The Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Lady of the Way

 From December of 1538 to well into May 1539, a severe cold gripped Rome and the outlying districts with the sad result that food became scarce.  Romans were starving and it became more and more frequent to hear of people freezing to death during the cold nights.  Amazed that the city was doing nothing to help these unfortunate victims of winter, St. Ignatius and his Jesuits took them in by the hundreds and lodged them in different parts of the Frangipani estate which was donated to them.  The Jesuits then went among Rome’s wealthy families to beg for food for the hungry.  During those terrible months St. Ignatius is said to have helped some 3,000 individuals. 

 Jesuits have a special devotion to Our Lady of the Way, or Madonna Della Strada, because the  Roman Church that bore that name was the Society’s first church and it was there that St. Ignatius and the early Jesuits focused their apostolate.  This church was not far from the Frangipani estate.  This church was eventually transferred to the Society of Jesus; it became the first Jesuit church in the Eternal City.  It was greatly beloved by Ignatius and his followers.  Many Jesuits prayed before the painting of Our Lady holding the Child, and it was at her altar that the early Jesuits pronounced their vows.  Many a saint had knelt before it, and many a Jesuit went there to seek her protection. 

Many of the early Jesuits who died in Rome were buried in this church; when Ignatius returned to God, he was buried in this church in front of the altar and the picture of Our Lady of the Way. 

 In 1565,when this church became too small a bigger church was constructed in Rome called The Gesu.

The chapel of Our Lady of the Way was moved to the Gesu, along with the famous painting.  The remains of St. Ignatius and the other Jesuits buried in the small church were moved to the Gesu. 

 The chapel of Our Lady of the Way in the Gesu is still a favorite shrine among Romans, but it is specially beloved by Jesuits. To this day Jesuits have a special love of Our Lady of the Way.  The feast of Our Lady of the Way for the Society of Jesus is this coming Tuesday, May 24^th.

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

  Pray especially for the faculty and staff who will not be returning to SJJ next year.  We pray for their future success and happiness. Today underclassmen take their last exams of the year.  Summer break begins tomorrow. Pray for our many  foreign service trips which will happen this summer; many students, faculty, and staff will participate in them. Pray for the success of our Labre outreach to the poor which will continue every Monday during the summer. Pray for a safe and blessed summer break for our students, faculty, and staff.  Holy Mother Mary, pray for us.  St. John Berchmans, pray for us.  St. Ignatius, pray for us.

 Eternal Lord of All Things

 Eternal Lord of all things, I feel your gaze on me.  I sense that your Mother stands near, watching, and that with you are all the great beings of heaven – angels and powers and martyrs and saints, family and friends.  Lord, Jesus, I think you have put a desire in me.  If you will help me, please, I would like to make my offering: I want it to be my desire, and my choice, provided that you want it, too, to live my life as you lived yours.  I know that you lived an insignificant person in a little, despised town; I know that you rarely tasted luxury and never privilege, and that you resolutely refused to accept power.  I know that you suffered rejection by leaders, abandonment by friends, and failure.  I know.  I can hardly bear the thought of it all.  But it seems a toweringly wonderful thing that you might call me to follow you and stand with you.  I will labor with you to bring God’s reign, if you will give me the gift to do it.  Amen.

Fr. Joseph Tetlow, S.J. (This prayer is a paraphrase of the colloquy of the meditation on Christ the King which is placed at the beginning of the second week of The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola.)

Blessed Peter Wright

1603-1651

Martyr of England

 He spent the night before his execution in quiet prayer, preparing himself for death.  On this day in 1651, Fr. Wright, S.J. awoke at five o’clock and celebrated his last Mass.  When he heard the jailer’s knock on his door he responded, “I come, sweet Jesus, I come.”  He said farewell to the other prisoners and then let himself be bound to the hurdle that dragged him to the place of execution.  The streets were lined with many people, and it is said that when he arrived at Newgate Prison in Tyburn there was a crowd of 20,000 waiting to see a martyr go to God.  While thirteen criminals were hanged before him, he silently prayed.

 Fr. Wright decided to enter the Society of Jesus in 1629.  He wished to be missioned to the difficult and dangerous English mission, but his superior thought differently.  He was to be chaplain to the English soldiers serving the Spanish army in Flanders, Belgium.

 When the English regiment which he was attached to was ordered to England, Fr. Wright went with them, even though it was dangerous for a Catholic priest to be in England.  Fr. Wright was preparing to say Mass at the Marquis of Winchester’s house in London’s.  Protestant priest-hunters were alerted and surrounded the house.  Fr. Wright was captured and taken to Newgate Prison.  He was convicted before a trial of being a priest and a Jesuit.  On hearing his guilty verdict, he said: “God Almighty’s holy name be blessed now and for evermore.”

 After the noose was placed on his neck he said to the crowd:  “Gentlemen, this is a short passage to eternity.  I was brought hither charged with no other crime but being a priest.  I willing confess I am a priest; I confess I am a Catholic; I confess I am a religious man in the Society of Jesus.”  The cart was pulled from under him.  He was left to hand until dead; his body was cut down, beheaded, disemboweled, and quartered.

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 Please pray for our underclassmen on day-two of final exams.  Lord, when our children have different tastes and ideas from our own, show us when not to speak.  When they disagree with us over what we allow them to do, give us the wisdom to be neither over-protective nor irresponsible.  Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius Loyola, pray for us.

 Patient Trust

 Above all, trust in the slow work of God.  We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.  We should like to skip the intermediate stages.  We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.  And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability – and that it may take a very long time.

 And so I think it is with you.  Your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste.  Don’t try and force them on, as though you could be today what time will make of you tomorrow.  Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.  Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

Fr. Pierre de Chardin, S.J.

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Graduation Ceremony at Saint John’s Jesuit

Becoming Men and Women for Others

 Tonight the class of 2016 will walk across the stage at the Stranahan Theater to receive their St. John’s Jesuit diploma.  There is a saying in Jesuit circles:  “Bring them in their door, but bring them out ours.”  In their four years, we have worked to accept the boys where they are but form them to be more, to be “men for others” in the image of Christ.  I have been here for 32 years, and I know St. John’s Jesuit forms men in the image of Christ.  They have all experienced powerful retreats in all four years.  They have done a great deal of service; many have done foreign service trips and many have participated in our Labre program which reaches out to the poor of Toledo.  All have been challenged in the classroom – as all Jesuit schools do.  And, of course, there are the sports, the Arts, and so many more activities. 

 In the process of teaching students, Jesuit high schools are preparing each student to carry out a mission to change the world for the good.  Jesuit education is nearly five hundred years old, its values are rock solid, they have been passed on to this year’s senior class.  They will be expected to go out to the world and serve their communities, their nation, and the world. 

 Pray for this year’s senior class as they leave St. John’s Jesuits as “men for others.”  Pray for our underclassmen who begin exams today.  Lord, we pray for our graduates as they move further into an unsteady and confusing world.  Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and the following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

 Suscipe

 Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my understanding, my memory – all of my decisions and my freedom to choose.  All that I am and all that I have you gave and give to start;  now I turn and return all to you, looking to find your hopes and will in all.  Keep giving me your holy love, hold on me your life-giving gaze, and I neither need no want anything else.

(“Suscipe” is from the Latin word “take.”  It is the first word in this famous prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola.  It is the prayer with which the retreatants doing The Spiritual Exercises would end their retreat.)

History of Saint John’s (Jesuit) and the 50^th Anniversary

 In 1936, The Toledo Blade ran the following article at the closing of old  St. John’s high school: 

 “St. John’s college and high school, Jesuit educational institutions operated here for 38 years, will be closed at the end of the present school term, concluding one of the most colorful chapters in the city’s educational program. “

 “Announcement that the institutions have been forced to abandon further endeavor in the educational field because of financial conditions was made today by Bishop Karl J. Alter and the Very Rev. Gerald A. Fitzgibbons, president of St. John’s.  According to present plans, St. John’s college will be merged with the Toledo Teachers college at the end of the present term and the combined institutions will occupy the present college and high school buildings at Superior and Walnut streets.” 

 “The priests and scholastics of the high school and college departments will be transferred to the Jesuit province of Chicago, it was reported.  St. John’s student will be transferred to Central Catholic high school in September.”

 The Catholic Chronicle in their May 16, 1966 wrote:  “Formal dedication ceremonies for the reopening of St. John’s High School will be Sunday, May 22.  The opening of the new building brings back to Toledo teachers of the Jesuit order which opened a high school here in 1898 at Superior and Walnut Street.  The bishop asked blessing on it ‘for the greater glory of God’ and for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Catholics of Toledo.”

 Tonight is the 50^th Baccalaureate Mass since the reopening of St. John’s High School in 1965.  Tonight the class of 2016 will receive blessings as they finish their time at SJJ.

  Pray for the Senior Class as we celebrate their time at SJJ at tonight’s Baccalaureate Mass, and tomorrow’s graduation ceremonies.  Pray for our underclassmen: today is the final day of classes for this year; tomorrow exams begin.  Lord, teach us to be generous, teach us to serve you as you deserve: to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor, and to ask for no reward, except that of knowing I am doing your will. Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.   

  Personal Prayer of Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

 Grant me, O Lord, to see everything now with new eyes, to discern and test the spirits that help me read the signs of the times, to relish the things that are yours, and to communicate them to others.  Give me the clarity of understanding that you gave Ignatius.

Fr. Arrupe (1907-91) was the superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983.

Initials Etched Into the Heart of The Society of Jesus

Servant of God Stephen Le Fevre, S.J.

1597-1657

 Fr. Stephen Le Fevre was the first French Jesuit assigned to the Chinese mission.  He learned the Chinese language; he preached in Chinese; he instructed Chinese who wanted to become Christian. He helped prepare the new Chinese calendar and translated scientific books into Chinese.

 Sometime in late April or early May 1657, Fr. Le Fevre became very ill in the small town of Hanchung, China.  He became so ill that the peasant Chinese Christians of his parish prepared a litter so that he could be transported to a larger city with the least amount of discomfort.  But on May 10, Ascension Thursday morning, he told all concerned that it would not be necessary to move him.  He went to his room and penned what would be his last words.  In this letter he told his Jesuit superior that he would be going to the Lord this day.  He humbly asked forgiveness for his failures and gave thanks for all that was done for him.

 He then went to the church to celebrate his last Mass with his Chinese Christians converts.  During the Mass he picked up a branch to bless them; he turned to them and spoke for the last time, encouraging them to remain steadfast in their faith and in the new life they had received in baptism.  As he was saying the names “Jesus, Mary”, he closed his eyes and his body gently collapsed to the floor before the altar.  It was noon and Fr. Le Fevre was with God. 

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 SJJ English teacher Sophia Fay gave birth Sunday to a 8lbs., 5ozs. baby girl, Stella Josephine Fay.  We give thanks for this new birth and pray for the young family in the days ahead. Our seniors graduate next week; they finish Senior Project this week.  Keep them in your prayers.  Next week our underclassmen will take final exams; pray for this.  Come into my soul, Lord, as the dawn breaks into the sky; let your sun rise in my heart at the coming of the day. Servant of God Stephen Le Fevre, pray for us.  Saint John Berchmans, pray for us. Saint Ignatius, pray for us. 

 This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, the end of the Easter season.  Now is the good time to begin a novena to the Holy Spirit.  Starting today the following prayer, “Come Holy Spirit”, could be used for daily prayer for the next nine days.

 Come, Holy Spirit, and from heaven direct on us the rays of Your light.  Come, Father of the poor; come, Giver of God’s gifts; come, Light of our hearts.  Kindly Paraclete, in Your gracious visits to our soul, You bring relief and consolation.  If it is weary with toil, You bring it ease; in the heat of temptation, Your grace cools it; if sorrowful, Your words console it. Light most blessed, shine on the hearts of Your faithful – even into their darkest corners; for without Your help there is nothing good in us, and nothing is innocent.  Wash clean the injured soul.  Soften the hard of heart, warm the cold of heart, and direct the wayward.  Amen

A novena (from the Latin: Novem, meaning Nine) is an act of religious devotion consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days in belief of obtaining special graces.

Henry David Thoreau

Naturalist and Social Critic (1817-1862)

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

Henry David Thoreau died of tuberculosis on this day  in 1862.  Yet, he lived in a state of hope, “an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest  sleep.”  This was sounded in the last lines of Walden:  “The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us.  Only that day dawns to which we are awake.  There is more day to dawn.  The sun is but a morning star.” 

 He studied at Harvard and worked for a time as a teacher. Thoreau published two books, both of them virtually ignored in his lifetime.  One of these, Walden, and account of his two years of elected solitude at Walden Pond, is an American classic.  This book describes a kind of mystical rapture in the communion with Nature, that speaks
directly to the concerns of an ecological age.  He rejected the ugliness and stress of modern society.  He did not so much reject the world as the deadness of life in the world.  “I went to the woods because I wished to
live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

 We pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all.  We have faith in One God, one Source of all life, one Ground of the whole earth, with all her creatures, And thus we have faith in the goodness of earth’s life.  And we have faith that God’s Spirit lead us to sensitive closeness with earth’s life. (Worship in an Indian Context) Saint John Berchmans, pray
for us.   Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

Then Jesus approached them , ‘All power in heaven and earth has been given me, Go out to the world and spread the Good News baptizing and teaching all to observe all that I have given you.’” Then he ascended.  (Matthew 28)

 The Master would allow his disciples to live with him only for a limited period of time; then he would push them away to fend for themselves.

 A newcomer questioning a disciple about this practice of the Master received this reply: “the Master is a mirror that reflects Reality and you.  Once you have seen Reality, the mirror must be flung away lest, through your veneration, it turns into a screen.”

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.

Ascension Thursday

Presence, not Absence

 Today, 40 day after Easter, has been the traditional date for “Ascension Thursday” (Some countries, including the United States, have moved it to this coming Sunday.).  Before the post-Vatican II restoration of the liturgy, a small ritual took place at the Ascension Thursday Mass – a ritual that obscured the meaning of the Ascension.  The paschal candle symbolizes the presence of the risen Christ here on earth (The SJJ paschal candle is in our small chapel.).  On Ascension Thursday, immediately after the Gospel, the server would snuff out the paschal candle.  Christ has ascended…and this implied that he was gone.

 Today, the candle isn’t snuffed out.  It continues to burn as a sign that Christ is present in a new form of human existence that breaks through the barriers of space and time. 

 Christ’ ascension is about presence, not absence.  Also, we are eleven days way from Pentecost Sunday called the “birthday of the Church.”

 Pray for our students, who have 9 class days before exams, and the end of this year.  Lord, I cannot fathom or hold you I can only ask you to take hold of me. Fill me with yourself. Saint John of the Cross, pray for us. Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

  Word to the Wise

 When we take pride in our wisdom we become, as St. Paul warns, “fools.”  For all the world’s wisdom and all our skills contrasted with the wisdom of God are utter ignorance.

 So if we count on our own wisdom to bring about union with God, we are truly ignorant and will never reach our goal.  Only those who set aside their own knowledge, and walk in God’s service like unlearned children, receive wisdom from God.  “If anyone among you thinks he is wise, let him become ignorant so as to be wise, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”  (Jesus)

Fear Not the Night, St. John of the Cross

The Woman with a Flow of Blood (first century)

 “If I touch his garments, I shall be made well. And Jesus said: ‘Daughter, it is your faith that has made you well.’”

 One day as Jesus passed through a crowd, a woman pressed her way unnoticed through the protective circle of disciples and touched his garment.  Immediately Jesus perceived that “power had gone froth from him.”  He stopped.  Facing the crowd, he asked, “Who touched my garments/” With fear and trembling the woman stepped forward, fell before him, and told her story.  She had suffered for twelve years from a “flow of blood.”

 This woman suffered a condition which rendered her unclean in Jewish Law and seen with revulsion by this crowd.  She alone saw, Jesus' disciples had not, that Jesus was at the service of love.  And in touching his garment she had immediately felt herself to be healed.

 There is no special power in the physical proximity to Christ.  Many touched him that day; Judas dipped his hand the same bowl as Jesus, and Judas betrayed him.  Many were not healed that day.

 Christ was present in that crowd in all his love and power.  But it was the faith of a poor, frightened, untouchable woman who had recognized that power and so awakened it with a touch and brought it into full view. 

All Saints, Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time, Robert Ellsberg

  Lord Jesus Christ, alive and at large in the world, help me to follow and find you there today, in the places where I work, meet people, spend money, and make plans. Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

  What it is all about!

 The promises of God stand above us, more valid than the stars and more effective than the sun.  Based on these promises we will become healthy and free, from the center of our being.  The promises have turned us around and opened life to the infinite. 

 And what of the manifold and exciting joys that can be experienced in the shining of the sun, in the movement of the waters, in the blooming of flowers, in a meeting with a true friend?  I know perfectly well the many sources from which joy can flow out to man – and that all these sources also can fall silent.  This is not what it is all about.  It’s about the order of God and in nearness to God.  This is also where we become capable of joy and happiness.  Establishing the order of God, and announcing God’s nearness, and teaching it and bringing  it to others: that is what it is about.

Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J.

Servant of God Joseph Mary Rubio

1864-1929

 On this day in 1929, Fr. Joseph Mary Rubio, S.J. suffered an attack of angina while visiting a Jesuit novitiate in Aranjuez, Spain.  He was sixty-four years old and had been a Jesuit for twenty-three years.

 Fr. Rubio entered the Society of Jesus after many years as a diocesan priest.  He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Granada, Spain.  . He was forty-two years old, and priest with a great deal of experience.  He spent the bulk of his time as a Jesuit in Madrid.

 Fr. Rubio exercised two important apostolates in Madrid, one in the confessional and in the pulpit.  The lines standing outside his confessional were usually long, and among those waiting in line were aristocrats as well as simple folk.  Masters and servants were equal when they met before Fr. Rubio’s box, and the vast majority of them came to him for spiritual direction than for absolution.  Although Spain’s best orators came to preach in the capital, the people preferred Fr. Rubio’s simple and sincere sermons, which always touched their hearts.  He helped to prove that the simple sermon yields the best fruit. 

 He regularly visited the city’s slums and there preached to the abandoned and the miserable.  These unfortunates found a friend in him, and weekly he was deluged with requests for help, ranging from someone in need of a place to sleep to some young girl’s need of a dowry.  All who came to him knew he would help.

  Today is also the feast day of St. Athanasius (d. 373). Athanasius helped lead the fight against Arianism (The heresy where Jesus was created by God, the greatest of human beings, but not by nature God.) and participated in the Council of Nicene (325) which formulated the familiar Nicene Creed used by Catholics every Sunday: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father…true God from true God.”

 Our seniors begin Senior Project today.  They will be shadowing professionals in Toledo and outside Toledo to begin thinking about possible careers. O God, you are my God, early will I seek you.  My flesh longs for you, my soul thirsts for you, in a barren and dry land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1) Saint Athanasius, pray for us.  Servant of God Joseph Mary Rubio, S.J., pray for us.  Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

The Formula

 The mystic was back from the desert.  “Tell us, “ they said, “what God is like.”

 But how could he ever tell them what he had experienced in his heart?  Can God be put into words?

He finally gave them a formula – so inaccurate, so inadequate – in the hope that some of them might be tempted to experience it for themselves.

 They seized upon the formula. They made it a sacred text.  They imposed it on others as a holy belief. They went to great pains to spread it in foreign lands. Some even gave their lives for it.

 The mystic was sad.  It might have been better if he had said nothing.

 Fr. Anthony De Mello, S.J. (Fr. De Mello loved stories; his international acclaim rests on his unique approach to contemplation.   Everyone loves stories.  His stories have a special quality: if read in a certain kind of way, they will produce spiritual growth.  Read the above a few times; reflect on your thoughts; let the story reveal its inner depth during the course of a day.)

Cardinal Dearden, Oskar Schindler, and the Holy Spirit

 After he retired as Archbishop of Detroit, Cardinal John Dearden was asked what his style of leadership was.  He thought for a moment and said, “Well, I tried never to get in the way of the Holy Spirit.”  He was made cardinal on this date in 1969. 

 At this time in the Easter season the Mass first readings are from Acts of the Apostles.  The Holy Spirit is mentioned 57 times in this fourth book of the New Testament. 

 Also, on this day in 1908, Oskar Schindler was born.  Born a Catholic, he hired many Jews from the ghetto for his factory, because they were cheap labor.  When he saw Jews being sent to death camps, he found ways to protect his workers using bribery, black marketeering and lies.

 His Catholic upbringing does not explain why he took the risks he took; he never had a religious impulse in his life.  He was an opportunist and profiteer, a gambler, a drinker, and a faithless husband.  The “mystery” remains as to why he did what he did. 

The Little White Book of Easter, 2009

  SJJ director of college counseling, Dr. Margie Warrick, requests prayers for her daughter Abby, who is experiencing serious health issues, and for herself as she cares for Abby. Pray for our seniors on the third, and last, day of final exams. Breathe in me, Holy Spirit, that I may think what is holy.  Move me, Holy Spirit, that I may do what is holy.  Strengthen me Holy Spirit, that I may guard what is holy.  Guard me, Holy Spirit.  St. John Berchmans, pray for us.  St. Ignatius, pray for us. 

 With Bound Hands

 “The experience we are all passing through must surely at least produce one thing  - a passionate love of God and desire for his glory.  As far as I am concerned, I find I have to approach him in a new and quite personal way.  I must remove all the barriers that still stand between him and me.  I must break down all the hidden reserve that keeps me from him.” 

 The quote above is from Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J., a widely admired pastor, youth leader, and intellectual.  Fr. Delp was executed by the Nazis in Plotzensee Prison in Berlin on February 2, 1945.  During the six months before his execution, the shackled priest painfully wrote a stream of deeply moving letters, meditations, and prayers which were smuggled out to friends and family members.  These writings reveal a man profoundly changed in the crucible of suffering – a once-arrogant, impatient priest transformed into a herald of hope and grace.

St. Peter Canisius

1521-1597

 On this day the Society of Jesus honors St. Peter Canisius, S.J..  His greatest achievement for the Church was his preaching, and it was this apostolate that helped restore Catholicism to Germany.  Pope Paul III requested Fr. Canisius undertake the important mission of defending the Catholic Church against the attacks of the Protestant Reformers.  He was asked to halt the defection among Catholics and to bring back into the church those who had already strayed.  This may seem to have been an enormous task to assign to a single individual, but if anyone was capable of handling it successfully, it was Canisius.

 He wrote his famous Catechism, wrote scholarly books, and did a tremendous amount of preaching.  He led the Church to establish more seminaries in Germany.  He felt better prepared priests led to better Catholics in parishes.  He did all this, though, without rancor or accusation.  His debates with the Reformers were always civil and well informed.

 He preached until poor health forced him to stop.  In 1591, at sixty-eight years-of-age he suffered a stroke, that forced him to use a cane.  In 1597 he faced more health issues with congestion of the lungs and ulcers in his throat.  He could no longer say Mass.  On December 21, 1597, in his seventy-sixth year, he died peacefully in the Lord.  He had founded 18 colleges and authored 37 books. 

 Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 Pray for the students and leaders of Canisius House at SJJ. Pray for our seniors on day two of second semester exams. God of patience and compassion, send us in our own day men of vision and wisdom like Saint Peter Canisius, to sow the good seed of your word among the peoples of the world.  Saint Peter Canisius, pray for us. Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

 Jesus’ Gift!

