep-seated happiness akin to the feeling of belonging or of having reached safe harbor, but deeper than that and a gift from God.

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Espiritualidad: Which is its song of subject?

By Admin

Jun

15

On various retreat workshops, I have asked participants to consider their theme song. What song would you like played over a public address system to announce you as you walk into a large room? What song best speaks about your relationship with God? Jim Croce’s song “I Got a Name” is the song that best reflects the events in my life that led me to trust more fully in God. I liked the tune when I first heard it in 1973 on the radio because it is peppy, upbeat, and has great movement to its theme. The other times when I heard it in a meaningful way were: when my family collected my disabled sister at the end of her summer residential program and brought her home. My sister was in her teens and it was her first time away from home. Each weekend we would travel to see her, but my parents were heartbroken when we left her there and throughout the week. I recall hearing this song on the ride home after we picked her up to be with us once again. when my parents and I took care of my niece when she was in an unhappy home environment. My sister (my niece’s mother) was not ready to be a mother and we looked at the unhappiness of my niece during a visit. She was happy to see us. We asked permission to take her home with us and to my credit, my sister said ‘yes.’ I recall on the drive home, my parents handed my toddler niece to me. It felt right to collect her and I heard the song on the radio once again. Everything felt right. when I left my job at a human service agency for a career in banking – it meant that I would leave the expectations of a small textile mill behind and strike out on my own. In some ways for me, it meant giving up on my sister, but at the same time, I had to begin my life. I had a promising career in human services and left for the complete unknown. The day I left my job, as I drove home, I felt confirmation once again that it was the right thing to do when I turned on the radio and I heard the words, “and I’m gonna go there free.” and finally, when I posted my application for the Society of Jesus just as I was awarded the Presidents’ Circle Award at Eastern Bank. I spent 10 years in banking and I did well with that type of work. Early on in my career, I began my faith crisis when I won an award for the bank and was given job offers double and triple my salary, but I did not want to accept them because I thought my life was asking more of me. After a day off from a snowstorm in which I wrote my application, I brought it to work, was greeted with the news of my award, and had to discern which way God was calling me. After several days, I had the courage to post the application. Feeling relieved, once again somewhere along the drive the song came on the radio. I was beginning to understand the importance of this song to my life. Each time I heard this song I was assured of the rightness of our/my decision. It seemed to be a confirmation from God about the choices I was making. I especially likedthe middle part of the song that says, “And I’m gonna go there free.” My life with God has been about growing into new freedom. The song seems to tell me that I’ve got a name, I got a dream, I got a song. Click on the link below to hear the song. Jim Croce’s 1973 Classic “I Got A Name.” What is your theme song?

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Prayer: James F. Maguire, S.J.

By Admin

Jun

14

But the more basic explanation of my contentment and happiness in the Jesuit way of life is spiritual. Slowly – ever so slowly – over the fifty-seven years of my life as a Jesuit, I have been coming to experience in a most modest yet gradually deepening way the companionship of Christ. It is at Mass especially that Christ’s presence has been becoming real for me. In my early years as a priest and before that as a scholastic, there were occasional moments of realization that the Christ of Gethsemane, of Calvary, and of that first Easter morning was actually on the altar before us. Slowly – distressingly slowly – this awareness has gradually become more pronounced, especially in the moments following the consecration. Along with this growing awareness of the living and loving Christ in the Mass, there is experienced a growing closeness to him in and out of prayer outside the Holy Sacrifice. Under these conditions prayer ceases to be simply a duty to be discharged. One feels drawn to prayer – or rather to Christ who may be found in it. As the sense of Christ’s closeness becomes more continuous, one experiences deep personal fulfillment; but also an ever increasing amazement. Faith calmly accepts, but it is a clause of endless wonder to mind and heart that Christ continually seeks us out in such a personal and intimate fashion. Gradually – again with maddening slowness – one senses a lessening of disquiet over the inevitable frustrations, disappointments, and trials of our human condition. The ideal of the novitiate then is not entirely beyond realization. In time, We Jesuits do approach in some measurable degree the Society’s ideal and become gratefully conscious of Christ’s continuing companionship. As my years multiply, the thought of death occurs with frequency, but with little if any disquiet of the soul. One is increasingly sustained by and finds deep satisfaction in the guarantee of our Catholic faith that the growing sense of Christ’s presence that we now experience is but the merest suggestion of the eternal intimacy with Christ that is awaiting us.