 “My peace I leave you; my peace I give you.” (John 14)

 Jesus’ farewell gift was “peace” (shalom). It is more a promise of peace fulfilled on Easter Sunday night, when the risen Jesus came through the locked door and breathed on the disciples the holy Spirit. Note, this peace is not what passes for peace in our world.  Rather, it is the saving work of Jesus.  His death was his gift!  His resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of this gift. 

Did You Know?

 The Latin word for “blessing” (bene-dictio) means to “speak well” of or upon someone.  A person blesses God by speaking well upon (praising) God.  One blesses another by asking God to do well by them.  Actually, “good-bye” is a blessing, a contracted form of “God be with you.”

 Besides the Sign of the Cross (which is a blessing upon oneself), blessing most commonly used by Christians is the blessing upon food and upon those gathered to eat it: “Bless us O Lord, and these they gifts….”

 Blessings are not magical as though the words themselves carried their own power.  God is the source of every good gift, and ultimately, all blessings come from God: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”

 Every Christian can bless others.  Some have special authority to invoke God’s blessings, for example, parents upon their children…or those who are ordained to act on behalf of the Church.  Sometimes objects are “officially” blessed insofar as they are set aside for sacred use – e.g. an altar, a chalice, a crucifix, a rosary.  If a home, a car, or some such object is blessed, they are not sacred objects, but the blessing is requesting God to be specially present. 

The Little White Book of Easter, 2005

Today our seniors begin the final exams of their time at SJJ.  Pray for their success. SJJ staff member, Inga Wood, requests our prayers for a friend, Sarah, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  May the power of your love, Lord Christ, fiery and sweet, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from undue attachment to all that is under heaven (St. Francis of Assisi). Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

Don’t Worry About Your Strength

Offer yourself frequently to God and ask what God wants you to do. Do not worry about your strength. Rest assured that you will receive all that is necessary from the goodness of God.
St. Louise de Marillac

The Blessed Virgin Mary,

Mother of the Society of Jesus

 “All members of the Society of Jesus have rightly an outstanding devotion to Mary our Mother…No mother ever had more sons, none was ever more blessed or showed such fidelity…For none was ever so holy, beautiful, and fair, none so honored or endowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  No mother ever had more love for her Son…Mother of the living, means of grace, begetter of life, Mother of God, our Mother, who therefore loves us and out of love prays to God on our behalf and begs for us.”  (St. Peter Canisius, S.J.)

 At all important junctures in the life of St. Ignatius, Our Lady had an important role to play.  His love and devotion to her was such that he placed himself and his Society under her protection and asked her to care for it as a mother cares for her children.  Today, the Society of Jesus celebrates Our Lady’s motherly protection.  It was on April 22  Ignatius and his companions pronounced their first vows as Jesuits.  When Ignatius celebrated his first Mass he chose the altar of Our Lady in the Roman church of St. Mary Major.

 He recognized that he and his companions needed Our Lady’s continued protection.  Ever since Jesuits have followed their founder’s footsteps in loving the Mother of God.

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 SJJ Athletic Director, Bob Ronai, would appreciate prayers for his son Jason and his granddaughter Anna, as Krista, wife and mother to them, passed away around 1:30 yesterday morning. She was greeted by his son James and her other brother-in-law. From all of the Ronai family, Greg thank you and all of the SJJ community for the prayers, concern and support through this most difficult time. Pray for our juniors on day three of their Magis retreat.  We pray for a safe, blessed weekend for all. We turn to you for protection, holy Mother of God.  Listen to our prayers and help us in our needs.  Save us from every danger, glorious and blessed Virgin. Mary, our Mother, pray for us. Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  St. Ignatius, pray for us.

What God Needs

 God does not need great pathos or great works, but he needs greatness of hearts.  He cannot calculate with zeroes.

Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J.

Blessed Francis Page, S.J.

?-1602

Martyr of England

On February 2, 1601 Fr. Francis Page was vested and about to begin Mass when then noises and shouts from outside the house indicated that it was surrounded by priest-hunters.  He had hardly pulled off the vestments, hid them, and took a seat among the people who had come for Mass, when the hunters rushed in.  Finding the room full of people seated before a prepared altar, the intruders were led to believe that the group was waiting for a priest to arrive.  In the confusion which followed, the owner of the house hustled Fr. Page away from the crowd into a concealed priest-hole.  The owner, Anne Line was arrested and executed for harboring a priest.  Fr. Page was safe for the time being.

But in April of 1602, after many narrow escapes, Fr. Page was recognized by a woman in the street who was pretending to be Catholic.  She said she needed to speak to him; Fr. Page pretended not to hear her, then he ran for his life.  An inn keeper took him in, then held him till police arrested him.  He was taken to Newgate prison.

He was tried and found guilty of high treason and condemned to the gallows.  At this time he was not a Jesuit priest, but he had always wanted to be a Jesuit.  Now that he was about to be executed he wrote out the Jesuit vow formula; his Jesuit cell mate signed his vows.  On the gallows he made a public profession of his Catholicism and announced that he had made his vows to the Society of Jesus.  Beneath the gallows, as he was pronouncing the name Jesus, the cart was drawn from under him, and he remained hanging until he was dead.  Then his body was dismembered.  He died on this day in 1602.

Jesuits Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 Today is Grandparents’ Mass at SJJ.  We give thanks for all grandparents who love and support of our students.  We thank you, Lord, for the privilege of knowing elderly people: thank you for their experience and wisdom, and the stories they can tell us; be with them when they feel lonely or unwanted, surround them with your peace. Blessed Francis Page, pray for us.  St. John Berchmans, pray for us.  St. Ignatius, pray for us.

Jesus and His Wounds

Breaking the Smooth Surface of Life

 The risen Jesus is a survivor.  He has been through abuse and torture. He has been beaten, mocked, and had thorns pressed into his head. He has experienced public humiliation and been executed on the cross.  And now he has been raised from the dead. 

 We cannot get inside Jesus’ own experience of this. The experience of resurrection life has nothing with which it can be compared. In the Gospel stories, Jesus’ body is indeed glorified, but the scars of his torture remain.  Jesus shows his wounds to the disciples as though he is a little amazed about them himself.  These wounds do not go away, but link Jesus forever to his passion and death. 

 But how do wounds heal?  How do they make someone else whole?  They break the smooth surface of life.  It takes the disruption of that smooth surface to give us pause to ponder. 

 Vulnerability – literally, the ability to be wounded – is a kind of self-giving in love that makes possible coming to a new place, a new state of existence. Vulnerability is not about masochism, or a desire to draw attention to oneself or to be pitied.  Vulnerability is a capacity so to trust that one runs the risk of wounds.  It does not make wounds desirable, nor does it make them less painful.  One is willing to run the risk of wounds because of something more important: the communion love that engenders trust, that make a fresh start of forgiveness possible.

Robert Schreiter, CPPS

Easter Season

 Not so long ago, if you asked most Catholics, “What is the Easer season?” they would have been surprised at the question.  “Well, it’s not really a season.  It’s Easter Sunday, plus the week following Easter.

 The re-emphasis on the 50-day Easter season is part of the restoration of the Church’s traditions following Vatican II.  This season (the longest of the special seasons in the Church year) begins on Easter Sunday evening, and ends on the evening of Pentecost Sunday seven weeks later.

 Whereas Advent and Lent are season of preparation (for Christmas and Easter respectively), the Easter season prolongs the celebration of Easter.  The whole season is one long extension of Easter Sunday. 

The Little White Book of Easter, 2007

 Jesus Christ our King has risen. Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor, radiant in the brightness of your King!  Christ has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes forever! Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

 Easter: Earth’s Awakening

 i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; this is the birth

 (i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

great happenings illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any – lifted from the no

of all nothing – human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e.e. cummings

St. Benedict Joseph Labre (1748-1783)

Poor In the Eyes of Men and Women, Rich in the Eyes of God

Last Saturday was the 231th anniversary of the death of St. Benedict Joseph Labre (SJJ has an outreach program to the poor and homeless of Toledo named after this great saint.). Labre was a religious vagabond, a “holy fool for Christ” of a type familiar in the traditions of the East, but less so in the West. Born in a village in France, he decided early in life to devote his life entirely to God. He was turned away by many religious orders.

Discouraged, he set out on a personal pilgrimage. He dressed in rag.  He declined to beg, though occasionally passersby were moved to offer him alms, which he would pass on to those he felt were more in need. When food was not offered, he lived off of what was discarded by the roadside.  Those who were able to see beneath his disheveled appearance recognized the saint in their midst.

When his health began to fail, he slept in a hospice for the destitute. At the age of 35, he collapsed on the steps of a church and was carried to a nearby butcher. There he died. Almost immediately, children of the neighborhood began calling through the streets, “The Saint is dead, the Saint is dead!” His reputation quickly spread through all of Europe.

 Tonight our 184^th Labre group will go to some of the poorest of Toledo to offer food, conversation, and friendship.  Every Monday of the year Labre happens. Labre is possible due to the efforts of St. John’s Jesuit, St. Ursula, and Notre Dame Academy, but also the generous gifts of food and money from our communities. Pray for the success of this program.  This is our seniors last week of classes; pray for them as they end their academic time at SJJ.  Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow human beings throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger.  Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and, by our understanding love, give peace and joy. (Mother Teresa of Calcutta)  Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, pray for us.  Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.  Saint Ignatius, pray for us.

Listen with the Heart

Learning to wait well is one of the secret gifts of the soul.  It gives growing time in the dark.

Be grateful for what is ending.  Prepare for what is ahead by readying the soil of the soul for anything and everything God sends.

“What we anticipate seldom occurs,“ Disraeli wrote, and “what we least expected generally happens,”  Preparation is the process of being ready for both. – Sr. Joan Chittister

Blessed Edward Oldcorne

1561-1606

Martyr of England

 Blessed Edward Oldcorne, S.J.  died on this day in 1606.  Another Jesuit martyr of England, Fr. Oldcorne was sentenced to climb the hangman’s ladder; just before the hangman pushed him off the ladder, he prayed for the king and royal family, his accusers, the judges, and the hangman. 

 He entered the Society of Jesus August 23, 1587.  He asked to risk martyrdom by serving in England during the time of the brutal Catholic persecutions.  He created a successful, secret Catholic center in Worcestershire for Catholics to receive the sacraments, hear Fr. his preaching and seek his advice. 

 With the death of Elizabeth I and the accession of James I in 1603, English Catholics looked forward to an end of persecution, and the king led them to believe that he would grant them greater toleration.  But such was not to be; the persecution, in fact, became more intense.  Angered at the king’s refusal to keep his promise, several Catholic laymen formed a conspiracy to blow up the king and parliament on November 5, 1605.  The plot, aptly called the “Gunpowder Plot,” was discovered, as was the powder in the cellars of the parliament building.  This resulted in a greater hatred of Catholics; the government was determined to implicate the Jesuits in this plot.

Fr. Oldcorne was accused of being part of the plot, along with others Jesuits; they were not, in fact, guilty. He was arrested and sent to the Tower of London.  He was racked for five straight days for a period of five hours each day.  Throughout this extreme torture, Fr. Oldcorne did not give a single name that would involve others in the plot.   

Jesuits Saints and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph Tylenda, S.J.

  Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Christ is risen!  Let us shake off the fetters of evil!  The gates of hell are open, the powers of evil are overcome! Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

  The Secret, Holy Cargo Within

 The life of God is lived within us, within the deepest center of our being.  Man becomes truly himself precisely at the point where he recognizes that the highest and brightest Being dwells within him.  Moreover, he will rediscover himself and his own identity, as well as his faith in his own individual value, mission, and life options, to the degree that he comprehends human life streaming forth out of the mystery of God. Then all that is negative and threatening is surmounted, its futility is exposed from within and simultaneously disempowered. 

Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J.

Annette Funicello

 “I’m a Catholic, and I’ve always been a religious person, and having MS reminds me that there’s a higher power up there who knows what he’s doing.”  These were the words of former Disney Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987.  She was discovered by Walt Disney when she danced in “Swan Lake” at her ballet school recital.  Disney made her one of the 24 original Mouseketeers when the “Mickey Mouse Club” premiered in 1955.  She, eventually, married and had three children.  She founded the Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases in 1993. She died April 8, 2013 at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, California; she was 71 years-old.

The Little White Book of Easter, 2016

 SJJ staff member Jennifer Saba requests our prayers for a friend.  Greg Young is 47-years-old and is currently at the University of Michigan Medical Center being treated for stomach, pancreas, and liver cancer.  He is a U.S. Army veteran that has fought to protect us in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  Greg’s doctors are currently trying to figure out the best way to fight all of the cancer.  Keep him in your prayers.  Today we rejoice in the salvation of the world, Christ is risen; let us arise in him! Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

 Christ Alone Is Our Salvation

 “You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.”  Mark 7:13

 Because we love God and want to please him, we’re always looking for good works, new prayer and older devotions to add to our routine.  This is a fine impulse and certainly enriches our lives and the lives of those around us, unless we forget about having a relationship with God in the midst of our good deeds.  Before taking up any new project or devotion, consult the Holy Spirit in order to guard against pride and the temptation to take our salvation into our own hands.

 Our salvation and the salvation of all who cross our path belong to God.  Christ alone is our salvation.  It is his work.  Christ is the Word.  Christ is the one who heals and purifies us.  Christ is the merit in our good works and the glory of our prayers.  Christ is the foundation of our traditions.

 We must not nullify Christ’s sacrifice, even with our good intentions.

Elizabeth Duffy

The Legend of the Cedar

 A legend or a fable is a story that doesn't pretend to be historical, but simply teaches a lesson.  The events surrounding the suffering and death of Christ gave rise to many legends, such as the following:

It was a terrible storm and the angel needed shelter from the blinding rain.  A nearby cedar saw the angel's plight and opened its branches to protect the angel from the rain and wind.  In gratitude, the angel prayed that the cedar would bear a fruit which would bless all people.  God heard about the kindness of the cedar tree, and decided to answer the angel's prayer.  The cedar was chosen to be the wood used for the cross of Jesus.

The Little Black Book of Lent, 2011

Our 18^th annual Easter on Campus event is today. We will be hosting preschoolers from Crossgates school.  There will be about 80 children in the morning and another 80 in the afternoon.  Most of the junior class will participate as big buddies. Theology teacher and Adult Chaplain Kim Hall and the Christian Service Core Team has organizing this event.  Pray for the success of this day. SJJ theology teacher Pat McCarty’s wife Bethanne gave birth yesterday (3 weeks early). They gave birth to a 6lbs 2oz. 19 inch baby boy. Pray for the new baby boy and Pat and his wife.  Lord, you rode straight into the power of the enemy to suffer and die; give us the strength to follow you to the centers of opposition in this world, and the confidence which confronts power with love.  St. John Berchmans pray for us.  St. Ignatius pray for us.

 Do I do anything to change myself?

 I’ve got a big surprise for you, lots of good news!  You don’t have to do anything.  The more you do, the worse it gets all you have to do is understand.

Think of somebody you are living with or working with whom you do not like. Who causes negative feelings to arise in you.  Let’s help you to understand what’s going on.  The first thing you need to understand is that the negative feelings are in you.  You are responsible for the negative feelings, not the other person.  Someone else in your place would be perfectly calm and at ease in the presence of this person; they wouldn’t be affected.  You are.  Now understand another thing, that you’re making a demand.  Can you get in touch with that?  Then say of this person: “I have no right to make any demands of this person.”  In saying this I drop my expectations.  Oh, I’ll protect myself from the consequences of this person’s actions or moods or whatever, but I can go right ahead and be what I choose to be.  I have no right to make any demands on the other.”

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J., Awareness (A Jesuit priest known throughout the world for his spiritual writings.)

Monday of Holy Week

The Cause of Jesus’ Death

Victims of crucifixion were sometimes tied to the cross with ropes.  About half the time, there were affixed to the cross with nails.  But even in the latter case, the nails were placed so they didn’t pierce an artery and cause a person to bleed to death.

The cause of death from crucifixion was usually asphyxiation – the inability to breath. Normally, breathing is a reflex action.  One doesn’t have to pay attention to the fact that the diaphragm moves up and down to cause the intake of oxygen.

But when hanging on a cross by the arms, a person is in the “exhale” positon and has to pull himself up to be able to take in air.

Sooner or later, with no food or water, the person becomes exhausted and, unable to breathe, suffocates.  This form of death is long and torturous, and could last three or four days.  Executioners. Executioners sometimes prolonged the agony by placing a wooden support at the hips and/or feet, enabling the victim to push upward…until they were too exhausted even to try.

If the scourging beforehand were especially brutal, the victim would have less strength and death would be hastened.  Perhaps, because Jerusalem was a crowded with Passover pilgrims (a time when disturbances often broke out), Pilate ordered a more severs scourging, and Jesus died more quickly than usual. 

The Little Black Book of Lent, 2006

Marie Welling, step-mother of longtime SJJ theology teacher and coach Butch Welling, is in the hospital with health issues.  Please keep her in your prayers.  Our Easter break is near:  pray for our seniors; when they get back from break, they have less than 20 days of classes in this their last year at SJJ.  They are nervously, and happily, preparing for their time after SJJ. Jesus, when you rode into Jerusalem the people waved palms with shouts of acclamation.  Grant that when the shouting dies we may still walk beside you even to a cross. (New Zealand Prayer Book) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.     

 When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half  done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our Father’s full giving is only begun.  (Howard Thurman)

 It is ever a new thing, a glad surprise, the stirring of Life at the end of winter.  One day there seems to be no sign of life and then almost overnight, swelling buds, delicate blooms, blades of grass, bugs, insects – an entire world of newness everywhere.  Such is the glad surprise of Easter.  This is the resurrection! It is the announcement that life cannot ultimately be conquered by death, that there is no road that is a last swallowed up in an ultimate darkness, that there is strength added when the labors increase, that multiplied peace matches multiplied trials, that life is bottomed by the glad surprise. – Howard Thurman (d. 1981,) was an influential African American author, philosopher, theologian, and civil rights leader.

“The Seven Last Words of Jesus”

 Today, the SJJ community will participate in a musical prayer service based on the Seven Last Words of Christ (this will be all music, with narrations and reflections). The Seven Last Words is a traditional set of words attributed to Christ on Good Friday, and has been set by many composers as a Lenten meditation. This piece was written by our own choral director Mr. Luke Rosen. 

 In Good Friday services, it became a custom to preach on the “Seven Last Words of Jesus.”  These are the words he spoke just before his death, and are taken from the four different Passion accounts:

• “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew and Mark)
• “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Luke)
• “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke)
• “Father, into your hands I place my spirit.”  (Luke)
• “Woman, behold, your son…Behold, your mother.” (John)
• “I thirst.”  (John)
• “It is finished.” (John)

 Please at the passing of Robert Szkutnik ’71 who passed away peacefully in his sleep last Friday.  Pray for his peaceful passing to the Lord. Pray for his family and friend.  This weekend at the Valentine Theater Saint Jesuit’s Campion Hall will perform the musical “Crazy for You.”  There will be performances Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Many weeks of preparation have gone into this production.  The SJJ musical has a long history.  Pray for all the students involved. Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Lord, take my small offering of self-denial this Lent, as a sign of my great longing for you.  I hunger for your presence in my life, and thirst for your love. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 “I thirst.”  - Jesus, John 19

 The words “I thirst,” literal as they are, spoken to meet a deep human need, become for us pregnant with new and deeper meaning in the spiritual sense.  Their symbolism becomes real as we think of life.  When we look out upon the bedraggled flock of humanity, sheep without a shepherd, we know that they have many thirsts.  There are those who thirst for everything save righteousness. 

 We have seen people thirsting for wealth.  So great was their thirst for the yellow metal that they were willing to sell their very souls to gain possession of it. 

 There have been those who have thirsted for pleasure, for a life of thrills.  May have given themselves with singleness of purpose to this end, and have found it very unsatisfactory. 

 Some have thirsted for rank and station.  Their desire has been to get into the select circle. In order to do this they have been willing to compromise with their better selves in order to live a life of sham and outward show.

 Our deep spiritual needs, which are thirsts, can be met by Christ.  It is God’s desire that every person should know the real joys of life.  St. Augustine, the great churchman, expressed this ideas as follows:  “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and we cannot find rest until we find it in Thee.”  In other words, we cannot have our thirst satisfied until God does it for us.

Alexander Stuart Baillie (Scottish American Pastor)

“Wearing of the green”

Today is the feast of St. Patrick.  Why do people wear green on St. Patrick’s Day?  One legend says that the custom comes from the color of the shamrock, which St. Patrick is said to have used to teach about the Trinity:  The stem represents the one divine nature, and the three leaves are the three person – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Another explanation notes that back in the 18^th century, the Irish people were said to wear green so that they’d be invisible to the leprechauns (who would pinch anyone they could see)> 

Some folks say the color green is actually considered unlucky in Ireland because it is the leprechauns’ favorite color.  Brides, in particular, should never wear green on their wedding day.

The Little Black Book of Lent, 2006

The aunt of SJJ staff member Inga Wood passed away yesterday.   It was a fast and unexpected passing. She is also great-aunt of her son Dakota ’19. Pray for her peaceful passing to her loving Lord. Pray for Inga and the families involved.  Pray for the success of the SJJ Academy eight-grade retreat which begins today.  Christ beside me, Christ before me; Christ behind me, Christ within me; Christ beneath me, Christ above me; Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me.  Christ in the eye of all who see me, Christ in the ear of all who hear me. (from St. Patrick’s breastplate prayer)  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

A Reflection as  We Enter the Passion of Jesus This Sunday

It has been said that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. In other words persecution and martyrdom in the Church paradoxically bring her new and deeper life in Christ, for through her suffering the Church is intimately joined to the passion and death of Jesus - and therefore to his resurrection.

Through this century there have been countless Christian men and women martyred for their faith - in concentration camps, in prisons, in the homes and even, as with Bishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador - the altar while he was saying Mass.  Here in the Philippines how many unknown catechists and lay workers, besides priests, have been "salvaged" (killed) or have just disappeared? 

We live in an age of persecution and martyrdom in the Church and there is some feeling that it will increase in the coming years.  This modern attempt to silence and kill the Church, as with the earlier Roman persecution, is actually a sign of her life for, like Jesus himself, the Church today is undergoing the paschal mystery of suffering and dying before coming to new life. 

Jesus tells us:  “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you.  If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, there for the world hates you.” (Gospel of John 15)

Donald McQuade, MM (A Maryknoll priest who served for more than forty years in the Philippines, ministering to the poor and sick.

:

St. John de Brebeuf, S.J.

1593-1649

Martyr of North America

 On this day in 1649, Fr. John de Brebeuf, the Apostle to the Hurons, died after long hours of torture from the Huron Indians.  It ended with a hatchet to his head.  He had longed for a martyr’s death and that grace was not denied him.

 French exploration and colonization in North America followed the vast waterways from the Atlantic to Quebec to the Great Lakes.  Tales of a great river lured explorers westward.  “Black-robed” Jesuits went far in advance of colonists, bearing Good News to the native peoples and living among them, often in the most primitive nomadic conditions and in danger of martyrdom.  Inspired by the heroism of the Society’s North American martyrs, French Jesuits and lay companions volunteered eagerly for the Canadian missions.

 Fr. John de Brebeuf was tall and strong, too large for the canoes, said the Huron traders, who called him Echon, “load-bearer.”  Eventually he convinced them to take him to the Huron village of Toanche in the spring of 1626.  Studying the language, composing grammar and dictionary, he and his companions devoted themselves to catechesis and care for the sick. Blame was heaped on them when drought or disease afflicted the village.  They held themselves ready to die “In the service of our good Master Jesus Christ.” He was martyred by the Hurons after enduring a fierce gauntlet of Indians administering heavy blows to his body.  He was killed with a blow from a Tomahawk.

“Ours” Jesuit Portraits, M.C.  Durkin

 Three-year-old Eli Schurrer came through yesterday’s heart operation well.  Keep him in your prayers as he goes through six weeks of recovery which will challenge the little guy.  We give thanks for two successful Sophomore Manresa Retreats. Praise to you, God, for all your work among us.  Yours is the vigor of creation, yours is impulse in our new discoveries.  Make us adventurous, yet reverent and hopeful in all we do.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 Finding God In Daily Life

“If there is any path at all on which I can approach You, it must lead through the very middle of my ordinary daily life. If You have given me no single place to which I can flee and be sure of finding You, then I must be able to find You in every place in each and every thing I do. In your love all the diffusion of the day’s chores comes home again to the evening of Your unity, which is eternal life.”
Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J., Meditations and Prayers

Servant of God Eusebio Francisco Kino, S.J.

1645-1711

  On this day in 1711, sixty-six year-old Fr. Eusebio Francisco Kino was presiding at Mass at the dedication a new church in Magdalena, Sonora.  The church was named in honor of St. Francis Xavier; Francis Xavier was Kino’s chosen patron – he added Francisco to his name in Francis’ honor.  During the ceremony he collapsed; by midnight he was dead.  Commemorating the departure of a great man, the town changed its name to Magdalena de Kino. 

 He entered the Society of Jesus at twenty.  A brilliant mathematician, who had been offered wonderful teaching posts at Ingolstadt and Freiburg Universities; he chose instead to share his knowledge in Mexico.  His key mission was to the Pima Indians who had been oppressed by the Spanish conquistadors.  He taught them to develop fields, orchards, flocks and herds.  Under his guidance they built a church, carpentry and blacksmith shops and a grain mill.  They governed village affairs and administered justice.  Kino’s guidance was acknowledged in the saying, “The desert bloomed around him.”

 He was in the saddle constantly, making about fifty journeys anywhere from a hundred to a thousand miles in twenty-five years.  The last of this series would have linked Arizona and California.  The project failed.  His eminence as an American pioneer is recognized by an equestrian monument of him in Tucson, Arizona. 

“Ours” Jesuit Portraits, M.C. Durkin

  Pray for our two groups of sophomores on day two of their Manresa retreat.  Manresa was the location of St. Ignatius’ great conversion experience which led to the Spiritual Exercises, the Society of Jesus, and the Ignatian educational apostolate. It is well and good, Lord, if all things change, provided we are rooted in you.  If I go everywhere with you, my God, everywhere things will happen for your sake; that is what I desire. (St. John of the Cross, 1542-1591). Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 “The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.” William James

 When you are aware, you are in control of emotions.  When you are not aware, emotions control you.  Take anger; to repress anger is a bad thing.  To suppress anger is good, and can be wise.  I stay aware of my anger but am managing it.  I’ll find other outlets later.

 All emotions are healthy but can become toxic.  Most people see anger as a negative emotion, one that should be eliminated.  Yet it is a very positive emotion.  The healthy side of anger is its energy.  When you are angry, it is because you want something but are not getting it.  You use that energy to get what you want. If you are working hard at something but your work is not recognized and appreciated, and even worse, someone else gets recognitions for what you have done, you get angry.  Now you use your energy to rectify the injustice. To act out, to punch someone in the nose, however, is not a healthy expression of anger.  It is important to express anger in healthy ways.  Expressing it appropriately is a good thing. 

 Recall the scenes of Jesus angry in the temple, for example.  Anger is one of those negative emotions that we tend to repress, but if repressed, it stores up trouble.  Anger is connected with warmth, enthusiasm, self-confidence, but it is also connected with conflict.  Regarding anger, you have several options.  You can feel it, release it, or express it.  But don’t repress it, or it will do you much harm.  People who explode often do so because they were all bottled up.

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J., The Spirituality of Anthony de Mello

Fr. Rutilio Grande, S.J.

Martyr of El Salvador (1928-1977)

 “It is a dangerous thing to be a Christian in our world.”  Fr. Grande

 On March 12, 1977, while driving on the a in El Salvador Fr. Rutilio Grande’s van was sprayed with gunfire.  He was killed instantly, along with an old campesino and a teenage boy who were accompanying him. The poor had always suffered under the weight of an oppressive oligarchy.  Many Priests and Sisters immersed themselves in the world of the poor.  These religious experienced the same fate as anyone who spoke up for the poor:  they became part of the many who simply “disappeared” to be tortured, to be captive, and to be found dead.  Fr. Grande was the first religious to be killed for speaking for the poor. 

 His death marked a stunning turning point for El Salvador, the first but not last time that a priest would be exposed to violence.  Among those touched by this event was the new archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero.  Grande, a longtime friend, had pressed Romero to understand and speak out against the social crisis in El Salvador.  It was Grande’s death that forced him to understand, and it proved the catalyst the prompted his own journey on the road to Calvary and his death.  All Saints, Robert Ellsberg

 In the early morning hours of last Thursday, March 3, Berta Caceres, a world renowned human rights and environmental rights activists, founder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, was slain by two male assailants in her home in Western Honduras.  Today the Jesuit Conference and the Ignatian Solidarity Network, along with 200 other faith, labor, human rights, women’s rights, and environmental justice organizations have joined together to appeal to our State Department to take urgent steps to ensure a fair, independent and thorough investigation into her death.  Pray for her peaceful passing to the Lord and for her family, friends, and the people of Honduras.  Our SJJ students have served the poor of El Salvador and Honduras.  This summer SJJ students will go to Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti to serve.  Pray for their success. Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all.  O God, you bring hope out of emptiness, energy out of fear, new life out of grief and loss; comfort all who have lost their homes and lives through persecution, war, exile, or deliberate destruction.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

 On the Road to Calvary

 I am quite aware that very soon the Bible and the gospel won’t be allowed to cross our borders.  We’ll get only the bindings, because all the pages are subversive.  And I think that if Jesus himself came across our border, they wouldn’t let him in.  They would accuse the Man-God of being a rabble-rouser, a foreign Jew, one who confused the people with exotic and foreign ideas, ideas against democracy – that is, against the wealthy minority. Brothers, without any doubt, they would crucify him again.  And God forbid that I be one of the crucifiers!  Fr. Rutilio Grande, S.J.

“I am here because I am a Negro, a nun, a Catholic, and because I want to bear witness.” Sr. Mary Antona Ebo

 On this day in 1965, religious leaders joined Martin Luther King, Jr. in what would become the famous civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.  The march responded to an attack by Alabama state troopers on voting rights marchers two weeks earlier (“Bloody Sunday”).

 Among a delegation from St. Louis, Missouri, were six women religious from the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, including their only black participant, Sr. Mary Anton Ebo.

 In 1946, Elizabeth became one of the first three black postulants to enter the order of the Sisters of Mary in St. Louis.  Her entrance came at a time when many religious communities were still segregated.

 She was the first black woman religious to head a Catholic hospital, St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin.  In 1968, she was a founder and later president of the National Black Sisters Conference. 

The Little Black Book of Lent, 2011

 Young alumnus Thomas Wolfe ’75 passed from this world to his loving Lord on January 8^th.  Pray for his friends, family, and the SJJ community. Lord, I am part of the tension and injustice of the world.  Forgive our human selfishness, to which I contribute; heal the resentment between people, of which I am a part. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

We cannot enjoy true peace unless we submit to God’s will. 

 If we do not concentrate entirely on doing the will of God we shall find neither happiness nor holiness, no matter what pious practices we adopt, however excellent they may be.  If you are not satisfied with what God chooses for you, what else can please you?  Does the food prepared for you by God himself disgust you?  We must realize that we cannot be really fed, strengthened, purified, enriched and made holy unless we fulfill the duties of the present moment.  What else do you want?  Why look elsewhere?  Are you wiser than God?  Why do you seek anything different from what he desires?  Do you imagine, considering his wisdom and goodness, that he can be wrong?  When you come across something ordained by this wisdom and goodness you must surely be convinced of its excellence.  Do you for one moment imagine you will find peace by resisting the Almighty?  It is rather this resistance, which we often keep up without realizing it, that is the source of all our trouble.  Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J. (1675-1751) is one of the great spiritual writers of the Church.

St. John of God

Founder of the Brothers Hospitallers (1495-1550)

 One day, after jumping into a river to save a drowning man, St. John of God came down with a terrible chill.  Though he struggled to continue his work, his health was broken.  When he knew that death was near, he asked those gathered round his bed to leave him alone for a few minutes.  When they returned after a short while, they found his lifeless body, kneeling on the floor before a crucifix.  He died on this day in 1550, at the age of fifty-five. 

His work was offering shelter and hospitality to all the poor, the sick, and the homeless he could gather from the streets of Granada, Spain.  This work had become a full-time occupation, and he accepted alms from interested benefactors for his support.  Ex-prisoners, prostitutes, cripples, the sick and dying outcasts found a warm welcome into his house.  He would care for their wounds, bath their bodies, and treat them with infinite tenderness and respect.  After his death many men who had eventually joined him in his work formed the Brothers Hospatillers, which was officially approved as a religious order in 1571 by Pope Pius V.

His life began in Portugal when, in a mysterious event, he disappeared from his family at the age of eight.  He turned up as a homeless waif in Spain far from his home.  This experience created a great abyss in his life; he could never find happiness, until he found his full time occupation of giving shelter and hospitality to the poor, sick, and homeless.

All Saints, Daily Reflections on Saint, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time, Robert Ellsberg

  Sohum Mehta ’15 has been attending Brown University.  He has withdrawn this semester due to some difficult health issues.  He is struggling mentally and physically.  Please keep him in your prayers. SJJ staff member Julie Fuzinski requests our prayers for a family member Thomas Robakowski,  who has been in a coma for the past 10 days with  no diagnosis as to the issue. Forgive us, Lord, when we build worlds which are dependent on us and not on you.  Forgive us when we cannot see you in the midst of suffering and darkness.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 Prayer for Discernment

 Lord I know that You love me and that You have great plans for me,

but sometimes I am overwhelmed by the thought of my future.

Show me how to walk forward one day at a time.

As I explore the various options which lie before me,

help me to listen openly to others,

and to pay attention to what is in the depth of my own heart.

In this way, may I hear Your call to a way of life

which will allow me to love as only I can,

and allow me to serve others with the special gifts You have given me.

Amen.

Thanks to SJJ’s Dr. Margie Warrick for passing this prayer on to me.  She heard in at a Dallas Jesuit High School counselors workshop.

“Lord, I am a sinner.  Come with your Mercy.” (Pope Francis)

 We are well into the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis.  It is “extraordinary” because this Jubilee Year was not on the Church schedule.  Pope Francis felt it was very important for the Church and the world to reflect and pray for mercy in our world now.  A Jubilee Year is a year of prayer; this Extraordinary Jubilee began on the feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 2015) and will end at the end of the Church Year, November 20^th, the feast of Christ the King.

 Very early in Pope Francis’ papacy he was asked to define himself.  He said, “I am a sinner and I am grateful for God’s mercy.” Mercy is compassion and forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish.  We are being asked in this year to “wash ourselves clean” and “set things right.”  God’s mercy and love are greater than any sin we may commit.  How do I encounter God’s mercy in my life, as a sinner loved by God?  How might I share God’s mercy with those around me.

 Francis said, “This is what God’s mercy is like: a great light filled with love and tenderness because God forgives not with a decree but with a caress.  We must be open to receiving God’s gentle caress and be ready to share this caress with others.” 

 Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Holy God, help me to share your love and tenderness with those I live with, those I share life with, even those I find hard to accept.  May I be your ambassador of mercy.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 Trust in God’s Love

 It is not easy to entrust oneself to God’s mercy, because it is an abyss beyond our comprehension.  But we must! “Oh, I am a great sinner!”  All the better!  Go to Jesus: He likes you to tell him these things! He forgets. He has a very special capacity for forgetting.  He forgets. He kisses you. He embraces you and he simply says to you: “Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin nor more.” (John 8:11)

Pope Francis , Homily on March 17, 2013

St. Nicholas Owen

?-1606

Martyr of England

 Among the English martyrs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Brother Nicholas Owen, S.J. is unique.  He was a carpenter, and he wonderfully used these talents in the service of his persecuted Church.  His ingenuity and skills as a carpenter saved hundreds of priests from capture, and his cleverness provided them with safe refuge from those who persistently hunted them. 

 Originally Nicholas was employed, as a layman, by Fr. Henry Garnet, S.J., superior of the English Jesuits to devise and construct hiding places in the various mansions used as priest-centers throughout England.  During the day he worked on either the interior or the exterior of the building, but always in public view so that the servants would think that he was a hired carpenter.  During the evening and at night, however, he worked on his concealed room, digging deep into the earth or chipping through thick stone walls.  He always worked alone to insure secrecy and only he and the owner of the house knew where the secret room was located.  Some of the priest-holes could accommodate six to ten people. 

 So appreciated were his efforts  that he was invited to join the Jesuits and, with little formal training, was accepted into the Society.  Eventually Brother Nicholas was captured.  When it was known that he was the famous priest-hole builder, the authorities felt that if they could get him to break under torture that the entire Church underground would be broken. 

 Under torture, the rackmaster subjected him to inhuman torture.  He was suspended by his wrists for up to seven hours at a time.  His silence made his torturers more determined to break his spirit. To add to his agony weights were hung from his legs.  Throughout his ordeal he would only say the names of Jesus and Mary.  In the early hours of March 2^nd, in unspeakable pain, he gave his blameless soul to God. 

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 Joe Boyle '93 has been battling kidney cancer for 5 years and is having some complications at the moment. He is an award-winning Toledo Public School teacher and is active in his Bowling Green parish. He has a wife and three kids. For those who remember his powerful spirit, his alter-ego was, you might remember, Captain America.  Keep Joe in your prayers.  I received a call from former SJJ faculty member and football coach Carl “Doc” Demarkowski:  he is out of the hospital, but still faces  some tests to determine where to go from here.  He is doing well and in good spirits.  Keep Carl in your prayers.  Almighty, eternal God, you chose St. Nicholas Owen to be made like Christ, who died to save the world.  Listen to his prayer; strengthen your Church by the same faith and love that strengthened him.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 God the Rebel

 Our faith begins at the point where atheists suppose it must be at an end.  Our faith begins with the bleakness and power which is the night of the cross, abandonment, temptation and doubt about everything that exists!  Our faith must be born where it is abandoned by all tangible reality; it must be born of nothingness, it must taste this nothingness and be given it to taste in a way that no philosophy of nihilism can imagine. H.J. Iwand

 That a good man may have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already; but that God could have his back to the wall is a boast for all insurgents forever.  Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipotence made God incomplete.  Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king.  Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator.  For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point – and does not break.  G.K. Chesterton

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Blessed James Carvalho, S.J.

1578-1624

Martyr of Japan

 Fr. James Carvalho’s death was unlike that of most of the other Japanese Jesuit martyrs who were beatified in 1867.  Most suffered death by slow fire, but he was frozen to death on the banks of an icy river in mid-February.

 Born in Coimbra, Portugal in 1578, he was ordained a priest in 1609.  That same year he sailed to Japan where he found the Christian communities thriving and enjoying great peace.  But the peace was brutally shattered in 1614 when the shogun issued a decree banishing all foreign missionaries and ordered the destruction and closing of all Christian Churches.  Fr. Carvalho, as were a hundred other Jesuits, was deported to China.  Desiring to continue his mission in Japan, he secretly re-entered the country in 1616.  He ministered to Japanese miners and refugees in northern Japan who escaped persecution in southern Japan.  He was successful, but the living conditions in those frigid northern climates was not easy.  But in December of 1623 the prince of the area to which he ministered, ordered all Christians to be hunted down and put to death. 

 Fr. Carvalho was captured January 7, 1624.  He and other Christians were forced on a seven-day march to Sendai.  They were taken to a prison and given almost no food or warmth for weeks.  On February 18 the final testing began.  Near the prison was an icy river.  The prisoners were taken to a hole which had been dug and filled with icy water from the river.  They were stripped naked and forced to enter the pit.  The freezing water reached their knees, and then had to kneel, resting on their heels.  From this position they were asked to rise and stand exposed to the frigid winds.  They repeated this exercise for three hours, and when their bodies were numb, they were taken from the pit and offered freedom if they would deny their religion.  On February 22 the torture was repeated.  Fr. Carvalho was in the pit with seven others, and together hour after hour they alternately stood and knelt.  As the day wore on, the winds began to blow and a snowstorm came.  One by one they died.  Fr. Carvalho died last.  His voice, which was always raised in prayer, began to weaken.  In the end he was only able to whisper the names of Jesus and Mary.  He died in the icy waters and the soldiers left his body in the pit.  Two hours later Christians came and buried it.  Jesuits Saints and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 Almighty God, grant that this remembrance of your martyr, Blessed James Carvalho, may bring us joy.  May we who depend upon his prayers glory in his entry into heaven.  We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

  Be Still and Know That I Am God (Ps. 46:10)

 Except for the point, the still point,

There would be no dance,

and there is only the dance.

T.S. Eliot

Servant of God John Sullivan, S.J.

1861-1933

 On February 19, 1933 at 11:00 P.M., the seventy-two-year-old Fr. John Sullivan, S.J. peacefully offered his suffering and his life to his Lord who had suffered and died for him. On February 17^th he suffered a sudden attack of severe pain in his abdomen.  It was discovered that a mesenteric thrombosis was causing gangrene in a large section of his small intestine.  At his funeral many of his spiritual clients and fellow Jesuits passed by his casket touching it with their rosaries.  The faithful of Dublin today still ask him to intercede with God in their behalf.

 As a young Jesuit he was sent to Clongowes Wood School in Dublin where he spent most of his priestly life.  He taught young boys Latin and Greek; and though he was never considered a brilliant teacher, he did captivate the young men, many of whom chose him as their confessor and director.  Yet, he was constantly walking, or riding his bicycle, in the countryside to visit someone who was ill or to help someone who was in need.  The distance did not matter, nor the weather; he went wherever he was needed.  Although his clothes were patched beyond description and his shoes were always in need of repair, he was, nevertheless, always clean.  He had no gloves for the winter.  He was abstemious at meals and rarely ate meat; he slept but a few hours at night.  But as austere as he was toward himself, that is how compassionate and understanding he was towards others. 

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

  Jesus our brother, you followed the necessary path and were broken on our behalf.  May we neither cling to our pain where it is futile, nor refuse to embrace the cost when it is required for us: that in losing our selves for your sake, we may be brought to new life. Keep Krista Ronai in your prayers; she is daughter-in-law of our athletic director, Bob Ronai, and she has been battling cancer.  She has recently suffered a difficult set-back. Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

  Be Little In God’s Eyes

 Little, very little, be very little before God.  Remain little, hidden by humility in all God wants from you, as being only an instrument of his work.  If you keep the spirit of humility and simplicity, never seeking the world’s esteem, then God will be glorified and you will obtain happiness.

 Jesus is waiting for you in prayer.  Go to him when your strength and patience are giving out, when you feel lonely and helpless.  Say to him: “You know well what is happening, I have only you.  Come to my aid.”  Then go your way.

St. Jeanne Jugan (1792-1879)

Servant of God John Cardim, S.J.

1585-1615

 Fr. John Cardim had tried to enter the Society of Jesus at 15 years-old.  The oldest of ten, nine of his siblings had entered the religious life.  But he was so frail in appearance that the Jesuit superior refused to admit him due to poor health.  But he refused to give up.  He placed his problem before Our Lady, asking her to allow him to join the Jesuits. He asked again to join, but the superior, again, said no; he felt John could not stand the rigors of the life of a Jesuit.  He responded: “No need to be afraid, God has given me a body that is sufficiently robust to endure this life.”  Surprisingly, the superior relented and he joined the Society of Jesus.

 Missioned to the city of Braga, Portugal, he became familiar with the city’s hospitals and prisons, and he regularly visited them.  He also went to the outlying districts of the city to teach the peasants about God.  The poor found a friend in him and he found a friend in them.  Each time he left the Jesuit residence, the people gathered about him and followed him wherever he went.  They always tried to attend him Masses in the Jesuit church. 

 He was their treasure, but this treasure would not be with them for very long.  After only four years as a Jesuit at the age of thirty-two, he fell ill with pleurisy.  It was on February 18, 1615 when it came his time to leave this world, he devoutly kissed the crucifix in his hand.  Although his mother was far away, he was heard to say:  “Rejoice mother, for I am now on my way to enjoy the vision of God; I owe a great part of my present happiness to you for the holy lessons you taught me.”

 Pray for refugees over the world, especially for women and children without home or adequate food. Lord, give joy to all who trust in you; be their defender and make them happy for ever. (Ps. 5:12)Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 Catch Me in My Scurrying

 Catch me in my mindless scurrying, Lord,

     and hold me in this Lenten season:

hold my spirit to the beacon of your grace

and grant me light enough to walk boldly,

          to feel passionately,

          to love aggressively;

     grant me peace enough to want more,

           to work for more

        and to submit to nothing less,

         and to fear only you…

               only you!

     Bequeath me not becalmed seas,

slack sails and premature benedictions,

          but breath into me a torment,

          storm enough to make myself,        

          and from myself,

           something…

          something new,

         something saving,

          something true,

         a gladness of heart,

     a pitch for a song in the storm,

         a world of praise lived,

          a gratitude shared,

           a cross dared,

         a joy received…

Ted Loder (Renowned Methodist minister and writer of books of spirituality and prayer.)

Venerable Louis de La Puente

1554-1624

 On February 16, 1624, at half past ten in the evening, as his gaze was fixed on the crucifix in his room and as his lips uttered the words, “Into your hands, O Lord, I comment my spirit,” Fr. Louis de La Puente peacefully breathed his last.  So quiet and calm was his passing to God that the Jesuits in the room with him thought that he had fallen asleep. 

 Fr. Louis was one of the most esteemed ascetical writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and countless priests and religious learned about the spiritual life by reading his books.  Rare must have been the priest or religious who had not used one his books on prayer for his daily meditation.

 For a good part of his priestly life he was engaged in the spiritual formation of younger Jesuits, either as master of novices, or as spiritual director.  Through his extensive experience, Fr. La Puente learned how to direct souls in the spiritual life by leading them in prayer and showing how to seek virtue.  Since he himself had received from God extraordinary gifts of prayer, even to the reception of visions, he was well prepared to lead others along the same path. 

 His cause for sainthood was introduced in Rome in 1667; he was given the title Venerable in 1759 recognizing his heroic virtue.

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 In the depths of my being I become quiet and still; I wait for you, my God, source of my salvation. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 Reflection at Easter Time

John Updike

 Make no mistake: if he rose at all

It was as His body;

If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the

     molecule reknit,

The amino acids rekindle,

The church will fall.

 It was not as the flowers,

Each soft spring recurrent;

It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and

     fuddled eyes of the

Eleven apostles;

It was as His flesh; ours.

 The same hinged thumbs and toes

The same valved heart

That-pierced-died, withered, paused, and then

     regathered

Out of enduring Might

New strength to enclose.

 Let us not mock God with metaphor,

Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,

Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in

     the faded

Credulity of earlier ages:

Let us walk through the door.