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The eleventh Sunday in ordinary time

By Admin

Jun

12

June 13, 2010 Love makes us act in crazy ways. Loving another person involves great risks and makes you feel very vulnerable. Recall a point in your life when you wanted to say to another person “I love you” and to have the person respond in kind. It can be very frightening and you can risk great interpersonal loss because you can never predict what the other person is feeling. How does one cope if he or she is rejected after bearing the depths of one’s feelings to the other? It is quite a vulnerable action, but love propels a person to cross over those boundaries and take the risk. We see a sinful woman crossing over social and interpersonal boundaries when she anoints the feet of Jesus as he has dinner with Simon the Pharisee. She not only humbles herself at the feet of Jesus, she breaks all social conventions by entering into a house uninvited, which brings much negative attention to herself – a woman who may have already been battered down by society for years. However, nothing else matters for her. She has found the one who makes everything all right. This forgiven woman wants to show Jesus her gratitude for his great act of mercy and inclusion. She realizes that she wants to express her joy in return for being freed from her guilt. She can live in true freedom where the conventions of society no longer hold much weight. Her life can begin anew. It reveals the divine power hidden within forgiveness and it shows how deeply the risen Christ can live in us. We have new life when we accept forgiveness. Unfortunately, the Gospel passage doesn’t tell us what happened with the other characters. The Pharisees invite Jesus to the meal to test him and they murmur about the power Jesus professes to forgive sins. Simon intellectually understands that great love flows from having been forgiven much, but the nameless woman lives this particular truth. Forgiveness brings about an expansive love. The Gospel ends with a significant passage about naming the women who were close friends and disciples of Jesus. The Twelve are with Jesus and are sharing in his ministry, and Jesus dignifies the women by spending time with them. The new family of faith is being born. Those who are forgiven and cured merely want to hang out with the one who has done good thing for them. They become his companions and learn about his thoughts and visions. As you ponder this passage you may be able to sense the joy that they feel about being with one another with no real agenda or objective in mind. They like each other and want to spend time with the one they love. Discipleship can be so simple if we just take the time to be with our friend and Lord. Once we become more familiar with Christ, we naturally tell our stories and seek the forgiveness that leads to the exponential expansion of our love. We become inextricably changed. Quote for the Week O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of your presence, your love, and your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to you, we shall see your hand, your purpose, your will through all things. Attributed to Saint Ignatius of Loyola Themes for this Week’s Masses First Reading : When Naboth refused to cede his ancestral property to Ahab, Jezebel arranged to have him accused and stoned to death. Elijah confronts Ahab as a murderer who has unjustly taken Naboth’s vineyard, but Ahab humbles himself and the Lord spares him, but promises doom upon his son. When Elijah was to be taken up into heaven, Elisha asks for double the spirit of Elijah and takes on his ministry. The Book of Sirach recounts how the flaming chariot divided Elijah from Elisha and Elijah was enveloped in a whirlwind. Jehoiada anointed Joash as the king, made a covenant, and then demolished the temple of Baal. The city lived in peace as its enemies were vanquished. When Jehoiada died, his son Zechariah became prophet, but the princes forsook the temple of the Lord and killed Zechariah. For this, the Lord sent a small band of Arameans to vanquish the much larger forces of Judah and Jerusalem. The devastated Joash suffered greater calamity as his servants rose against him and killed him. Gospel : Matthew’s Beatitudes continue with Jesus reversing the ancient Jewish law of an eye for an eye by turning it into a teaching about the proper attitude for behaviors in the face of evil. Jesus overturns the teaching about love your neighbor by asking them to love their enemies just as God loves