 The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,

Not a stone in a story,

But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow

     grinding of

Time will eclipse for each us

The wide light of day.

 Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,

For our own convenience, our own sense of

     beauty,

Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are

     embarrassed

By the miracle,

And crushed by remonstrance.

World Day of the Sick

 The Catholic Church celebrates World Day of the Sick every year on February 11^th to spiritually unite the sick of the whole world.  The celebration began more than four decades ago in Rome to mark the anniversary of the first apparitions of the Blessed Mother to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.  Then, in 1974 because of the large number of people who attended the liturgy, the celebration was transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Today is the 86th birthday of Fr. Thomas Radloff, S.J.  Fr. Radloff served at Saint John’s Jesuit as rector of the Jesuit community for a period of years.  He was the spiritual director of the priests of the Toledo Diocese.  He has done many things in the Society of Jesus.  He is now missioned to Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan. His role is to pray for the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus. Pray in thanks for all Fr. Radloff does and has done; pray for a blessed birthday. Jesus our Healer, we place in your gentle hands those who are sick.  Ease their pain, and heal the damage done to them in body, mind or spirit.  Be present to them through the support of friends and in the care of doctors and nurses, and fill them with the warmth of your love now and always. St. John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

The Forty-Day Retreat Begins

“Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn.” (Joel 2:12)

Lent, the forty-day retreat begins.  Ash Wednesday Mass can be seen as a dark Mass – “Remember thou art dust…” – but Ash Wednesday is a Christian feast and a day of happiness; Lent should be a time of sadness and joy.  There is joy in the fasting and abstinence of the Christian who eats and drinks less in order that his mind may be more clear and receptive to receive the sacred nourishment of God’s word.

Lent must not be merely a season of a few formalized penitential practices, half understood and undertaken without interest, but a time of healing, the turning of minds and hearts to God in preparation to experience Christ’s resurrection at Easter.  The death that is spoken of at Ash Wednesday Mass leads to the life that only Christ’s victory over sin and death can give.  We must remember the original meaning of Lent, as the ver sacrum, the Church’s “holy spring” in which one lets go of all that is unnecessary, mere distractions to our being the person God created us to be. 

“Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn” says yesterday’s reading.  Only the broken heart, the tearing of the heart, brings joy.  It lets out our sins, and lets in the clean air of God’s spring, the sunlight of the days that advance toward Easter.  The rending of the heart which is spoken of in the lesson from Joel is that “tearing away” from ourselves the “old man”, wearied by the boredom and drudgery of indifferent existence, that we may turn to God and taste His mercy, in the liberty of His sons.

Thomas Merton

Shrove Tuesday

Lent Begins Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, Lent begins.  Today is Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, and Paczki Day.  The French word for Tuesday is mardi, and the French word for "fat, rich”: is gras.  Thus, today is "Mardi Gras" with its feasting and carnivals - a final celebration before the penitential Lenten practices that begin tomorrow. The term “shrove” is from medieval times, when people confessed their sins in order to be “shriven” or absolved from their sins.  Many Christians do a self-examination on this day, to see how they need to get their lives in order.

Today is also "Paczki Day."  Paczkis came to the United States from Poland around the turn of the 20th century.  Since the Poles were strict about their Lenten observance, they needed to get rid of all the fat and grease in the kitchen.  A resourceful solution was to fry paczkis. 

In England, perhaps the best-known custom is the traditional Pancake Day race.  It allegedly began when a woman cooking pancakes heard the Shrove Tuesday bell begin to chime.  Without thinking, she immediately ran to the church, still wearing her apron and holding her fry pan. – The Little Black Book of Lent from the Diocese of Saginaw

Please pray for three-year-old J.J. Jenkins, who many know from Labre.  J.J. cannot hear or speak; he is cared for by his grandmother.  He will find out next week if he qualifies for ear implants.  If he does, he has a 70% chance of being able to hear and, thus, being able to speak. Lord Jesus, help us to follow you into the desert, with you to fast, denying false luxury, refusing the tempting way of self-indulgence, the way of success at all costs, the way of coercive persuasion.  Jesus, help us to follow you. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

A Look Inside

“Did you ever look inside yourself and see what you are not?” the crippled daughter in one of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories shouts at her spiritually crippled mother.  It is an easy matter for the physical eye to spot physical deformity and blemishes in others and in oneself.  It is not so easy for the eye of the spirit to spot a spiritual dwarf, hunchback, or cripple, although it is easier to see these spiritual deformities in others than in onself. 

But to spot it in one’s self is not only difficult but painful, and no one wants to take the descending path to that naked, unvarnished truth, with all its unacceptable humiliations.  It is much more comfortable to stay on the level of the plain and ordinary, to go on being just plain and ordinary.  Yet it is to this path that Lent invites us. -  Edna Hong

Servant of God Philip Jeningen, S.J. (1642-1704)

Sometime in 1674, while he was saying Mass, God gave Fr. Philip Jeningen, S.J. the light to understand that he had but thirty years in which to live and work for Him.  Then in 1694 another revelation was granted him – he had but ten years left.

Fr. Jeningen’s primary concern during his work as a Jesuit was to bring the lost sheep back to the fold and to make lax Catholics fervent, but at the same time he insisted on visiting the sick and the poor, as well as those in prison.  He always enjoyed small children and adolescents and he spoke to them of God.  During his life he endured persecution and calumny, but this did not dishearten him; rather, it gave him greater strength to continue preaching God’s truth.

He had no anxieties about death; his soul was filled with such great peace and joy that he said he felt he had begun to participate in the vision with God.  On the morning of February 8^th it became clear to his superiors that his death was imminent.  As evening approached, he asked the members of his community for forgiveness, if he had ever offended them, thanked them for their kindness to him, and asked to be remembered at Mass.  That evening the 62-year-old quietly offered his soul to his Beloved who once told him, “my dear Phillip, I will love you eternally.” Jesuit, Saints, and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

We give thanks for two wonderful Junior Magis Retreats which ended last Friday. Special thanks and prayers for the two retreat teams and all the students who shared their life stories. I just heard the following story. Fordham Preparatory School, the all-boys Jesuit high school in the Bronx, has been stunned and shaken in recent weeks, as not one but two students have killed themselves, both by jumping in front of a train. On Jan. 18, Owen Kelly, 16, a sophomore, stepped in front of a New York City-bound train. The following Monday, another student, a sophomore who has not been named, was struck by a northbound Metro-North train passing through the Botanical Garden station, near the school. Students described the mood among their classmates and teachers as shell-shocked, as the school marshaled resources to provide counseling to grieving students and reassurance to worried parents.  We have an SJJ graduate, Matt Bobo, at Fordham Prep, let’s keep this school and their families in our prayers. Pray for the peaceful passing of these boys to their loving Lord. God our Father, be near our children growing up in the peril and confusion of these times. Guard them from the forces of evil at work in our society, and lead them at all times in the paths of goodness and truth.  St. John Berchmans pray for us.  St. Ignatius pray for us.

Decide To Be Grateful

“Practice the discipline of gratitude.  Regardless of how hard your days are, how difficult the decisions are, be grateful for the day, your life, and all the gifts God gives each moment of each day. (This is a quote from Fr. Henry Nouwen as stated by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently.)

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St. John de Brito, S.J.

1647-1693

Martyr of India

 On this day in 1693 at noon, John de Brito S.J. was led to a peaceful knoll overlooking an Indian river.  Reaching the spot selected for his martyrdom, the priest knelt down in prayer.  The rajah’s order was publically read, and when the executioner hesitated to do his job, Fr. Brito encouraged him, “My friend, I have prayed to God.  On my part, I have done what I should do.  Now do your part.  Carry out the order you have received.”  The swing of the scimitar was directed at his neck, but it did not totally severe the head from his body.  One more blow did it.  Next his hands and feet were cut from his body.  His body was left for food for the birds and animals.

Fr. De Brito was born to a noble family of Lisbon in 1647.  From his childhood his imagination was fired by tales of St. Francis Xavier, S.J. and the early Jesuit missionaries.  He was admitted to the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen.  After his ordination, he was sent to the Jesuit mission in Goa, India, which had been established by Francis Xavier. 

In his missionary work, he had told an Indian prince, who he had baptized Christian, that he must give up his several wives. Fr. Brito informed him that he would have to choose the first to be his wife and let the others go.  One of the spurned wives, who was the niece of a rajah, went to the rajah to seek vengeance.  He was arrested on January 28, 1693; he was executed shortly after.   

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

Pray for our juniors on their second day of the Junior Magis Retreat.  Lord God, you sent the martyr, Saint John de Brito, to preach the gospel by word and example.  Grant a rich harvest of grace to those who are fearless in proclaiming the word of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

The Hidden Benefits of Loneliness

 Loneliness can be helpful in spurring us on toward both greater commitment and greater activity.  Our loneliness can be a very positive force in that, if listened to correctly, it can help lead us continually toward greater depth of commitment in giving ourselves for others and for cause greater than ourselves.  Dag Hammarskjold once put it this way: “Pray that your loneliness may spur you towards finding something to live for, that’s great enough to die for.”  Very often it is precisely in our loneliness that we learn that there is something greater than ourselves, that our own world and our own concerns are not all that there is, and that we are called to give ourselves for others.

Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, The Restless Heart: Finding Our Spiritual Home in Times of Loneliness



The Magis Retreat

Today two groups of juniors will travel to retreat houses in the Dayton and Detroit area to begin their Magis Retreat.  The word magis is from the Latin meaning “more” or “better.” St. Ignatius directed people to seek “the more,” asking themselves, “What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What more would Christ have me do or be?”

This retreat gives juniors the opportunity to reflect on what St. Ignatius of Loyola meant when he said that life should be spent living for the “greater glory of God.”  The Jesuit tradition in education encourages us to ask: What more can I do, what more can I be for Christ.

During the retreat, juniors will be asked to consider the question:  How can I live my life in a better way?  They will be given time to talk among themselves about the challenges they face and the obstacles that hinder them from being the best person they can be. It is hoped that the retreat will give the juniors a sense God’s presence in their life through their families, friends, and classmates.  

Please pray for the peaceful passing to his loving Lord for Tyler Nowicki.  Tyler graduated from Anthony Wayne, but attended St. John’s Jesuit for two years.  He was 21 years-of-age.  Pray for his family and friends. Pray for the success of these two retreats and for the retreat teams.  The theme for today is “Who I Am.”  Tomorrow’s theme is “Obstacles to True Discipleship.”  Lord God, help us to learn from our teenagers how best to accompany them through turbulent years.  Make us sensitive and patient, and give us wisdom to support them in our challenging and confusing world. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

All Will Be Well If We Abandon Ourselves To God

 There is a kind of holiness in which all the messages from God are bright and clear, but there is also that state of utterly quiescent faith in which all that God tells us is wrapped in the impenetrable darkness which veils his throne, and all we feel is confused and shadowy.  In this condition, we are often afraid of running smack into a rock as we advance through his darkness. We should have no fear.  We are on the right path and led by God.  There is nothing safer and less likely to lead us astray than the darkness of faith.  Yet we want to know which way we  must go amidst this darkness?  Wherever we wish. It does not matter.  We cannot get lost when there is no road to be found.  Nor can we head for any particular destination, for we can see nothing at all.  We say? “I am terrified of everything.  It seems as if, at any minute, I might fall headlong over a precipice.  God truly helps us however much we feel we have lost his support. Our trust and faith will deepen the darker it grows.  We are incapable of becoming holy by  our own efforts; God would not have taken away our ability to walk  unless he was to carry us in his arms.

Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Abandonment to Divine Providence

Where Does Evil Come From?

The stories in the book of Genesis tell us that when God created the world, he didn’t fight or hassle with any other god as pagans believed.  He simply said: “Let it be,” and it was.  Furthermore, when this world  came from his creative will it was “good” to its core, all good, and finally “very good.”  Then where, according to the creation stories of Genesis did moral evil, human evil, come from?  Every sane human being claims to want only peace, harmony, love and goodness.  Yet, put two together in the same room for long, or two nations on the same earth, and you soon have misunderstanding, viciousness, hatred and killing.  How are we to understand this?

Evil came not from God, but from us! The one God loved us enough to want us to be able to respond to that love, and so gave us a free will.  We are able to say yes to God, or no.  And all our hurt, all moral evil, comes from the fact that we, all of us, out of selfishness and pride deep within, occasionally and to some degree, do say no in our hearts and will our lives.

The world, the cosmos and every corner of it, comes from the hand of a God who can make nothing bad.  In other words, we cannot look outside for someone to blame for our troubles, although we persist in doing that.  Adam and Eve turned their backs on the Friend with whom they walked and talked in the cool of the garden evening.  They refused to accept the realities of creation, and thought they could be “like gods” (Genesis 3:5) Catholic  Q and A: Real Questions by Real People, Fr. John J. Dietzen

Pray for our seniors on the last day of their Kairos retreat; the theme for today is “How do I live out what I learned?” Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Lord God, you have taught us that we are members one of another and that we can never live to ourselves alone:  we thank you for the communities of which we are part.  Help us make our own contribution to the our community. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 Prayer of Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Trust in the Lord

God has created me to do Him some definite service.  He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.  I have my mission, I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.  I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.  He has not created me for naught.  I shall do good – I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it, if I do but keep his commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him.  Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.  If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain.  He knows what He is about; He may take away my friends.  He may throw me among strangers.  He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me – still He knows what He is about!

Blessed Julian Maunoir (“the Good Father”)

Apostle to Brittany

1606-1683

 On this day at 8:00 P.M. in the year 1683, Julian Maunoir, S.J. returned his soul to God who had given him life – as all of us will one-day do.  After having spent forty-three years giving missions to the poor and uneducated people of the cities and towns of the mainland and the off-shore islands, he became very ill on his last mission trip and knew that death was near.  In his worn-out condition he contracted pneumonia. 

As a young Jesuit he knew he wanted to serve in Canada or Brittany (a small peninsula on the west coast of France).  Knowing the faith of the poor, hard-working peasants of Brittany had been neglected, he determined that his life’s work would be giving missions to the Bretons.  His missions usually lasted four to five weeks and he preached on God, the purpose of life, the commandments, the sacraments, the four last things.  He composed instructional music that the children could sing.  After 400 missions - an average of 10 a year – his body wore out.  After death the bishop wished to bury “the good Father” in the cathedral, but the people of Plevin, where Fr. Maunoir lived, would not give up his body.  They wished him to be buried in their parish church.  At first the bishop threatened them with excommunication, but finally he acquiesced and “the good Father” was buried in their small church. 

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

 Yesterday Samantha Cordella, wife of SJJ principal Joe Cordella, gave birth to a 6.5 lb. baby girl, Zola Hope Cordella.  Please keep them in your prayers. Pray for our seniors on day three of their Kairos retreat.  Today’s theme is “What is Christ’s Message for Me?”. O God, through the work of Blessed Julian Maunoir you restored faith to the hearts of rural people.  Grant that we may firmly profess this same faith and may all our actions reflect what we believe. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

Cling Only to God’s Grace to You in the Present Moment

We possess and enjoy God by union with his will, and we deceive ourselves if we imagine we can have this delight by any other means. Union with his will is the unique means.  There is no special way of achieving this, for he can ensure it by any means he wants.  God unites his will to ours in a thousand different ways, and the one he employs in our case is always the best for us.  We should honor and love them all, for they are all arranged by God to suit each individual soul to bring about this union.  We must hold fast to what he chooses and make no choice for ourselves, yet be eager to revere and love whatever he fixes upon for other people. For instance, if God wants me to use vocal prayer and enjoy spiritually moving devotions, I should still love and venerate silence and the dark night which the faith of others brings them. 

Abandonment to Divine Providence, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J. (He is commonly recognized for this spiritual classic which respects above all an abiding trust in God’s active benevolence.)

St. Angela Merici

Foundress of the Ursulines (1474-1540)

This is an important day for St. Ursula Academy in Toledo:  It was on this day in 1540, their patroness, St. Angela Merici, passed from this world after a long illness.  Born in northern Italy, Angela was orphaned at an early age and soon thereafter lost a beloved sister.  After becoming a Franciscan tertiary, she developed a life of prayerful simplicity.  She devoted many years to continuous pilgrimage, visiting the shrines of Italy.  Eventually she made a trip to the Holy Land.  But, before arriving, she was struck blind and saw nothing of the holy shrines. On her return, she miraculously received her sight.  This motif of sight or vision appears many times in her life.  One vision revealed she would found a new community of women whose members would be numerous.

In her youth, moved by the poverty and ignorance of her neighbors, she had undertaken to provide simple religious instruction to their children.  Over the years she made this her regular occupation.  Gradually women were attracted to join her.  At fifty years of age, she set about to formalize a community of these women.  Two years later she had a group of twenty-eight women ready to consecrate themselves with her to the service of God.  They chose St. Ursula as their patron, a legendary fourth-century martyr, who was a protector of women. 

They lived simple lives. They did not wear habits; they took no vows; they continued to live with their families rather than behind an enclosure.  Their work centered on the education of poor girls.  Four years after her death, her order was approved by Rome and came to number many tens of thousands women.

All Saints, Robert Ellsberg

Pray for our seniors on their Kairos Retreat.  Yesterday the theme of the day was “Know Yourself.”  Today the theme is “Who is Christ in my life?” It makes sense, given their history above, that the girls of St. Ursula Academy have been working with St. John’s Jesuit on the Labre service experience, feeding and communicating with the poor of the Toledo area.  Please keep the success of St. Ursula Academy in your prayers, especially on this day of their patron. If anyone serve me, let him follow me; and where I am there also shall my servant be. (John12/26) Lord, whatever the world may say, may we only pay attention to what you are saying to me, and seek only your approval, which far outweighs any honor or praise that the world might give. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

What Is Greatness?

Greatness is a matter not of size but of quality, and it is within the reach of every one of us.  Greatness lies in the faithful performance of whatever duties life places upon us and in the generous performance of the small acts of kindness that God has made possible for us.  There is greatness in patient endurance; in the unyielding loyalty to a goal; in resistance to the temptation to betray the best we know; in speaking up for the truth when it is assailed; in steadfast adherence to vows given and promises made. God does not ask us to do extraordinary things.  He asks us to do ordinary things extraordinarily well. –Sidney Greenburg

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Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

Today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the day established by the Church is formally named  as Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Today at SJJ we will celebrate Mass “For Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life.”

Love is not merely a feeling, but is rather the desire for the best possible good for those whom we love. Mere reason leads us to comprehend that it is better to be alive than never have had been in existence. The knowledge of the value of life that comes through revelation leads us to understand better this gift and to appreciate it: as a result, we worship and love more and more the Giver of this gift. This love is what moves us to protect the life of the unborn or any who might be unjustly treated. We are also led to protect women that might feel tempted or forced to commit abortion, as we know the devastating consequences that abortion will have in their lives. All human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. He looked upon himself and wished that other beings would share in His own happiness. His greatness leads us to comprehend that He has brought us out of nothing with a purpose, because knowing His intelligence and His loving nature it is clear that all His actions are always guided by a magnificent purpose. – Catholic Culture. Org

Lord, we offer our prayers for all children of the world, especially those who are unloved, abused, starving, bullied orphaned, or afraid. We pray, also, for women who have had abortions and aborted babies.  At Mass today we will honor our winter sports teams  (Swimming and Diving, Basketball, Hockey, and Wrestling). Keep these athletes in your prayers. SJJ graduate Jack Miller is taking on the position of Graduate Assistant for Recruiting and Coaching for the University of Toledo football team and beginning a master’s program at the University of Toledo.  Keep Jack in your prayers. Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Jesus said, See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father. (Mt. 18:10) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  St. Ignatius pray for us. 

Where Do We Find God?

The more we love earthly things, reputation, importance, ease, success and pleasures, for ourselves, the less we love God. (Thomas Merton)

Detachment in poverty offers the unheard-of chance to stand without fear in a violent world. (Fr. Henri J.M. Nouwen)

Does all our talk and discussion about God bring us closer to Him? (Thomas Merton)

In the way of thinking that involves talking, discussing, analyzing, and criticizing, there is scarcely room for the God who speaks whenever we are silent and who come in wherever we have emptied ourselves. (Fr. Nouwen)

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St. Agnes

Virgin and Martyr (d. 304)

 Today is the feast day of a very popular saint in the Catholic Church, St. Agnes (d. 304?).  Her life and death is many times interpreted as an idealization of the virgin state.  The appellation “virgin,” attached by the church to Agnes and other unmarried women saints, reinforces this view.  There is no corresponding word to recognize married women saints (except widow), nor is there any corresponding interest in the marital – or sexual – status of male saints.  (We know, for instance, that St. Augustine was no virgin – or St. Ignatius Loyola. 

 Agnes was born to a rich and noble family of Rome and  at a young age (13 years-old) her beauty attracted the interest of many prosperous suitors.  She rebuffed them all, insisting that she had consecrated herself to her true spouse, Jesus Christ.  Her suitors denounced her as a Christian, and she was brought before a magistrate.  He in turn tried various forms of persuasion, ranging from mild entreaty to the display of instruments of torture.  When she remained adamant, he condemned her to a house of prostitution, where every man might have free use of her.  But she exuded such a powerful aura of purity that no one would lay a finger on her.  She was eventually beheaded; she approached her death with joy.

In the story of Agnes, however, the opposition is not between sex and virginity.  The conflict is between a young woman’s power in Christ to define her own identity versus a patriarchal culture’s claim to identify her in terms of sexuality. – All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses For Our Time, Robert Ellsberg

 Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father, and have told us that whoever sees you sees him. Show us your face and we will be saved.  Your loving gaze freed Agnes and others from seeking happiness only in created things.  You are the visible face of the invisible Father. (Pope Francis) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 A Vote of Confidence

 The Jesus of the gospels was always surprising people.  He constantly cut across expectations.  He was never dull or bland. Someone recently expressed this well by saying that Jesus was “funny.”  She wasn’t referring to his sense of humor but to the ways he disconcerted her and made her revise her own ways of looking at things.  It is good for us to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to overcome our familiarity with the words and story of Jesus and to open us up daily to this surprising, disturbing, and captivating person.  The gospel is like fresh bread for each day.  Its freshness is a gift. 

 Jesus fully accepted God’s lavish love, it gave divine meaning to his life. It transformed everything he did and all that happened to him.  When we live out of God’s unconditional vote of confidence in us, everything changes, and our capacity for greatness is liberated. – the Irish Jesuits, Sacred Space, 2016

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Galileo Galilei

Scientist (1564-1642)

On this day in 1642 Galileo, the man who had first seen mountains on the moon, passed from this life.  He was blind and confined to house arrest in Florence, Italy.  Galileo’s crime against the Church was his determination to prove that the Polish scientist, Nicholas Copernicus’ (d.1543) theory that earth revolved around the sun was correct.  This theory the Church felt contradicted Scripture.  Galileo disputed the  notion that the authority of the Scripture should be extended to scientific matters.

The trial of Galileo occurred in 1633.  In light of his advanced age (seventy) and his poor health, he was treated with reasonable courtesy.  Rather than the customary prison cell he was housed in a comfortable room.  Nevertheless, he needed little reminder of the perils of his situation.  The pope had issued a document threatening him with torture if he did not cheerfully submit to the finds of the court.  In the end he was condemned as “vehemently suspected of heresy” for maintaining the doctrine “which is false an contrary to the Sacred and Divine Scriptures, that the sun is the center of the world and it did not move from east to west, and that the earth moves and is not the center of the world”

Throughout this ordeal Galileo maintained a devout faith and a firm commitment to the authority of the church.  Instead of prison he was put under the easier house arrest. 

Only in the 1990’s did Pope John Paul II authorize a papal commission to review his trial and condemnation.  The result was papal decree formally absolving Galileo of heresy and acknowledging the error of the church’s previous judgment.  The error was attributed, in part, to the church’s deficient understanding, at that time, of the nature and authority of Scripture.  John Paul II stated that the Bible cannot be seen as a scientific textbook.

All Saints, Robert Ellsberg

Pray for all those involved in science and the teaching of science for they enrich our understanding of our Creator. Special prayers for the science teachers, and former science teachers, at St. John’s Jesuit. God of energy and power, in the risk of creation you have entrusted to us a vast and dangerous knowledge of your world.  Give us wisdom and generosity of spirit, to use the skills of science and the resources of technology for the needs of the poor and forgotten and for the enriching and healing of us all.  Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Patient Trust

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.  We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.  We should like to skip the intermediate stages.  We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown , something new.  And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability – and that it may take a very long time. 

And so I think it is with you. Your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste.  Don’t try and force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.

Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955) was a French paleontologist whose writings integrate science and religion.>

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Sadako and the Paper Cranes

Sadako Sasaki was born on this day in 1943.  Although she only lived until age 12, she is known around the world as  the child who helped make the paper crane an international sign of peace.

In 1945, Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on her city of Hiroshima, Japan.  At first, she seemed to have been spared the health problems that plagues so many of her neighbors and family.  But at age 11, the athletic, healthy little girl developed leukemia, “the atom bomb disease.”  A friend told Sadako about a Japanese legend that anyone who folds a thousand origami paper cranes would be granted a wish.  Hoping to get well again, Sadako started to make paper cranes.  She died Oct. 25, 1955.

Inspired by Sadako’ s story, her friends and classmates dreamed of building a monument for her and all the children killed by the atom bomb. In 1958, the statue of Sadako Sasaki holding a golden crane was unveiled in Hiroshima Peace Park.  Today, near the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing on August. 6, people world-wide remember Sadako and the Hiroshima bombing by folding paper cranes in her memory.

The Little Blue Book of Advent and Christmas Seasons, 2006-2007

We pray for world peace, that ways of aggression and violence against fellow-humans and against God’s creation may be renounced, and that world leaders may lessen the threat of nuclear destruction. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

A Humanity Disintegrated by Hate

Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., former superior general of the Society of Jesus (1965-1983), was in Hiroshima when the bomb dropped in 1945.   Below is part of his detailed reflection of the massive destruction of that event as he personally witnessed it.  He revisited this event as a collective examination of conscience in face of our troubled world.  Now, more than a half century removed from the bombing, this reflection continues to evoke the sense of spiritual crisis latent in the signs of the times today. 

For me, the explosion of the first atomic bomb has become something that goes beyond an historical event.  It is not a memory, it is a perpetual experience, outside history.  The roof tiles, bits of glass, and beams had scarcely ceased falling, and the deafening roar died away, when I rose from the ground and saw before me the wall clock still hanging in its place but motionless.  Its pendulum seemed nailed down.

Sad eternity.  A constant presence of that human tragedy.  Human?  No, inhuman, not merely because it spelled indiscriminate destruction of tens of thousands of lives, but also because it continues to torment humanity, as an omen of the possible self-destruction of humanity, a humanity that glories in itself.  This was the surpassing scientific conquest: possession of that great annihilating power so to be feared that nobody would dare to disturb the peace.  Atomic energy is not the most terrible of energies:  there are others more terrible still.  Atomic disintegration would not have to be feared if it were not at the service of a humanity disintegrated by hate. –Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Shrine of the Three Kings

In most parts of the world, today is the traditional date for Epiphany, a feast which celebrates the visit of the Magi. In the U.S. it has been moved to Sunday.

Tradition says that the Three Kings who visited the Child Jesus remained close after that life-changing visit, and died within days of each other in January 54 A.D.  Deciding that the three kings should be buried together, their common grave was re-dug as each of the kings died, and the new body added.  Their tomb in Persia was said to be discovered in the fourth century.  Their bones were taken to Constantinople, and eventually to Milan.

When the German Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, invaded and conquered the Italian city, the bones of the kings came into his possession.  The emperor, in turn, gave them to the Abbot of Cologne as his share of the spoils of the war. For many years, various popes tried to regain the bones, but Cologne refused to relinquish them.

In 1903, it was rumored that Cologne was finally going to give them to the Vatican.  However, the bones of the three kings remain today at the cathedral in Cologne.

The Little Blue Book of Advent and Christmas Seasons, 2009-2010

Today the novices of the Detroit, Wisconsin, Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus begin their first 30-day Spiritual Exercises retreat.  Last weekend these potential young Jesuits spend some time with the venerable retired Jesuits at Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan.  What a good way to begin this part of their journey in the Society of Jesus.  Pray for the success of this retreat. May the humility of the shepherds, the perseverance of the wise men, the joy of the angels, and the peace of the Christ-child be God’s gifts to us and to people everywhere this Christmas time. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Salvation is Now

“Salvation” is about being saved.  But from what do we need to be saved?  The traditional answer – and the good one – is sin and death.  We are entrapped by sin and death as in a hunters’ snare.

When we think for a moment of various addictions – alcohol, drug, food, gambling, sex – we get some idea of that entrapment.  All of us have our obsessions.  An idea, a plan, a hobby can obsess us to such a degree that we become its slave.  These addictions, compulsions, and obsessions reveal our entrapments.  They show our sinfulness because they take away our freedom as children of God and thus enslave us in a cramped, shrunken world.  Sin makes us want to create our own lives according to our desires and wishes, ignoring the cup that is given to us.  Sin make us self-indulgent.

But salvation is no only a goal for the afterlife.  Salvation is a reality of every day that we can taste here and now.  Salvation happens when we face each day without our obsessions; when we accept what each day brings, knowing we are loved, and putting our faith in a loving God and not our own conception of what we need to be happy. People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny darkness, but they choose not to live in it.

Fr. Henri Nouwen, Can You Drink the Cup?

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St. John of the Cross

Mystic and Doctor of the Church (1542-1591)

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“More, and on a deeper level than before, we really know this time that all of life is Advent.”  (Written by Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J. from a Nazi prison cell.)

Advent is a time of being deeply shaken, so that man will wake up to himself.  The prerequisite for a fulfilled Advent is a renunciation of the arrogant gestures and tempting dreams with which, and in which, man is always deceiving himself.  Thus he compels reality to use violence to bring him around, violence and much distress and suffering.

Being shaken awake is entirely appropriate to thoughts and experiences of Advent.  The shaking is what sets up the secret blessedness of this season and enkindles the inner light in our hearts, so Advent will be blessed with the promises of the Lord.  The shaking, the awakening: with these, life merely begins to become capable of Advent.  It is precisely in the severity of this awakening, in the helplessness of coming to consciousness, in the wretchedness of experiencing our limitations that the golden threads running between heaven and earth during this season reach us; the threads that give the world a hint of the abundance to which it is called, the abundance of which it is capable.

(From another letter written from Tegel Prison in Berlin in December of 1944.  Fr. Delp was eventually martyred by the Nazis in a Nazi death camp.)

Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Stir up your power, Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Shipwrecked at the Stable

Is there anyone in our midst who pretends to understand the awesome love in the heart of the Abba of Jesus that inspired, motivated and brought about Christmas?  The shipwrecked at the stable kneel in the presence of mystery. 

God entered into our world not with the crushing impact of unbearable glory, but in the way of weakness, vulnerability and need.  On a wintry night in an obscure cave, the infant Jesus was a humble, naked, helpless God who allowed us to get close to him. 

The world needs to understand vulnerability.  Neediness is rejected as incompetence and compassion is dismissed as unprofitable.  The spirituality of Bethlehem is simply incomprehensible to many.  The mystery of Bethlehem will ever be a sandal to aspiring disciples who seek a triumphant Savior and a prosperity Gospel. The infant Jesus was born in unimpressive circumstances, no one can exactly say where.  His parent were of no social significance whatsoever, and his chosen welcoming committee were dirt-poor shepherds.  But in this weakness and poverty the shipwrecked at the stable would come to know the love of God.  Circumstances can play havoc with our emotions, the day can be stormy or fair and our feelings will fluctuate accordingly; but if we are in Christ Jesus, we are in peace and there unflustered even when we feel no peace.

Brendan Manning (American speaker and author)

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St. Francis Xavier

1506-1552

Today is the feast day of St. Francis Xavier the greatest missionary the Church has known since apostolic times.  He passed from this life to the Lord on this day in 1552. He met St. Ignatius Loyola while studying in Paris, and became one of the “three companions” (St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, and Blessed Peter Faber) who began the Society of Jesus on September 27, 1540. He established missions in India and Japan.  

In April of 1552, he was on yet another missionary journey, this time to China.  Little did he know that this would be his last journey. The ship on which he travelled was not much more than the size of a bus, and he was notorious for suffering sea-sickness. That ship says something about the stubborn side of his character.

He landed on the small desolate island of Sancian, in site of the China coast.  The island was a hideout for Chinese smugglers. Francis tried to entice some smugglers to take him to China, but none would take the risk of carrying a Jesuit priest into anti-Christian China.  He eventually hired one of them to transport him to the mainland.  But after he paid him, the man disappeared. Francis looked longingly toward China.  He took ill with  fever and was confined to a meager, leafy hut.  Cared for by a Christian Chinese servant, Francis went into a coma.  Throughout his waking hours he prayed constantly until early morning of December 3^rd, when he went to heaven.  His body was buried on the island; in the spring his remains were taken to India, his first mission.  He was interred in the church Bom Jesus in Goa, India. 

Spencer Root’s (St. John’s Jesuit’s Dean of Discipline)  grandfather passed away yesterday.  Please pray for his peaceful transition to his loving Lord. Pray for Spencer and the families involved. Please pray at the passing of Robert Harrigan, grandfather of Jacob Harrigan ’13 and Brian Dooley ’18.  Keep the families in your prayers. Father in heaven, the day draws near when the glory of your Son will make radiant the night of the waiting world.  May darkness not blind us to the vision of wisdom which fills the minds of those who find him. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

Lord, Send Me Where You Will

If only, as they go through life, people would be aware that God will demand for the talent he has given them, they might then feel the need to engage in spiritual exercises, so as to discover God’s will in their hearts and embrace it, rather than their own inclinations, saying: “Lord, here I am. What would you have me do? Send me where you will.
St. Francis Xavier, from a letter to St. Ignatius

Light your candles quietly, such candles as you possess, wherever you are. (Alfred Delp S.J.)

Though Advent (literally “arrival”) has been observed for centuries as a time to contemplate Christ’s birth, most people today acknowledge it only with a bland look.  For the vast majority of us, December flies by in a flurry of activities, and what is called “the holiday season” turns out to be the most stressful time of the year. 

Even we who do not experience such tensions – who genuinely love Christmas – often miss its point.  Content with candles and carols and good food, we bask in the warmth of familiar traditions, in reciprocated acts of kindness, and in feelings of general goodwill.  How many of us remember the harsh realities of Christ’s first coming:  the dank stable, the cold night, the closed door of the inn?  How many of us share in the longing of the ancient prophets, who awaited the Messiah with such aching intensity that they foresaw his arrival thousands of years before he was born? 

We miss the essence of Christmas unless we become, in the words of Eberhard Arnold, “mindful of how Christ’s birth took place.”  Once we do, we will sense immediately that Advent marks something momentous:  God’s coming into our midst.   

Such an understanding of Christmas is possible only insofar as we let go of the false props of convention and seek to unlock its central paradox.  That paradox is the fact that God’s coming is not only a matter of glad tidings, but the fact we must wake up and live life in a new way.  The love that descended to Bethlehem is a burning fire whose light chases away every shadow, floods every corner, and turns midnight into noon.  This light reveals sin and overcomes it. It conquers darkness with such forcefulness and intensity that it scatters the proud and humbles the mighty, feeds the hungry, and sends the rich away empty-handed (Luke 1:51-53).

Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas

Our 17^th annual Christmas on Campus event takes place today. 130 SJJ seniors, and some juniors, will host a Christmas party – along with presents and Santa - for 85 first-graders from Queen of Apostles and Rosary Cathedral Schools.  The SJJ faculty/staff moderators are Mrs. Kim Hall, Mr. John Weinandy, Mrs. Mary Ann Barabino, and Mr. Phil Skeldon.  Pray for the success of this special day. As the new day dawns, we rejoice in the first glimmers of light which remind us of your coming, O Christ.  We give thanks that your light has overcome all our darkness. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

“The spiritual experience whether it be faith, hope, or love, is something we cannot manufacture.”

“Faith is a power given to us.  It is never simply our ability or strength of will to believe.  The spiritual experience that is truly genuine is given to us by God in the coming of his Spirit, and only as we surrender our whole lives to an active expression of his will.”

Philip Britts (1917-1949), British poet and horticulturalist.

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St. Edmund Campion

1540-1581

Martyr of England

On the morning of June 25, 1580, a jewelry merchant named Mr. Edmunds landed at Dover after crossing the channel from France.  Port authorities were on the watch for disguised Catholic priests entering England, and were somewhat suspicious of Mr. Edmunds.  But after checking his identification and asking him many questions they were finally satisfied and permitted him to enter the country.  Unknown to them, however, the merchant was Fr. Edmund Campion, a Jesuit, who was to become the most famous of the English martyrs.

By 1566, all living in England had to take the Oath of Supremacy acknowledging the Queen of England’s sovereignty in matters of religion. Catholic priests had to take the oath, or leave the country.  When the Jesuit general opened a mission to England, Campion was one of the first to be assigned to it.  But he could not openly carry out his priestly mission.  He stayed a Catholic homes one or two nights.  He arrived during the day heard confessions, celebrated Mass and distributed Communion all with the utmost secrecy. 

However a priest-hunter who pretended to be Catholic attended one of his home Masses.  After Mass, rather than stay for dinner, he rushed to the local magistrate to have the house searched.  The search party arrived but all they found were priest-holes – concealed hiding places – but no priests.  But as the search party was leaving a hiding priest stumbled and the noise was heard by the guards;  the house was searched again, Campion and the other priests were found.

Fr. Campion and his two priest companions were taken to the Tower in London where he was put for eleven days in the room known as “little ease,” a cell where a grown man could neither stand upright nor lie down flat.  He was tortured brutally, his fingernails pulled out. Found guilty of high treason,  he was dragged through the muddy streets of London.  He was hanged on this day in 1581; his body was desecrated after death.  On the gallows he forgave his persecutors.

Jesuit Saint and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J. 

Fr. Campion was known for his love of theater; he put on many young adult plays at the Jesuit schools where he taught.  Our SJJ theater program is called Campion Hall.  Pray for the success of Campion Hall and in gratitude for the work they do.  Campion Hall is led by Barbara Trimble, Frank Carnicom, Aimee Waliszewski, and Brian Tittl.  November 10^th Tim Engel ’98 passed way to his loving Lord.  I remember him as a giving person with a ready smile for all. Pray for his peaceful passing and for family, friends, and Saint John’s Jesuit.  Lord, we pray for all those people for whom life has no obvious pattern, no routine, no challenge.  We think particularly of the unemployed, and any known to us personally. Saint Edmund Campion pray for us.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

“The Enlightened person is one who sees that everything in the world is perfect as it is.” 

The idea that everything in the world is perfect was more than the disciples could accept.  So the Master put it in concepts that were more within their grasp.

“God weaves perfect designs with the threads of our lives,” he said.  “Even with our sins.  We can’t see this because we’re looking at the reverse side of the tapestry.”

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.

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Blessed Miguel Pro (1891-1927)

Martyr of Mexico

Patron Saint of Pro House at SJJ

On this day in 1927 around 10:30am, Fr. Miguel Pro, S.J. was escorted by a group of soldiers to the prison yard.  He had no inkling that he was about to be executed until he entered the yard and saw it filled with spectators.  He clasped his little crucifix in his right hand and gripped his rosary in his left.  He refused a blindfold and when he saw the rifles pointing at him his face turned into a smile for he knew that God was accepting his sacrifice. As he stood in front of the bullet-chipped wall, he stretched out his arms in the form of a cross, and said reverently, “Viva Christo Rey! – Long Live Christ the King!.”

In July of 1926, the Mexican government issued orders to suppress all public worship and to close churches.  Every Catholic priest was a hunted criminal. Anti-Catholic policies embedded in Mexico’s 1857 Constitution escalated.  In the 1920’ Revolutionary forces turned on the Church.  But Pro continued on his priestly duties in secret.  He established communion stations in different parts of the city and visited them once a week to preach, hear confessions, and say Mass.  On Thursday, November 17^th, he was captured by government forces.  He was interrogated and detained in a dark, foul-smelling cell.  He was executed shortly after his arrest.

“Ours”: Jesuit Portraits, M.C. Durkin

Special prayers today for the students, faculty, and staff of Pro House led by English teacher Frank Carnicom. O God, you are my God, early will I seek you.  My flesh longs for you, my soul thirsts for you. (Psalm 63:1) Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J. pray for us. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Pilgrim’s Progress and a Baby’s Eyes

“One begins to see clearly that life is only a kind of sowing time, and the harvest is not here.”

“If one feels the need of something great, something infinite, something where one feels one can see God, one need not go far to find it.  I think I saw something deeper, more eternal than the ocean, expressed in the eyes of a little baby when it awoke in the morning.”

“It is an old faith and it is a good faith that our life is a pilgrim’s progress; that we are strangers in the earth, but that though this be so, yet we are not alone for our Father is with us.  We are pilgrims- our life is a long walk, a journey from earth to heaven.”

Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890 (“I should like to paint in men and women something of that quality of eternity…” Van Gogh is perhaps the most beloved artists in the world; he was motivated by a deep spiritual vision.)

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St. Josephat, bishop and martyr (1580-1623)   



St. Josephat was the first Eastern saint to be formally canonized by the Catholic Church. He was born John Kuncevic in a village in Lithuania. His parents belonged to the Eastern Rite Church of Kiev (Ukraine) which was then separated from Rome. When he was ordained to the priesthood, he took the name Josephat. He became a popular preacher, especially in support of extending the union with Rome to the province of Kiev.
As archbishop of Polock he was tireless in preaching and other pastoral activities. He brought the Orthodox metropolitan province of Kiev into full communion with the Catholic Church.
In 1620, a rival hierarchy was established, one with little or no sympathy for Rome. Josephat stood firm in support of union with Rome, while insisting at the same time on the preservation of Byzantine customs, such as a married clergy and the election of bishops. He was murdered by supporters of the rival bishop on this day in 1623; his body was thrown into the Dnieper River.

SJJ faculty member Bill Happel requests prayers for his mother, Nancy Happel, who is very ill in the hospital.  Bill is with her now in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Pray for Krista Ronai who will be having cancer surgery this morning.  Pray for the success of the St. John’s Jesuit Open House which is this Sunday.  We have worked very hard in getting ready to welcome our guests. Lord of my life, I give you my time, my reputation, my worries and my desires. Receive whatever I offer and transform it in your love. Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Ten Commandments for Mature Discipleship
The Ten Commandments given us in scripture are warnings intended to keep us from falling into sin and into places we should not be.  The series of commandments below are proposed here for mature discipleship have a different intent, to invite us to a higher place, a deeper maturity, and a more intimate relationship with God and one another.
1.       Live in gratitude and thank your Creator by enjoying your life.
2.      Be willing to carry more and more of life’s complexities with empathy.
3.      Transform jealousy, anger, bitterness, and hatred rather than give them back in kind.
4.      Let suffering soften your heart rather than harden your soul.
5.      Forgive – those who hurt you, your own sins, the unfairness of your life, and God for not rescuing you.
6.      Bless more and curse less!
7.      Live in radical sobriety.
8.      Pray, affectively and liturgically.
9.      Be wide in your embrace.
10.   Stand where you are supposed to be standing and let God provide the rest.
Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. is a noted writer in the fields of spirituality and systematic theology. 

Saint Martin of Tours (c.316-397)

Today the Catholic Church honors St. Martin of Tours, who was a bishop of Tours, Gaul (now France).  As a soldier in the Roman army, Martin shared his cloak with a freezing beggar and received a vision of Christ, which move him to renounce military life and become a monk.  He later became an abbot and then a bishop.  He was known for his stand against heresy.  He exhibited high standards of Christian humility and compassion.  He is patron saint of France.

Soren Kierkegaard

Philosopher (1813-1855)

“It is not: What is Christianity? But, How do I become Christian?”  (Kierkegaard)

On this day in 1855, Soren Kierkegaard, one of the most significant figures in the history of Western thought, died at the age of forty-two.  A month before he died he collapsed in the street; he was carried to a hospital, paralyzed and unable to leave his bed.  Visitors remarked that his face reflected a great calm and peace in the face of death.

Kierkegaard elevated introspection to a fine art.  This he distinguished from the endless “reflection” that deadlocks action.  What he favored was a type of “inwardness” that was the precondition for any passionate commitment.  He despised the “modern” addiction to novelty, news, and gossip.  

He felt Christianity had turned into a system of ideas; but Christianity could not be comprehended as an object of thought.  Its central truth – that God became a human being in history – could only be apprehended by a leap of faith, a passionate commitment. The official Church ignored him.

After surviving six years following brain tumor/cancer (Grade 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma) surgery, Director of Athletics, Bob Ronai's daughter-in-law, Krista, will again undergo the same surgery this Thursday at the university of Chicago medical center. He asks for your prayers during this difficult time for Krista and his family. Lord Jesus Christ, alive and at large in the world, help me to follow and find you there today, in the places where I work, meet people, spend money, and make plans. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

See All You Will Learn!

Would you like some good advice?  Look upon Jesus as your friend, as your confidant.  Learn to go and see him, to visit him, to “remain” with him, and you will see how many things you will learn.  It is a wisdom which he alone can give you, the true knowledge which makes people wise, holy, and even happy,  All that we need for our life is gradually attained with a pouring forth from heart to heart.  “Tell me with whom you associate and I shall tell you who you are.”  If you go with Jesus, if you remain with Jesus, you will certainly become yourself another Jesus.  Do you not recall that the principles of your association tell you that you should become personal friends of Jesus and that you should speak with him? 

From Fr. Pedro Arrupe S.J.’s speech to youth entitled “Eucharist and Youth”

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All Saints Day for the Society of Jesus 
  

Today’s feast is something of a family celebration when   Jesuits joyously remember their brothers who have been canonized and   beatified.  There are 51 Jesuit Saints and 134 who have been given the   title Blessed.  These Jesuits Saints and Blessed are remembered in a   special way on this day. To be holy is to be humble.  Ignatius said, “it
  helps in the spiritual life to abhor…whatever the world loves and embraces,   and to accept and desire with all possible energy whatever Christ our Lord   has loved and embraced.”

Individuals do not become holy on their own; God is the   source of all holiness.  As the Jesuits in heaven are praised today,   likewise, God is praised for He has done all in and through His Saints and   Blesseds.  If the Saints achieved anything during their lifetime, it was   God who accomplished it.  Although St. Francis Xavier poured water on
  innumerable heads in India, it was God who made them Christians.    Although St. John de Brebeuf exhibited unbelievable courage under torture, it   was God who supported and granted him the strength to give valiant witness to   the faith.  – Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

Last night   longtime SJJ faculty member Butch Welling learned that one of his brothers   lost his place of business because of a fire.  He lost everything.    No one was injured.  Pray for Butch’s brother to get through this   difficult time. 