all people and things. One’s righteousness has to be done because of its rightness in which we will get God’s affirmation, not the glory of humans. He then teaches them how to pray – a startling new way in which we can address the Lord God as Abba, Father. We are to search for the imperishable treasure that lies in our life with God. We can only have one God and we have to choose which god to follow and then conform our lives to it, but the choice we make has eternal consequences. Saints of the Week Saturday: Romuald, abbot ran the Camaldolese Benedictine monastery that began in 1012. He was from a royal family in Ravenna. He is remembered for combining the monastic community life with the solitary life of hermits. The Camaldolese have a monastery in the hills of northern California next to the Big Sur. This Week in Jesuit History • Jun 13, 1557. The death of King John III of Portugal, at whose request Francis Xavier and others were sent to India. • Jun 14, 1596. By his brief Romanus Pontifex, Pope Clement VIII forbade to members of the Society of Jesus the use or privilege of the Bulla Cruciata as to the choice of confessors and the obtaining of absolution from reserved cases. • Jun 15, 1871. P W Couzins, a female law student, graduated from Saint Louis University Law School, the first law school in the country to admit women. • Jun 16, 1675. St Margaret Mary Alacoque received her great revelation about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. • Jun 17, 1900. The martyrdom at Wuyi, China, of Blesseds Modeste Andlauer and Remy Asore, slain during the Boxer Rebellion. • Jun 18, 1804. Fr. John Roothan, a future general of the Society, left his native Holland at the age of seventeen to join the Society in White Russia. • Jun 19, 1558. The opening of the First General Congregation, nearly two years after the death of Ignatius. It was summoned by Fr. Lainez, the Vicar General. Some trouble arose from the fact that Fr. Bobadilla thought himself entitled to some share in the governance. Pope Paul IV ordered that the Institute of the Society should be strictly adhered to. Prayer for Middle East Christians Pope Benedict this week calls upon all Catholics to remember the plight of Middle East Christians who are largely forgotten by the world community. We pray for Christians in Israel who do not have full rights of civic and religious freedom. We pray for Christians in Palestine who have little daily sustenance. We pray for those in Iraq, once a thriving middle class of professionals, who have been forced to abandon their professions or to flee to the north to live in greater security. May Pope Benedict continue to call upon Christians frequently to remind us of our fraternal responsibilities to our brothers and sisters. The New England province once had a thriving mission in Baghdad, Iraq operating Baghdad College (high school), Al Hikma University, and a Spirituality Center. Every several years, the alumni of these schools gather in the U.S. and Canada for a spirited reunion. We have often prayed for the Iraqi Chaldean community and other Christians who have faced difficult times. May our prayers for them continue. Father’s Day May God’s blessings fall upon all fathers for the ways they have shown care and protection to their children. May God also bless grandfathers, uncles, and all who have acted paternally to provide for the needs of others. May St. Joseph continue to watch over those who watch over the young, the needy, and the poor in society. Graduations Congratulations to all graduates of high schools and universities. Celebrate your accomplishments well and with great safety. The world needs well-informed, conscience-developing, wisdom-inspired men and women to lead us into a more caring and compassionate world. “Good, better, best. Never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is your best.” Jesuit Ordinations Across the United States, Jesuits who have been trained in theological schools will be presented for priestly ordination by their provinces. Five men from the New England, New York, and Maryland provinces will be ordained on Saturday, June 12th. The church is very fortunate to receive these men to the orders of sacramental ministry. Ecology Our prayers remain with the people and the habitat of the Gulf of Mexico coastline as the oil spill, though slightly improving, still has no end for recovery in sight. The immense harm to our ecological world reminds us of the fragile balance of our environment.

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