Pray in thanks for the Society of Jesus and all it has   done to bring Christ to this world. The night has passed and day lies before   us; as we rejoice in the gift of this day, so may the light of your presence,   O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you.  (from the Common Book   of Prayer) Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Finding God In All Things

Be attentive to reality; reverence and appreciate what   you see and hear and feel in all its particulars, and then you will find   devotion or consolation, the singularly moving way in which God works in that   situation.

  Fr. Howard Gray, S.J.

Servant of God James de Mesquita, S.J. (1553-1614)

Missionary of Japan

On this day in 1614, Fr. James de Mesquita, S.J. died on a shore of the Pacific Ocean within sight of the great city of Nagasaki, Japan.  When Shogun Iyeyasu ordered all missionaries to leave Japan, he forced Jesuit missionaries to Nagasaki to await ships for deportation. With very little to eat and little protection from the elements, they waited months for ships to take them away.  The Shogun became impatient and drove them out of Nagasaki to a deserted shore in sight of Nagasaki to wait for the ships. The missionaries had to make straw huts to protect them from the sun. The sixty-one years old Fr. Mesquita wore out physically.  Having spent most of his life as a Jesuit missionary in Japan, he did not want to leave.  He prayed that the Lord would take him before the ships arrived.  His prayers were heard, and on this day in 1614, after months of waiting, he passed to the Lord.  Three days later the ships arrived to take his Jesuit brothers to exile.

Fr. Mesquita and his Jesuit companions had labored for the first fruits of Christian Japan.

I put aside my weighty cares and leave my wearisome toils for awhile.  I give myself to you, God, and rest for a little in you.  I enter the inner chamber of my soul, and seek only god and the things that can help me in my quest for you.  Come then, Lord God, teach my heart where and how to look for you.  (St. Anselm, 1033-1109) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

“I ask Pope Francis point-blank:  Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” He stares at me in silence.  “I am a sinner. This is not a figure of speech, I am a sinner.” (from an early interview of Pope Francis by Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J.)

On a personal level, which is where it all starts, (Francis) is a grand and honest statement about how we all must come to God.  The pattern is a great surprise, and for many a great shock and even a disappointment.  We clearly come to God not by doing it right but ironically by doing it wrong. (Fr. Richard Rohr, Soul Brothers)

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Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J.

On November 1, 1945, Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J. passed from this world after his heart stopped during a homily he was giving for All Saints Day Mass. The sixty-nine-year-old Fr. Mayer collapsed and died shortly afterwards. Years in
German prison and  concentration camp had taken their toll.

Today, the Society of Jesus remembers the Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J., the German who courageously confronted the Nazis in the 1930’s and 40s. Fr. Mayer volunteered as military chaplain to serve young men who were facing death as German soldiers in World War I. He won the Iron Cross for his fearlessness in combat (Once, when a patient on a stretcher was abandoned during a fire-fight, he shielded the wounded boy, encouraging him, “Don’t be afraid! If shrapnel comes, it will hit me first.”).

During Hitler’s totalitarian Nazi regime, he challenged the government’s policies. He preached all over Germany two to three times a day. The Gestapo arrested him, to widespread public opposition. He was put in a concentration camp. Due to public pressure he was released to confinement in a Benedictine monastery, where he was allowed no visitors or correspondence. He was released due to public outcry, but his health was severely compromised.

“Ours” Jesuit Portraits, M.C. Durkin

 Dr. Robert A. Muck, father of recent graduate Nolan Muck, passed away on Sunday, November 1, 2015. Please pray for his peaceful passing to the Lord.  Pray for Nolan and his family. The visitation will be at Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant St., Maumee on Thursday, November 5, 2015, from 4-8 p.m. The Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, November 6, 2015, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 104 W. Broadway St., Maumee. Joan Duggan, mother of Tom ’84 and John ’88, is struggling with several complications due to diabetes.  In the past she was very active helping with SJJ events. Pray that she responds to the medical treatment and pray for her extended family and friends. Former SJJ faculty member and coach Joe Nye’s varsity Swanton High School soccer team is in the district finals tomorrow.  Pray that they give their best efforts.

Fr. Rupert Mayer is patron saint of Mayer House at Saint John’s Jesuit.  Mayer House is composed of approximately 120 students, faculty and staff. Mr. Scott Zura is House Dean. Pray for all Mayer students, faculty and staff on this special day. God of all time, God beyond and behind time, may we know what is too late and what is too soon. May we recognize the right time in the light of your timeless love. Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

We Need to Take Time to Listen

The power to keep silent should be used frequently and wisely.  We often regret having spoken; rarely, having kept silent.  In silence there is the opportunity to reflect quietly, to resolve nobly, to probe deeply.  In a noisy world, we need to make time to listen to those voices within us and above us which will only be heard when all is hushed around us.  Daily prayer reminds us too, that we can worship God not only with “the words of my mouth”
but also with “the silence of my heart.”  Sidney Greenberg

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers. –
Philemon 1:4    

Today’s feast day is called The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed - or All Souls Day. This is a day for all those who have not officially been granted sainthood, but who are in heaven, or on the journey to heaven.  It is a feast of the living. You are never more alive than when you grieve, however painful the experience may
be. On this day in parishes all over the Catholic world, people will mention their dead friends and relatives by name so they can be remembered in prayer by the whole community. These souls we remember are not saints with floating
bodies, but rather those who suffered and survived, who tried and sometimes failed.

Two people I will think about today are my father and mother, Paul and Marcella Richard. I will also remember Becky Zibbel, aunt of SJJ freshman 6th grader, and my grandson, Scout Zibbel. Becky passed away a few
years ago at a young age. The “faithful departed” are people that we look to as models; they are not perfect but they strove to be the best they could. Those we remember today embraced humanity with all its beauty and limitations. We all have many people in our lives who have passed, and who have love us deeply, let’s remember and give thanks today.

 Lord, we pray today for all those people in our lives who have passed, and loved us in so many ways. Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 The Call of Our Brothers and Sisters

Through baptism we become part of a family much larger than our biological family. It is a family of people “set apart” by God to be light in the darkness. These set-apart people are called saints, and those who have passed and are in heaven, or are on the journey to heaven.. Although we tend to think about saints as holy and pious, and picture them with halos above their heads and ecstatic gazes, true saints are much more accessible. They are men and women like us, who live ordinary lives and struggle with ordinary problems. What makes them saints is their clear and unwavering focus on God and God’s people. Some of their lives may look quite different, but most of their lives are remarkably similar to our own.

Henri J.M Nouwen

Today the Society of Jesus remembers Blessed Dominic Collins, S.J. Son of John and Felicity Collins, Dominic was born in County Cork, Ireland. At the time of his birth Catholics periodically suffered persecution.  Because of the Act of
Supremacy, Anglicanism became the official religion of Ireland.

 At the age of 20, Dominic left Ireland for the Continent, because there were no jobs available
for Catholics.  Dominic embarked on a military career, and rose to the rank of Captain. However, following a trip to
the sacred Santiago del Compostela in Spain, he resigned his commission to become a Jesuit novice and a lay brother. He was assigned to Ireland in 1601. Arrested on June 17, 1602, he was imprisoned and tortured for promoting the
Catholic faith. He was taken to his hometown in Ireland, where he was hung.

Eyewitnesses stated he ascended the ladder to his death cheerfully wearing his Jesuit cassock.  When he
reached the top he began to preach the Catholic faith. He remained hanging for three or four hours, when the rope snapped, he fell to the ground in a kneeling position.

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph Tylenda, S.J.

 Special prayers are requested for SJJ freshman Andy Hurley: Andy is a freshman football player; he broke his leg in two places during a recent game, and faces a long recovery period. Pray for Andy’s speedy
healing.  Pray for our seniors on their last day of the Kairos retreat.  Today they
will pray about how they will live-out what they have learned.  Pray for the safety of children going from
house-to-house tomorrow night. Pray for  safe and blessed weekend for all. Lord, in troubled times, you gave us as a Christian model the Blessed Dominic Collins, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, rejecting
its shame. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Kairos and Clock Time

Today is the fourth and last day of the first senior Kairos retreat of this academic year.  The theme
for today is centered around reflecting as to how to live-out what has been learned – how to be more Christ-centered.  We are constantly tempted to look at time as clock time, as chronos, as a series of disconnected incidents and accidents.  This is one way we think we can manage time or subdue our tasks.  Or a way we feel
the victims of our schedules.  For this approach also means that time becomes burdensome.

But the gospel speaks of Kairos, God’s time.  What we seek is already here.  Thomas Merton once said, “The Bible is
 concerned with time’s fullness, the time for an event to happen, the time for an emotion to be felt, the time for a harvest or for the celebration of a harvest.”  We begin to see history not as a collection of events interrupting what we “must” get done.  We see time in light of faith in the God of history.  We see how the events of this
year are not just a series of incidents and accidents, happy or unhappy, but the molding hands of God, who wants us to grow and mature.  

For our students, in this four-day retreat, time has been  converted from chronos  to Kairos.  Kairos is 
the fullness of time.  Time becomes not just something to get through or manipulate or manage, but the
arena of God’s work with us.  

Kairos
– “the Lord’s Time”- Begins

Yesterday, the first Kairos retreat of the year began at St. Paul’s retreat center near Detroit. In the spring of the 1987-88 school year, four St. John’s Jesuit students made a Kairos retreat at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. The following year, two more Titan seniors made the retreat in September. These six seniors were the retreat team to lead the first Kairos retreat at St. John’s in November of the 1988-89 school year directed by myself.  Since
then there have been well over 100 Kairos retreats at SJJ. 

Kairos
is from the Greek meaning, “The Lord’s Time.” It is grounded in the Christian
belief that God is very much part of our real world, especially through the
continuing presence of Jesus Christ. It is based on The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius Loyola. In Kairos, retreatants experience the love of Christ in
peers, parents, high school, and all of creation. It is an experience of
Christian community, with a series of talks given both by peers and adults.
Prayer and self-discovery are an essential part of Kairos as well as the
students’ involvement in discussions and other exercises. It lasts for three
and one-half days, with the challenge to continue it for as long as one
possibly can.

Last night’s theme was “Know Yourself”; today’s theme is “Where is Christ in My Life.”  Pray for the success of this retreat, which ends our seniors retreat experiences at SJJ. Lord, make us receptive and open, and may we accept
your kingdom like children taking bread from the hands of their father.  Let us live in peace, at home with you, all the days of our lives. (Huub Oosterhuis) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 


 People who will not compromise with Christ’s values are uncomfortable neighbors for mediocrity; they are likely to be misunderstood; they are often hated. 

To put aside suddenly every motive except this single one, the forming of Christ in our life, is not so easy for ordinary people who are to remain ordinary. 

In the world in which we live today the great understanding given by the Spirit of Wisdom must involve us in a lot of suffering.  We shall be obliged to see the wound that sin has inflicted on the people of the world.  We shall
have X-ray minds; we shall see through bandages people have laid over the wounds that sin has dealt them; we shall see the Christ in others, and that vision will impose an obligation on us for as long as we live, the obligation
of love; when we fail in it, we shall not be able to escape in excuses and distractions as we have done in the past; the failure will afflict us bitterly and always.  

Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God

Who Belongs to the Church?

Who belongs to the Catholic Church?  After a three-week global synod on family life that concluded recently, bishops remained divided over this deceptively simple question, ending in a stalemate over the role of the divorced and remarried as well as gay Catholics in the church.  The following is taken from Pope Francis’ speech at the end of the synod. (InternationalBusiness Times)

“I would like to thank the Lord, who has guided this process by his Holy Spirit, whose support is never lacking.  Certainly the synod was not about settling all issues having to do with the family, but rather attempting to see them in the light of the Gospel and the church’s tradition.  Surely it was not about finding exhaustive solutions, but
about seeing the difficulties which challenge and threaten the family; seeing them in the light of faith, and confronting them fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.”

“It was about valuing the family unit as the fundamental basis of society and human life.  It was about trying to view and interpret realities…through God’s eyes. It was also about laying open closed hearts, which frequently hide even behind the church’s teachings or good intentions…sometimes with superiority and superficiality, to difficult cases
and wounded families.” 

“In effect, for the church to conclude the synod means to return to our true ‘journeying together’ in (bringing to the world), the light of the Gospel.”

Pray for our seniors as they begin the third day of the Kairos retreat - the theme today is “What is Christ’s Message for Me?”. SJJ alum Jerry Sawicki ‘80 recently found he has arteries that are moderately to severely blocked and a leaking heart valve. Friday he will have a procedure to see if this can be handled by putting in stents, or needs another
approach. He served on the Building and Grounds committee; he served on the Board for three terms; he has been generous in sponsoring SJJ students, and he and his family were the lead gift for the SJJ Sawicki Music Center. Our prayers are appreciated.  Former SJJ teacher Elma Olalde’s mother passed away last week .  Pray for her peaceful passing to her loving Lord. Keep Elma and her family in your prayers in the difficult days ahead.  Lord, look in
mercy on your Church, lest we, your people who know you well, should shut the doors against the others who you would love to draw to yourself; because they are too different, too difficult, or too demanding. (Betty Scopes) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

The Danger of Love

 To love at all is to be vulnerable…If you want to make sure of keeping (your heart) intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket of your selfishness.  But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change.  It
will not be broken – it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable…The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from the danger of love is Hell. – C.S. Lewis

The great paradox is that it is in letting go, we receive.  We find safety in unexpected places of risk.  And those who
try to avoid all risk, those who would try to guarantee that their hearts will not be broken, end up in a self-created hell. – Fr. Henri Nouwen

Ordinary General Bishops Synod   The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization

Soon after Jorge Bergoglio became pope and took the name Francis, he called for a meeting of the Bishops Synod.  The Synod of Bishops is a permanent institution of the Catholic Church that meets at the request of the Pope, when he feels it necessary to consult with the world’s bishops.  This Synod is called “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization.”  It began October 5^th and just ended.  The ongoing work of the Synod is to rethink with renewed freshness and enthusiasm…about the beauty, the role and the dignity of the family. 

The Synod covered many topics; the following quotes are from the Extraordinary Bishops Synod which met last year to prepare for this year’s Synod. 

“In treating the relation of work to the family…the impact of migration has put a strain on families.  To support the family financially, fathers, and an increasing number of mothers, are being forced to abandon their families for work.  The absence of a parent has serious consequences on both the well-being of the family and the upbringing of
children.  At the same time, the absent parent’s sending money to the family can cause a kind of dependence in other family members.  This situation requires promoting appropriate policies that make it easier for families to be reunited.”

“Because of a lack of material resources, poverty and the struggle for subsistence, many families have to struggle for subsistence, a struggle to which the family has to devote most of its energy.  The Church must raise a strong prophetic voice concerning poverty which puts a strain on the family. A Church which is ‘poor and for the poor’ must not fail to make her voice heard in this area.”

O God, early in the morning I cry unto you.  Help me to pray and to think only of you.  I cannot pray alone.  In me darkness, but with you there is light.  I am restless but with you there is peace. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945)Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Tension:  If we volunteer to step into the fire, it is wise not to go there alone.

To carry others tension is to fill with tension ourselves, and as we know, this can be unbearable.  We do not have God’s strength, nor are we devoid of feelings or made of steel. As we try to carry tension for others, what do we do with our own tensions? 

Carrying tensions for others brings with it a series of dangers, as any health professional will tell you.  Tension wreaks havoc inside us, physically and emotionally.  We can die of high blood pressure or of disappointment.  Tension can kill us.  We should not be naïve as to what is asked of us here.

In the midst of tensions, we must be connected to something (a person, a friendship, a hand, a God, a creed, a perspective) beyond ourselves and the situation within which we find ourselves.  Scripture
offers some wonderful images for this.  Jesus, after long, busy days with many suffering people, went off by himself and prayed to God. He prayed for a different perspective, God’s perspective.

Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian
Maturity, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser

Yesterday, two groups of sophomores began their sophomore retreat. This retreat has been named the
“Sophomore Manresa Retreat” because the city of Manresa in Spain was a very important place in the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. In the years 1523-1524, Ignatius stayed in Manresa for ten
months, where God blessed him with  deep and consoling spiritual experiences, particularly on the banks of the river Cardoner. Ignatius’s visions heightened his awareness of God and creation. We hope that sophomores, on the Manresa Retreat will come to know better the vision of Ignatius and to appreciate the Lord as he did.  

Continue to pray for Jackson Steinmiller ’15 who is receiving treatment for stage-four liver cancer from the Seidman Cancer Center, a hospital of Case Western University. Pray for the success of the two Sophomore Manresa Retreats, and the two retreat teams. Today the students, faculty, and staff of St. Isaac Jogues House and Blessed Rupert Mayer House will be honored at our Friday Community Mass.  Pray for students, faculty, and staff of these two Houses. Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Lord Jesus Christ, fill us, we pray, with your light that we
may reflect your wondrous glory.  So fill us with your love that we may count nothing too small to do for you, noting too much to give, and nothing too hard to bear. (St. Ignatius Loyola, 1491-1556)  Saint John Berchmans pray
for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

Shore and Ground

Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to.

Don’t try to see through the distances.  That’s not

 for human beings.

Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes

you move.

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and

frightened.

Don’t open the door to the study

and begin reading.  Take down a musical

instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to feel and kiss the

ground.

Rumi (He was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar,
theologian, and Sufi mystic. Rumi's influence transcends national borders and
ethnic divisions: Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central
Asian Muslims, and the Muslims of South Asia have greatly appreciated his
spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries. His poems have been widely
translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various
formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet" and the
"best selling poet" in the United States.)

Pope Saint John Paul II

Today is the feast day of Pope St. John Paul II.  Born Karol Józef Wojtyła, he served as Pope from 1978 to 2005. He was elected by the second Papal conclave of 1978, which was called after Pope John Paul I, who was elected in August
after the death of Pope Paul VI, died after thirty-three days. He was elected on the third day of the conclave and adopted his predecessor's name in tribute to him. In the years since his death, John Paul II has been declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

In an address given at the 1976 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia for the bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla spoke the following:  “We are now standing in the
face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the
final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God's Plan, and it
must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.”

Recently a number of people were inducted into the SJJ Men for Others Hall of Fame.  These inductees were examples of Academic Excellence, Altruistic Spirit, Artistic Expression, and Athletic Achievement among SJJ’s teachers,
alumni and supporters. We give thanks to God for the contributions the following people have given us:  Rick Corbett ’69, coach and faculty member Fred Beier, coach and faculty member Carl Demarkowski; Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey ’82; Brandon Fields ’02 NFL player; Ed Gemerchak ’80; Fr.John Libens, S.J.,former SJJ principal and president; Geoff Lyden, former SJJ Board Chair; Tim Malone ’69, former teacher and principal; and Don Mewhort ’83.
Spirit of Christ, sanctify me.  Accept and transform my small energy of desire, that it may become part of your great energy of desire for the redemption of the world.  Your will be done! (Evelyn Underhill, 1875-1941) Saint John
Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatiu s pray for us. 
 

Human Ecology

The first and fundamental structure for a “human ecology” is the family, founded on marriage, in which the mutual gift of self as husband and wife creates an environment in which children can be born and grow up.  Too often life is
considered to be a series of sensations rather than as something to be accomplished.  The result is a lack of freedom to commit oneself to another person and bring children into this world.  The family is sacred; it is the sanctuary of life.  It is life’s heart and culture.  It is the opposite of the culture of death.

Pope Saint John Paul II

Venerable Aloysius La Nuza

1591-1656

Constant traveling is not easy on an individual when he reaches sixty. After many missions crisscrossing Sicily and southern Italy, today’s honored Jesuit, Venerable Aloysius La Nuza, health broke.  With a simple style of preaching, his only interest was to bring God’s word to the people. On one of these missions, he contracted pneumonia and was carried back to the Jesuit residence in Palermo.  A day of so before his death, on this day in 1656, he asked for a statue of Our Lady to be placed near him so that he could fix his eyes on her. 

As soon as he died the church bells tolled the sad news to the city, and crowds gathered outside the residence waiting to see their apostle for the last time.  Since the people attributed many miraculous cures to him, even the raising of a dead person to life, they were eager to touch his body for the last time and whisper their petitions to him. now that
they were sure he was in heaven.  On March 24, 1846 Rome gave him the status of Venerable: He had practiced virtue to an extraordinary degree. 

(The title Venerable is a step along the way to possible sainthood. Servant of God  is the title given to those who
have exercised virtue to a heroic degree. The next step is the title Venerable given officially by the Pope affirming the person’s heroic virtue.  Those who have  demonstrated intercessory power with God in terms of
two proven miracles are beatified; their title is Blessed.   Public veneration is permitted, but restricted to a definite geographic area, country, or religious Order. The final step is Sainthood. )

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.
Lord, I know that when the stress has grown too strong, you
will be there.  I know that when the waiting seems so long, you hear my
prayer.  I know that through the crash of falling worlds you’re holding
me. (Mother Janet Stuart, 1857-1914)Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint
Ignatius pray for us. 

HAPPENED TO BE STANDING

~ Mary Oliver

I don’t know where prayers go,

or what they do.

Do cats pray, while they sleep

half-asleep in the sun?

Does the opossum pray as it

crosses the street?

The sunflowers? The old black oak

growing older every year?

I know I can walk through the world,

along the shore or under the trees,

with my mind filled with things

of little importance, in full

self-attendance.  A condition I can’t really

call being alive.

Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,

or does it matter?

The sunflowers blaze, maybe that’s their way.

Maybe the cats are sound asleep.  Maybe not.

While I was thinking this I happened to be standing

just outside my door, with my notebook open,

which is the way I begin every morning.

Then a wren in the privet began to sing.

He was positively drenched in enthusiasm,

I don’t know why.  And yet, why not.

I wouldn’t persuade you from whatever you believe

or whatever you don’t.  That’s your business.

But I thought, of the wren’s singing, what could this be

if it isn’t a prayer?

So I just listened, my pen in the air.

The preceding poem was passed on to me by SJJ language
and public speaking teacher Barbara Trimble

…say to the captives, “Come out,” and to those in darkness, “Be free”!  they will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every hill. – Isaiah 49:9

In his autobiography, St. Ignatius tells an alarming story about an early experience he had of finding God’s way as a Christian. On his travel he came across a Moslem who, Ignatius thought, had insulted the mother of Jesus.  The man went on ahead and Ignatius was left unsure as to whether he should follow him and kill him.  So he let his mule
decide.  Luckily for all concerned, the mule did not follow the road the Moslem had taken but went another way.  As time went by, Ignatius came to see that we need to be more active and responsible in making decisions. 
God works with us.  He does not do all the work for us.    

This week begins quarter two at SJJ: Pray for our students and faculty this quarter. O sweetest love of God, too little known, whoever has found you will be at rest.  Let everything change, O my God, that I may
rest in you.  O Lord, I beseech you, leave me not for a moment. (St. John of the Cross, 1542-1591) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 I Did Not Know You, Lord

I did not know you, my Lord, because I still desired to know and delight in things. Well and good if all things change, Lord God, provided we are rooted in you.  If I go everywhere with you, my God, everywhere things will happen as I desire for your sake. – St. John of the Cross

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)               

Today the Church honors St. Teresa of Avila, also known as St. Teresa of Jesus, who had a gift for putting the experience of God into words and images which are simple enough for most people to understand. She did
this at a time when the Church was struggling for clarity: she wrote during the period of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) in which the Church attended to some overdue housekeeping. Teresa was not involved in that council. But her writing, coming from an experience of the heart, is a reminder that Church structures need always to be an expression of the love of imperfect people for God. She always said she would write nothing of God’s Word unless it had been revealed to her in her prayer. Teresa spoke of God as a Father, Brother, Lord, and,
above all, Lover.  Fr. Michael McGirr, S.J.

This is the last week of the first quarter. Many students are taking exams today. This week, freshmen are taking their first high school exams at SJJ.  Keep them in your prayers. Lord, how could I ever imagine that I would cope without prayer. How could I keep going unless I knew that I could return my heart to you and lift my darkness in your light. Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Don’t Be Humble

Avoid being bashful with God, as some people are, in the mistaken belief that they are being humble. Have nothing to do with that kind of humility, but speak with Him as with a Father, a Brother, a Lord and Spouse. Do not be foolish; speak to Him as you would speak with a friend. Remember how important it is for you to understand this truth: the Lord is within us and that we should be there with Him. Prayer is nothing more than a friendly
intercourse with Him who we know loves us.

St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection

Did You Know?                                

The Society of Jesus was founded in 1540. The first Jesuit school opened in Messina, Sicily, in 1548. Today, 3,730 schools carry on this tradition all around the world, caring for 2.5 million students in places ranging from Egypt and Kenya to Nepal and Belize. In Canada and the United States, there are 30 Jesuit colleges and 81 pre-secondary and secondary schools with a shared goal of developing competent, compassionate and committed leaders
in the service of the Church and society. Cura Personalis, or care for the individual, is a key value of Jesuit education.

St. John’s Jesuit is part of a network of 59 Jesuit high schools in the United States; these schools educate approximately 40,000 young men and women yearly.  Well over 95% of their graduates continue education at the college level.  Almost all of the schools are in major metropolitan areas and nearly a third are located within the inner city. 

Fifteen of the 59 schools are coeducational.  Approximately 18% of all Jesuit high school students are minorities.  Jesuit schools employ over 3,000 full and part-time faculty, including nearly 300 Jesuits.  Three-quarters of the schools have lay persons or members of other religious communities as their principals.  Six schools have lay presidents at the helm. 

From the Jesuit Conference homepage (www.jesuits.org)

Today at SJJ Mass will be celebrated for all students involved in our "service groups:" Ambassadors, National Honors
Society, Christian Service, and Liturgical Ministers (readers, servers, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion). 
We give thanks for these students, faculty, and staff.  Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all.  O God, bring new life where we are worn and tired; new love where we have turned hard-hearted; forgiveness where we have wounded; and the joy and freedom of your Holy Spirit.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.   

Fall In Love

 Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.  What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. 

It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evening, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and
gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.

Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J. ( Superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983; he coined the phrase Men and Women for Others. This phrase is well-known by students, faculty, and staff of Jesuit high schools.)

Thinking With the Church

Pope  Francis was asked what it exactly means for him to “think with the church,” a notion St. Ignatius writes about in the Spiritual Exercises.  He replied with an image.

“The image of the church I like is that of the holy, faithful people of God. Belonging to a people is a strong theological
value.  In the history of salvation, God has saved a people. There is no full identity without belonging to a people.  No one is saved alone, as an isolated individual, but God attracts us looking at the complex web of relationships that take place in the human community.  God enters into this dynamic, this participation in the web of human relationships.” 

“We should not even think, therefore, that ‘thinking with the church’ means only thinking with the hierarchy of the church.  The church is the totality of God’s people.  I see the holiness in the patience of the people of God: a woman who is raising children, a man who works to bring home the bread, the sick , the elderly priests who have so many wounds but have a smile on their faces because they served the Lord, the sisters who work hard and live a hidden sanctity.  I often associate sanctity with patience: A constancy in going forward, day by day.  The church with which
we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people.”

Two days ago we prayed for a high school freshman who was to have an operation for a tumor in her head.  The operation was successful: doctors believe they got it all.  God, here I will stand to fulfill what your faith in me expects. I will not run away, even when I become afraid, I know you are never far.  Continue praying for her recovery and continued health. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

The Importance of Prayer

I learned many years ago that the only way I could give quality time to prayer was by getting up early in the morning. (I must add parenthetically that I didn’t have a great desire to get up so early – I usually tried to stay in bed as late as I could.  The early hours of the morning before the phones and doorbells started to ring, before the mail
arrived, seemed to me to be the best for spending quality time with the Lord.  So I promised God and myself that I would give the first hour of each day to prayer.  Though not knowing then whether I would keep this
promise, I’m happy to say that I have kept it for nearly twenty years.  This doesn’t mean that I've learned how to pray perfectly.  It doesn’t mean that I have not experienced struggles that other people faced.  Quite
the contrary, but early on, I made another decision.  I said, “Lord, I know that I spend a certain amount of that morning hour of prayer daydreaming, problem-solving, and I’m not sure that I can cut that out.  I’ll try, but
the important thing is, I’m not going to give that time to anybody else.  So even though is many not unite me as much with you as it should, nobody else is going to get that time.” 

What I have found is that this prayer unites me with the Lord in the early part  of the day, but it keeps me connected to him throughout the rest of the day as well.  There are two important points for me:  Even if the time is not used right, you shouldn’t give the time to anyone else.  And two:  little by little you become united with the Lord throughout your life.  

Joseph Cardinal Bernardin (Cardinal Bernardin passed away a number of years ago from cancer.  He was widely respected for his gentleness, his spirituality, and his ability to reconcile. At one point, many thought he
would be pope.)

Today’s feast, Our Lady of the Rosary, began in
the late 15th century. Because of its intrinsic worth as a form of vocal and
contemplative prayer, the rosary has been a favorite devotion of Catholics for
centuries. It is the titular feast of the Toledo Diocese Cathedral: Our Lady of
the Holy Rosary Cathedral.

October is the month of the rosary. Many of the world’s
religions use a type of prayer known as a mantra. This involves the repetition
of a word or phrase. The idea is to still the mind so that the heart can focus.
It allows prayer to move from an intellectual exercise to an expression of
love.

The rosary is a bit like that. Each decade of the rosary
involves saying an Our Father, followed by ten Hail Marys, and  a Glory
Be. Each decade focuses on the life of Jesus or of his mother, Mary. The
constant repetition of simple and familiar prayers allows a particular mystery
to take hold of a person more deeply.

Pray for Bishop Daniel Thomas and the Diocese of Toledo
on this special feast day. Father, through your Holy Spirit, Mary the Jewish girl
conceived your Son; may his beauty, his humanity, his all-transforming grace be
born in us, and may we never despise the strange and stirring gentleness of
your almighty power. Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for
us.

“The whole world consists of God’s activities converging
on me.”  St. Ignatius Loyola

How does a person live a life of love?  Be aware of
God’s dwelling in everything.  It is interesting how St. Ignatius in his
writings points to the person, not so much things.  The person is suffused
with God’s presence and charged with it.  “He gives me being, life,
sensation, intelligence; and makes a temple of me.”  This is a way of
living out the doctrine of love, to be in a state of constant awareness of the
sense of God’s presence within us.  If God is constantly present in
everything we do, we will be constantly present to God.  Where there is
love, a constant sense of presence happens.

One more thing: Ignatius says, “Consider how much God works and labors
for you in all creatures upon the face of the earth, that is, he conducts
himself as one who labors. Everything around – everything – was created by God
for us, for our happiness.  This is something unique to Ignatius.  I
do not know of any other mystic who speaks of God as the Laborer.

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J., Seek God Everywhere

Is Prayer Really Necessary?

Doesn’t God know what is best for us, and won’t he do that if he really loves us regardless of what we ask for?

Obviously, God loves all people.  Scripture tells us that he views all of his creation as good, and this goes most of all for human beings who are made most like him in their ability to know and to love, to relate to one another as persons. Because of that love, he always wants what is best for us.

Did it ever occur to you that what is best may be different if we are praying desperately for something than if we are not?  We are individuals, all different, even in our deepest relationship with God and the world. Our humility before God, our trust in him, our conviction in faith and love that something will be good for us, for our children whom we love, or for the people for whom we care very much – all this goes in to determine what is really best for us in God’s eyes here and now. 

Prayer affects us deeply;  we are not the same person we would be if we did not pray. 

Catholic Q &A: Real Questions by Real People,
Fr. John J. Dietzen 

SJJ staff member Christie Schroeder requests our prayers for a friend of her daughter. She is a high school freshman, who experienced a seizure Sunday;  after taking her to the hospital, a tumor was found on her brain that has been there for a few years.  Surgery is scheduled this morning at 11. They are waiting for the results from the MRI; if there is anything that shows on her spine, surgery will be cancelled for a further diagnosis.  Also, our prayers are requested at the sudden passing of Conner McCauley, who attended the St. John’s Jesuit Academy.  Pray for his
family, especially his brother Clyde, who attended SJJ through his junior year.  Their mother passed away some years ago. Lord, in union with your love, unite my work with your great work, and perfect it.   As a drop of water,
poured into a river, is taken up into the activity of the river, so may my labor become part of your work.  Thus may those among whom I live and work be drawn into your love.  (St. Gertrude the Great, 1256-c.1302) 
Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 It is our “being” that must be transformed, not our constant “doing.”

“Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?  And you will come and say: ‘Lord we did miracles in your name,’ and I will say to you: I do not know you, I am not interested!”  Be careful.  Don’t’ think that your good works are necessarily prayer.  Meister Eckhart, the great German mystic, says, “You should be less concerned
about what you have to do and think more about what you must be.  For if your being is good, your work will be of great value. 

How are you going to transform your being?  You don’t have to fix anything; you have to see things in a new way.  Repentance doesn’t mean weeping over sins; repentance means looking at everything in a new way.  Change of idea, transformation of the heart.  There is no need for strength, no need to be useful, no need to be self-confident, no strength of will, no effort. We simply must see the world as God sees it; Jesus said very clearly “the Kingdom of God is in your midst.”  Open your eyes and see the love of God all around you. 

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.

Francis Borgia, S.J. (1510-1572): Third Superior General of the Society of Jesus       

Last Saturday was the feast day of the St. Francis Borgia, one of the greats of the Society of Jesus. Offspring of a scandalous ancestry, court page, Duke of Gandia, trusted friend of Emperor Charles V, husband,
father of eight, founder of a college...Francis Borgia wanted more. He wanted a life of prayer. When his beloved wife died in 1546, Borgia’s vocation to the Society of Jesus blossomed. Ignatius told him to fulfill his responsibilities
to his children first. Five years later he laid aside his titles and estates. His son served at his first Mass, celebrated in the Loyola castle chapel.

Borgia’s interest in education prompted him to support the Roman College and found many Jesuit colleges. He began the Society’s Church of the Gesu in Rome. Though he was elected the third superior general, Pope and
rulers continued to rely on him. After a taxing diplomatic mission, he died in 1572, having begged, “Fathers and Brothers, forgive me for the love of God .” 

“Ours” Jesuit Portraits, M.C. Durkin

Lord God, you called Saint Francis Borgia from a royal place to be your servant. Grant through his prayers that all who strive to die to sin and stand up to the world may live for you alone. Saint John Berchmans pray for
us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

God Is Waiting for You

God is indeed waiting for you; he asks of you only the courage to go to him.  How many times in
my pastoral ministry have I heard it said, “Father, I have many sins”? And I have always pleaded, “Don’t be afraid, go to him, he is waiting for you, he will take care of everything.”  We hear many offers from the world around us; but let us take up God’s offer instead: his is a caress of love.  For God, we are not numbers, we are important; indeed we are the most important thing to him.  Even if we are sinners, we are what is closest to his heart. – Pope Francis

What Does It Mean for a Jesuit to Be Bishop of Rome?

Pope Francis arrived in Washington, D.C. Tuesday evening.  Yesterday he visited the White House in the morning, he then celebrated Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Mary, under the title of The Immaculate Conception, is patron saint of the United States.).  During this Mass he canonized Father Junipero
Serra (Fr. Serra was a Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the first nine of 21 Spanish missions in
California from San Diego to San Francisco.).

Today he addresses a joint meeting of Congress, then he goes to New York.  The SJJ community will view a live stream of this meeting with Congress in our classrooms, offices, and the McQuade Theater for guests.  This will be
followed by small group discussions.  Tomorrow the pope speaks at the United Nations.  He will follow this up with a visit to Ground Zero and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. 

Then, Francis travels to Philadelphia, where he participates in the World Meeting of Families.  He visits a children’s hospital or juvenile prison.  Francis will celebrate Sunday Mass in Philadelphia before flying back to Rome.

Former SJJ board member Mark Ridenour requests our prayers for his wife, Karen; she has a recurrence of breast cancer after many years of health.  We have two groups of juniors on their Junior Magis Retreat which
began yesterday.  Keep them in your prayers – the retreat ends tomorrow afternoon.  Magis is from the Latin and means “more.” Our juniors on retreat will be reflecting as to what “more” the Lord is calling them to. Pray for Pope Francis in all his travels.  This month the pope has requested our prayers for all young people who are unemployed, or underemployed, with large, difficult-to-pay college loans.  The pope also requests prayers for families. Trust in the
Lord, because the Lord will not disappoint you! Dear families, always live life with faith and simplicity, like the Holy Family of Nazareth. (Pope Francis) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Pope Francis Loves a Sense of Humor

Give me a soul than knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, no excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I.”

Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor.

Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke, to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others. 

The above prayer was written by Saint Thomas More is one of Francis’ daily prayers.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Priest          

Today’s feast day honors St.Padre Pio (1887-1968) a Capuchin Friar and mystic.   He was forced to
carry a double cross.  On the one hand he bore the painful, bleeding wounds that marked his body with the passion of Christ.  And the same time he endured the burden that came from being popularly acclaimed as a living saint.  It is hard to say which was the heavier burden.

Like St. Francis of Assisi, Padre Pio was a stigmatic; he bore on his hands, feet, and side the wounds of Christ’s sufferings.  These mysterious open wounds, for which  no  natural explanation could be determined, appeared on his body in 1910.  They remained until some months before his death over fifty years later, continuously bleeding, and causing great suffering.  He was credited with literally thousands of miracles, including such feats as restoring sight to a man born with no pupils.

He died on this day in 1968.

Saints, David Ellsberg

Rudy Dvorski, the 80 year-old uncle of SJJ staff member Kathy McCarty, broke his leg in two places between the knee and ankle.  He had surgery on Friday and is in much pain.  His recovery will be very arduous. Please pray for him at this time.  Lord, hear the prayers of Saint Pio.  Increase your gifts within us and give us peace in our days.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Be grateful for your sins.  They are carriers of grace. (Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.)

Brothers, be not afraid of men’s sins.  Love man even in his sin, for that already
bears the semblance of divine love and is the highest love on earth.  Love all God’s creation, the whole of it and
every grain of sand.  Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light! Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.  If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Feast of St. Matthew the Evangelist

Can You Leave the Past Behind? 

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.” - Matthew 9:9

Today the Church honors the Gospel writer Matthew. The above quote is the extent of our knowledge of Matthew. It is assumed he was a tax collector and we know that tax collectors were despised by his fellow Jews as a
collaborator with the Roman occupation. It was for consorting with such public sinners, that Jesus himself earned a certain opprobrium. Jesus asked Matthew –and he asks us all – are you willing to leave the past behind and come follow me. Matthew recognized that if he were to follow Jesus he would have to do this.

St. Matthew, after his famous “calling” by Jesus, is now the great patron of the church’s mission.  It is in Matthew we find the Sermon on the Mount (Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.) and the great parable about the Last Judgement (When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will separate the sheep from the goats.).

Our students have passed through the halfway point of the quarter; keep them in your prayers, especially those who struggle the most.  Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires. Forgive our failings, keep us in your peace and lead us in the way of salvation. Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Come Down Off Your High Horse

Man can reach a point where he is able to compel God. If I were up here, and I said to someone: “Come up here,” that would be difficult. But if I were to say: “I will come down to you,” that would be better. God acts like that. When a person humbles himself, God cannot withhold his own goodness but must come down and flow into the humbled person, and to him who is least of all he give himself the most of all, and he gives himself completely. What God
gives is his being, and his being is his goodness, and his goodness is his love.

Meister Eckhart – 1260-1328 (The teachings of this German-born Dominican philosopher and spiritual master are among the most daring and profound in the history of Western thought.)

Were Popes Ever Elected by the People?

I heard a report recently that 90% of U.S. Catholics have a favorable view of Pope Francis. If there ever was a pope that was the people’s favorite it would be Pope Francis – in my time, Pope John XXIII had similar popularity.  Were popes ever elected by the people?

Yes. During the first ten centuries, the choice was made by the clergy and laity of each particular diocese.  Civil leaders had an increasingly larger hand in the choice, sometimes simply picking a person they felt would be favorable
to their own policies.  Thus, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was for centuries the most powerful factor in the
choice of the pope. Only in 1059 did Pope Nicholas II place the election of the pope in the hands of the cardinals.

The Third Lateran council (1179) decreed that a two-thirds vote of cardinals is required for election of the pope,  Pope Gregory X, to further lessen political influences on papal election, ruled in 1271 that the cardinals should be
isolated under lock and key during the proceedings. In 1945, Pope Pius XII required a two-third majority plus one for election.   

Lee Crummer, step-father of SJJ staff member Julie Fuzinski, passed away on September 11.  He fought the fight and his body just got tired. He is at peace. Please keep Julie and her mother, Sue Crummer, in your prayers. I received word from Shelley Killen, former SJJ staff member, who we have been praying for, that her cancer treatment is working.  Keep her in your prayers. Lord, this moment is yours; mine for you, and yours for me.  I need you, I cannot survive without you and yet I go on rushing through life as if I could do everything in my own strength.  Forgive me. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Radiating the Greatest Power Ever Unleashed in the World

The greatest tragedy in the world is not pain and suffering, but wasted pain and suffering.  We all
suffer, every one of us, youngest to oldest.  We all suffer loneliness, cancer, the loss of a wife, a husband, a
child; we suffer misunderstandings, family conflicts, ruptured friendships, cosmetic disfigurement, mental, emotional, physical incapacities.  We suffer a sense of utter powerlessness, and empty feelings of futility.  The world is
awash in pain.  How tragic if the pain is wasted; that pain that could be united with the suffering of Jesus on the cross
to achieve enormous good.

Jesus did not make possible the salvation of the world just through his teaching, his preaching, his miracles, but by his suffering and death on the cross.  When he appeared to be utterly powerless, he was radiating the greatest power ever unleashed in the world.  When he was crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he was filling billions of hearts yet to come with comfort, with peace.  I unite a headache, a backache, a heartache with Christ on the cross, and wondrous graces flow into the heart of a widow who has lost her only son in Nigeria, a lonely
teenage contemplating suicide in San Francisco, a woman ravaged with cancer in New York.  My pain, trifling or
overwhelming, has not gone wasted. – from a homily preached by Cardinal John O’Connor in St. Patrick’s cathedral

Our Mother of Sorrows  

Yesterday’s feast day recalled Jesus’ suffering and triumphon the cross. Today’s feast day recalls Mary’s sorrows as she watched her son suffer. It is called Our Lady of Sorrows, formerly known as the Seven Sorrows
of Mary: the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the flight into Egypt, Jesus’ being lost in Jerusalem, the encounter with Jesus on the way to Calvary, the Crucifixion, the taking of the body down from the cross, and Jesus’ burial. In
the mid-thirteenth century seven prominent citizens of Florence left civic life and founded a religious association to venerate Jesus’ mother under the title “Our Lady of Sorrows.” By the time this association was officially approved by
Pope Benedict XI in 1304, it had grown into the Order of the Servites, devoted to honoring Mary’s seven sorrows. Today, in several Canadian and American cities (Winnipeg and Chicago, for example) Servite churches maintain perpetual novenas to the Sorrowful Mother.

As the Mother of the Church and of each baptized person in particular, she is one to whom we turn for protection, for help in time of need, and for consolation in time of trouble and distress.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.  Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Stabat Mater (Sorrowful Mother) At the cross her station keeping stood the mournful mother weeping,

close to Jesus to the last. Through her heart his sorrow sharing, all his bitter anguish bearing,

Lo! the piercing sword had passed. For his people’s sins rejected, saw her Jesus unprotected,

saw with thorns, with scourges rent. Saw her son from judgment taken, her beloved in death forsaken,

till his spirit forth he sent. Jesus, may your cross defend me, and your mother’s prayers befriend me.

Let me die in your embrace. When to dust my dust returns, grant a soul which for you yearns,

in your paradise a place. Amen

(The Church recommends verses from this prayer be read on this day.)

Holy Cross Day!               

Today’s feast celebrates the finding of the True Cross of Christ under a Roman landfill by the Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helen, ca. 320, and the subsequent dedication of a basilica built by Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulcher and Calvary on September 14, 335. It is also known as “Holy Cross Day.”

In the Catholic Church, a crucifix is a cross with the body of Christ. It is one of the universal symbols of Catholicism and venerates Jesus’ suffering on the cross. Every classroom at Saint John’s Jesuit has a crucifix on the wall. The plain cross did not appear until the fourth century. The crucifix did not appear until the fifth century; the cross is a symbol of hope and power. At the end of our Kairos Retreat the senior retreatants receive a plain cross; many of them wear it daily.

Father in heaven, often we have found the world cannot give us peace; give us the peace that the world cannot give.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Wake Up!

Life is a banquet.  And the tragedy is that most people are starving to death. There’s a nice story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil perishing from thirst. They had no idea that the water they were floating on
was fresh water. The river was coming out into the sea with such force that it went out for a couple of miles. But they had no idea. In the same way, we’re surrounded with joy, with happiness, with love. Most people have no idea of
this whatsoever.

Spirituality means waking up. The kingdom of God is in your midst. This human existence, which many see as a mess, is, in fact, full of loveliness and beauty. All mystics – Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion – are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well.

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.

Forgiveness is needed for solving the problems of individuals and peoples.  There is no peace without forgiveness. – Pope John Paull II

On September 11, 2001, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York were destroyed by terrorists.  Thousands died.  That attack has had an enormous impact on world politics.  But, as often happens, such darkness also brought to light some positive aspects of the human spirit.  A Franciscan Friar, Mr. Mychal Judge, was among these victims of the attack. He could have saved himself but chose to look after others, For him, this was not an exceptional decision.  It was typical of him. Fr. Judge was already well known for his ministry in the fire-fighting
community.  He was a recovering alcoholic and also ministered to those living with AIDS.  At his funeral, Mayor Giuliani described him as a saint.  He is a reminder that the decisions we make on major occasions often
reflect the ones we have already made on small occasions.

Fr. Michael McGirr, S.J.

Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Lord, you have given me so much; I ask for one more thing – a grateful heart.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

God In All Things

Get outside yourself – Stop judging and start observing, observing, observing.  Be aware of what is going on inside.  Ignatius taught his companions to name what was going on inside and let it be what it is rather than trying to stomp it out or avoid it.  He suggested seeing situations from multiple points of view, knowing that God is in all of them.

Lisa Kelly, The Ignatian Life

Venerable Brother Francis Garate S.J.

1857-1929
On September 8^th, the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, seventy-two year old Brother Francis Garate S.J. felt sharp
pains in his stomach.  The Jesuit doctor suggested that he go to the infirmary, and Francis agreed that he would do so after he had finished several of his chores.  It was evening when Francis finally went to the infirmary.  He passed away the following morning, the feast of St. Peter Claver, S.J.

Brother Garate was born of poor and modest parents not far from the castle of Loyola, home of St. Ignatius Loyola.  After entering the Society of Jesus, he soon was assigned the task of infirmarian;  he had a deep interest and love for the sick and his limitless kindness toward them was evident to all.  Francis thought it nothing to remain all night
at the bedside of a sick Jesuit student and the next day to carry a full day’s work. 

Moved to the University of Deusto in northern Spain, he took the poorest room in the house for himself which was next to the porter’s lodge.  He was courteous to all who came to him:  helping students study; giving food to those who were hungry; giving clothing to those in need.  His forty-one years at Deusto were years of prayer, mortification,
and living continuously in the presence of God.  Venerable Brother Francis Garate is honored today by the Society of Jesus.

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

Lord, take as your right, and receive as my gift, all my freedom, my memory, my understanding and my will.  Whatever I am and whatever I possess, you have given me;  I restore it all to you again, to be at your disposal.  Give me only a love for you and the gift of your grace; then I am rich enough, and ask for nothing more. (St. Ignatius Loyola, 1491-1556) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.  Lamentations 3:26

In our prayer lives, God often speaks most clearly to us in moments when we can quiet our own minds and voices.  Words can sometimes be more reflective of our own anxieties and concerns than of God’s action.  While prayerful words can be a beautiful mode of communication, they can also be distractions from fully placing ourselves in God's hands.  Sometimes our words manifest our own limits.  Silence makes room for the fullness of God's dynamic and healing power. 

Marina McCoy, “God in the Silence,” Dot Magis blog

St. Peter Claver

1580-1654

In the 1600’s, Cartagena (modern-day Columbia) played an important role in the slave trade.  10,000 slaves passed through the port yearly.  When the ships docked, the black cargo was usually in a piteous
condition.  The passage lasted several months during which the future slaves spent their days chained one to another.  If the weather was perfect they came above board, but the greater part of the voyage was spent in
the dark, windowless bowels of the ship.  The hard floorboards served as their beds.  Their food was just enough to keep them in reasonable condition so as not to hinder future sale.  Sanitary conditions were
lacking.  Members of the ship’s crew could only bear going below, enduring the stench, for minutes at a time.  Epidemic diseases broke out; the voyage was considered a success if only one-third of the cargo died during the
passage.

For thirty-five years today’s honored saint, Peter Claver, S.J., was always at the dock awaiting the ship’s arrival.  He
had his food basket on one side and his interpreter on the other who carried a staff crowned with a crucifix.  He boarded the vessel; the blacks saw not a cruel face, but one of kindness. He came not to maltreat, but to bring
peace.  Each slave received either a piece of fruit or a biscuit.  After looking after those on deck, he visited the sick below.  He stayed below in the stench until his task was completed.  He baptized as many as would be baptized; he humbly estimated the number to be 300,000.

When the plague swept through Cartagena, Claver fell victim.  He was given a former slave to care for him.  This caretaker abused and insulted him; he ate the choice portions of food prepared for Peter.  He refused to bath him and care for his needs.  In his seventy-fourth year, after fifty-two years in Society, Claver passed to his loving God with many, many Jesuits at his side. 

My uncle Carl “Dud” Richard passed to his loving Lord over the weekend.  Dud was a kind, gentle, and generous person.  He will be missed greatly by my family. Pray for his peaceful passing and for the families involved.  St. Peter Claver, S.J. is patron saint of Claver House at SJJ.  Pray especially for the students, faculty and staff of Claver
House. As we plan and make decisions, God be our way.  As we learn and ask questions, God be our truth.   As we grow and change, God be our life. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.  My speech and my proclamations were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. – 1 Corinthians 2:3-5

Those who have abandoned themselves to God always lead mysterious lives and receive from him exceptional and miraculous gifts by means of the most ordinary, natural and chance experiences in which there appears to
be nothing unusual.  The simplest sermon, the most banal conversations, the least erudite books become a source of knowledge and wisdom to these souls by virtue of God’s purpose. This is why they carefully pick up the crumbs which
clever minds tread under foot, for to them everything is precious and source of enrichment. 

Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J. (A French spiritual director, who died in1751.  He wrote The Sacrament of the Present Moment, a classis guide to prayer, in which he maintained that the present moment is a gift of God.)

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary           

 
Today’s feast day originated in the Eastern Church and was commemorated in the West as early as the fifth century. Although no one is certain where Mary was born, one ancient tradition cites Nazareth and another,
Jerusalem. An occasion for praise and thanksgiving, the feast celebrates Mary’s personal sanctity and vocation as the mother of Jesus. As St. Alphonsus Liguori said, “If we wish to recover lost grace, let us seek Mary, by whom this grace
has been found. She never lost the divine grace; she always possessed it.”

Living With Christ, September 2010
 

Ted Majewski, age 96, the grandfather of SJJ faculty member and coach Phil Levering, received Last Rights over the weekend. He is a week from his 97th birthday. A retired firefighter and WWII veteran from Detroit, he
has been living in Toledo with his daughter and son in law, Diane and Tim Reckley. Please keep him in your prayers and Phil and his family. Our prayers have been requested for Leanne Purcell, who attends the Academy of Notre Dame
de Namur in Villanova, Pennsylvania; she is gravely ill.  It was recently discovered that Leanne has
Wilson's disease and is in immediate need of a liver transplant . She needs this transplant within the next week to save her life.  Father, give your people help and strength from heaven. The birth of Mary’s Son was the dawn of our salvation. May this celebration of her birthday bring us closer to lasting peace. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Be faithful.  Enjoy the stillness and quiet.

Why does God lead us to ordinary times of praying, which we so quickly label as dry and boring?  God
may be gently tilling the soil of your soul for some future harvest, preparing the ground for a bold insight of a deeper emotional experience to come.  God may use the times of dryness to heighten your sense of His presence, so that you will be aware of that presence later in the day or week.  God may invite you to ordinary times to kindle deep desires and longings.  In this case, restlessness is a good thing.  God may simply want to give you a rest after an intense experience of prayer.  Enjoy the stillness and quiet.

Remember, in ordinary times of praying, we may feel that God is not there or not listening.  To the contrary, God is there, but not as we imagine or have experienced in the past.  Be faithful.  God is always close.

Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., The Ignatian Experience

Mass of the Holy Spirit  “Continuing Fifty-Years of St. John’s Jesuit Pride”

Today SJJ celebrates Mass of the Holy Spirit, the official welcome to the new school year for faculty, staff and
students, and part of a long tradition dating from the founding of the great European Jesuit universities in the Middle Ages. These institutions would celebrate this Mass at the start of a new school year. Following this tradition – as do most Jesuit universities and high schools today – we call on God's Spirit for inspiration as we begin a new academic year.

This festive event takes on a special meaning this school year.  Fifty years ago, St. John’s Jesuit reopened its doors after some years of closure due to the Depression. This year our school will celebrate the “Continuing Fifty-Years of St. John’s Jesuit Pride.” We will call on the Holy Spirit to bless this year, and the years ahead.

Besides the SJJ  school community, 150 invited guests will attend, including the following priests who will concelebrate:  Fr. Brian Paulson SJ, Provincial of Chicago-Detroit Province, Fr. Tom Doyle SJ, Vice President of Jesuit Identity at SJJ, Fr. Don Vettese, SJ, Fr. Jerry Odbert SJ, Fr. Frank Canfield SJ, Fr. John Libens SJ, Fr. Bill Murphy SJ, Fr. Dan Zak, Fr. Mark Davis '78,  Fr. Marty Connell, SJ '81, Fr. John Bamman, OFM Conv. '85, Fr. Brian Lehane, SJ, Fr.
Pat Peppard, SJ, Fr. Geoff Rose, O.S.F.S., Msgr. Charles Singler, Vocation Director for the Diocese of Toledo, Fr. Ronald Olszewski, O.S.F.S.,  and Deacon Jerry Ziemkiewicz.

Please keep the SJJ faculty, staff, and students in your prayers in this special year.  Pray in thanks for the
Society of Jesus, it is through their inspiration and leadership that St. John’s Jesuit continues to exist. Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all. Holy Spirit, hover above the chaos and make new this world.  Rest on us
and change us – give us peace that we may share it gladly; forgive our sins that we may forgive others gently; send us out that we may care for the weak graciously. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

God Has Won the Victory He Intends

Jesus did not leave us a list of truths to affirm, but a task to carry out.  We must try to discern in our time and
place how God wants us to live our lives in this world in tune with God’s Spirit, the one divine action at work in this universe.  This is what the discernment of spirits is all about.  Followers of Jesus have been given a
task to carry out and the meant to do it.  Impelled by God’s Spirit, they must try to live in this world with the conviction that with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus all the needful has been done, that God has won the
victory he intends.  Our task, therefore, is to follow the prompting of the Spirit, who has been poured out in our hearts, to follow the ay of Jesus. –
William Barry, S.J.

Blessed James Bonnaud

1740-1792

Blessed William Delfaut and 12 Companions

1733-1792

Martyrs of the French Revolution

On this day in 1792, a riotous mob of the French Revolution, enraged by reports that a foreign invasion was immanent, stormed the streets and churches of Paris in search of counterrevolutionary priests.  The prisons were filled with enemies of the Revolution, many of the prisoners were priests who refused to sign the infamous Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which subjected all Catholic priests to the national church of France, cutting
them off from the papacy.  Priests who would not sign this oath were considered counter-revolutionaries.  When prisons were filled, priests and religious were imprisoned in churches and monasteries.

The Commune, which replaced the royal family, directed that all imprisoned priests would be “dispatched.”  Commissar Maillard was directed to keep the cries of the dying to a minimum and to take enough brooms
to sweep away the blood. One of their first stops was a Carmelite monastery, where 150 bishops and priests were being held. One by one, each priests was called before the Commissar and asked to sign the Civil Constitution; if they
refused, they were thrown against the chapel steps and became the target of slashing sabres and jabbing bayonets, of swinging clubs and well-aimed guns.  After many hours, ninety-five priests were dead, fourteen of which
were Jesuit (Technically ex-Jesuits due to the fact that the Society of Jesus was suppressed in France – All Jesuits had to leave the order, leave the country, or go to prison.), including Blessed James Bonnaud and Blessed William Delfaut. 

Jesuit Saint and Martyrs, Fr. Joseph N. Tylenda,
S.J.

Lord, you lead us by ways we do not know, through joy and
sorrow, through victory and defeat, beyond our understanding.  Give us
faith to see your guiding hand in all things. (Eric Milner-White
(1884-1963)  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray
for us.

Hope Has Nothing to Do With Optimism
We live in a world where people don’t know much about hope.  We know about wishes.  I wish this, or I want that. It is very concrete:  I want a new car, or I want a new job.  But hope is precisely to say, “I don’t know how God is going to fulfill his promises, but I know that he will, and therefore I can live in the present with the knowledge that he is with me.”  I can then know and trust that the deepest desires of my being will be fulfilled.  This way keeps the future very open. 

Hope has nothing to do with optimism, looking at the positive side of life. Jesus himself talks about the future, he describes wars, people in anguish, nation rising against nation, and earthquakes.  He talks of enormous agony, but he says, “You, you (my beloved ones) pray unceasingly that you will keep your heart focused on me.  Stand with your
head erect in the presence of the Son of Man.  Don’t get distracted.” 
 

To live in hope is to live in the present, because God is a God of the present.

Fr. Henri Nouwen  (1932-1996)

St. Gregory the Great

I remember with sorrow what I once was in the monastery, how I rose in contemplation above all changeable and decaying things and thought of nothing but the things of heaven.  But now, by reason of my pastoral care, I have to bear with secular business.   And when I recall the condition of my former life, I sigh as one who looks back and gazes on the shore he has left behind.”

The quote above is from St. Gregory the Great (There have been only two popes given the title, the Great.); today is his feast day.  He brought to the papacy an unusual combination of managerial genius and personal holiness.  While the once-glorious Roman empire fell into decay and ruin, he steered the church with a wise and steady hand,
concerning himself with all matters large and small, and thus establishing the church as the great stable institution of the Middle Ages. 

When his father died in 575 Gregory seized the opportunity to put aside “worldly” concerns.  He turned his family home into a monastery and used his inheritance to create six other monasteries.  He was very happy.  But in 579 he was called to serve the church in a number of sensitive positions, until he was elected pope in 590.  With the civil administration of Rome in a state of collapse due to the barbarian invasion, he assumed de facto authority over Rome and much of Italy, responsible for meeting successive onslaughts of war, famine, and plague.  But he always longed for his life in the monastery.

The church later gave him the title, “the Great.”  However, he always preferred “Servant of the servants of God.”  He died in 604.

All Saints, Robert Ellsberg

Lord, you guide your people with kindness and govern us with love.  By the prayers of St. Gregory give the spirit of wisdom to those you have called to lead your Church. Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

“Trust in the Lord, he will not disappoint you! He never disappoints.”  Pope Francis

“If the Christian is a legalist, if he wants everything clear and safe, then he will find nothing.  Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God.  Those who today always look for disciplinarian solutions, those who long for an exaggerated doctrinal security, those who stubbornly try to recover the past that no longer exists – they have a static and inward-directed view of things. In this way, faith becomes an ideology among other ideologies.

“ I am certain: God is in every person’s life. Even if the life has been
a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is
in this person’s life.  You can, you must try to seek God in every human
life.  Although the life of a person is a land full of thorns and weeds,
there is always a space in which the good seed can grow.  You have to
trust God.”- Pope Francis

Francois Mauriac

Novelist and Nobel Laureate (1885-1970)

On this day in 1970, Francois Mauriac, the great French Catholic novelist, died at eighty-five.  He wrote, “It is impossible for any one of those who has real charity in his heart not to serve Christ. Even some of those who think they hate Him have consecrated their lives to Him; for Jesus is disguised and masked in the midst of men, hidden among the poor, among the sick, among prisoners, among strangers.”

In many of his novels he explored a world in which human beings were warped and distorted by frustrated hope, pride, avarice, and the failure to connect with the other person in love.  The misery of the world without God.  He wrote, “Our  hidden life with Christ ought to have some bearing on our lives as citizens.  We cannot approve of practice publicly in the name of Caesar what the Lord condemns, disapproves, or curses, whether it be failure to honor our word, exploitation of the poor, police torture, or regimes of terror.” 

In Son of Man, a meditation on the humanity of Jesus, he pondered the significance of the fact that God chose to be incarnate as a poor man, a worker, and a Jew.  What would the world look like if Christians gave proper credit to these facts? 

All Saints, Robert Ellsberg

Pope Francis has declared September 1^st as World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.   This is the latest move by Pope Francis to push environmental issues up the global agenda. The prayer day will be celebrated annually on Sept. 1, in line with the Orthodox Church’s day for the protection of the environment. Pope Francis said, “As Christians we wish to offer our contribution towards overcoming the ecological crisis which humanity is living through.” Lord, your works are wonderful, in wisdom you have made them all.  Forgive us for the madness that abuses the earth for short-term ends, and give us wisdom, to cherish and share the abundant gifts of our fragile planet.  Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Conversations With the Master

It bothered some of the disciples that the Master seemed to care so little whether or not people believed in a personal God.   He once quoted to them a favorite sentence from the diary of United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold:

“God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.”

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.

Servant of God Joseph Pico, S.J.

1867-1946)
On this day in 1946, Fr. Julius Pico, S.J., found his brother, Fr. Joseph Pico’s, S.J.,  prostrate body on the floor of his
brother’s bedroom, having already returned his soul to the God who made him.  When the physician arrived to certify his death, he uttered the words that were in everyone’s mind.  “We are not standing before the body of a man, but before the relics of a saint.”

Fr. Pico never held any important position in the Society of Jesus.  He was always someone’s assistant, but it was his simple, humble, and holy life that attracted countless people to seek him out as an adviser and confessor.  His work in the Society was always simple and perhaps without distinction in the eyes of men, but in the eyes of God it was a perfect offering.

Joseph always had a great concern and love for the sick.  When he was in the novitiate a Fr. Fumagalli arrived to await death – he was in the last stages of cancer.  The infirmarian was already overworked, Joseph volunteered to care for him.  For seven months, when he was not in class, he was at the priest’s side, nursing him, bathing him, caring
for him until his death.  Wherever he was missioned, he threw himself into the local apostolate, hearing confessions, ministering to the sick and the poor, bringing them Communion and consolation. 

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.
Loving God, suffer me not so to undervalue myself as to give away my soul, thy soul, thy dear and precious soul, for nothing; and all the world is nothing, if thy soul be given for it.  (John Donne, 1573-1631) Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

God is the One who created me, has given me to myself.

I must accept myself.  I must renounce my wish to be other than I am, to be someone other than who I am. The persistence of the human desire to be something other than oneself is clear in the ancient myths and fairy tales, which is found among all peoples, that recount how a man or woman is changed into something else – into a star in the heavens, and animal, a monster, or a stone. I must agree to be who I am.  Agree to have the qualities
that I in fact have.  Agree to exist within the limits that were given to me.

I cannot explain how I am as I am.  I cannot understand why I must be so.  Nevertheless, who I am defines my whole
existence.  All of this means that I cannot explain my identity, nor can I somehow prove myself.  Rather I must accept myself.  And the clarity and courage for this self-acceptance shapes all that exists in my life. 

I can accept myself only in relation to something or someone higher – and with this recognition we are in the realm of faith.  Faith means here that I understand finitude in relation to highest reality, in relation to God’s will.

Dante’s Divine Comedy tells of the journey from earth through hell and all it depths.  At the conclusion, one reads how the mystery of Christ is revealed to the traveler; it is through Jesus Christ that our humanity is assumed into the existence of the Son of God.  In the presence of Christ, the traveler apprehends what is situated not only beyond
everything earthly but also beyond himself.  He now knows who Christ is and also who he himself is.  He also knows all God intends for him. 

Fr. Romano Guardini (1885-1968), a German priest and theologian; his efforts to relate Christianity to the modern audience helped prepare the way for Vatican II.

Late have I love Thee, Beauty, once so ancient and so new! Late have I loved Thee! You were within me, and I was in the world outside myself…You were with me, but I was not with Thee.” (St. Augustine, 354-430)      

St. Augustine, whose feast day is today, was a major figure of the Christian Church. He did indeed come late from the good life of the world, making his way fitfully toward God. Tracing his journey can aid anyone engaged in a similar difficult quest. He was a truly remarkable man of intellect who made a major impact on all of Western thought.

His father was a successful businessman, but he was without God.  His mother, Monica (whose feast day
was yesterday), was an ardent Christian.  Augustine went the way of his father; Monica prayed and worked to bring
her son to Christianity.  For thirty years, she had been weeping over his sins and praying for his salvation.

Augustine lived the life of a young man with few worries and ample money. He would say later that it was all nothing but a desert of sin, pride, and sensuality. He studied law and was a great writer; he had a mistress
for 15 years, and fathered a son at the age of 18. He rebelled against his Christian faith and fought for many heresies.

With his life spiraling out of control downwards, depressed, he was moved by a sermon of the great, Bishop Ambrose.  One day he heard a voice say “Take and read.”  He picked up a Bible and opened to the text: “Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries.  Rather arm
yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” At once the storm was stilled, and his will was resolved. He was
baptized shortly after in 387; he was 33 years-old. Even at this late age, he became one of the greatest of all Christian leaders. His mother lived to see his baptism, but died soon after.  All Saints, Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time, Robert Ellsberg

Our first football game is tonight against Piqua; all our fall sports are underway.  Pray for their safety and that they  play their best.  Pray for a safe and blessed weekend for all.  Lord, save us from self-centeredness in our prayers, and help us to us remember to pray for others; may we feel their needs as keenly as our own. Saint John Berchmans pray
for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Happiness

A man runs out to meet a monk who is passing his village.  “Give me the stone, the precious stone!”
The monk says, “What stone are you talking about?”

The man says, “Last night God appeared to me in a dream and said, ‘A monk will be passing by the village, if he gives you the rock he carries, you will be the richest man in the country.’ So give me the stone!”

The monk reached into his sack and took out a diamond; the biggest diamond in the world, the size of a human head!  “Is this the stone you want? I found it in the forest.  Take it!”  the man seized the stone and went running
home.  But he couldn’t sleep that night.  Very early the next morning he went to where the monk was sleeping, woke him up, and said, “Here’s your diamond back.  I want the kind of wealth that enables you to throw wealth away.” 

This is what we must discover if we want happiness.

Fr. Anthony de
Mello, S.J.

St. David Lewis S.J.

1616-1679

Martyr of Wales

On this day in 1679,  Fr. David Lewis, S.J. was dragged to the gallows’ outside Usk, Whales to be martyred for Christ.  He was hanged and remained hanging until dead.  His body was then cut down and disemboweled, and afterwards his friends took his body and buried it in a churchyard.

Because of a fabricated plot, alleging that the Jesuits were intent on the king’s murder and the reestablishment of the Catholic faith in England, anti-Catholic hatred ran high and the Jesuits had to leave their residences to
seek safety as each could find. Fr. Lewis went to hiding, but secretly celebrated Mass for Catholics.  For a reward, his hiding place was exposed; as Fr. Lewis was preparing for Mass, six soldiers forced their way into the house and took him to the Calvinist magistrate.  He was interrogated in regards the plot to murder the king, but he was clearly
innocent.  He was, then, asked to take the Oath of Supremacy – declaring his loyalty to the King over the Pope.  When he refused, he was condemned to die as a traitor. 

In a famous speech from the gallows he said, “I suffer not as a thief or murderer, but  as a Christian.  A Roman Catholic I am; a Roman Catholic priest I am; a Roman Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus I am.”

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J.

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will,  all I have and call my own.  You have given all to me.  To you, Lord, I return it.  Everything is yours; do with it what you will.  Give me only your love and your grace.  That is enough for me. (St. Ignatius Loyola) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us. 

There are no coincidences, only aspects of God’s Providence that we have not yet fully understood.    Just last week, comedian Stephen Colbert (who’s show will soon replace the David Letterman Show) gave an interview in which the depths of his Catholic faith was on clear display.  Discussing the trauma that he experienced as a young man – the deaths of his father and two of his brothers in a plane crash – he told the interviewer how, through ministrations
of his mother, he had learned not only to accept what had happened but actually to rejoice in it:  “Boy, did I have a bomb when I was ten; that was quite an explosion…it’s that I love the thing that I wish most had not happened.”

His interviewer asked him to explain what he just said.  Without missing a beat, Colbert cited J.R.R. Tolkien: “What
punishments of God are not gifts?”  

 One of the most potent insights of the spiritual masters is that our lives are not about us, that they are, in fact, ingredients in God’s providential purposes, part of a story that stretches infinitely beyond what we can immediately grasp.  Why are we suffering now?  Well, it might be so that, we can comfort someone else with the same consolation we have received in our suffering.  And that someone might be a person who has not yet been born.

Fr. Robert Barron

Venerable Aloysius Mary Solari, SJ

1795-1829

God does not measure a person’s worth by what he, or she, achieves, He measures it by the love the person has in his, or her, heart.  On this day in 1829, Aloysius Mary Solari, S.J. was rapidly carried to his death from scarlet fever. He was only thirty-four years old; he had been a Jesuit for only twelve years. In 1814, he decided to enter the
Society of Jesus - the Society had just been restored after having been suppressed for forty-one years. His widowed mother vigorously opposed this desire, and the Society would not take him without her consent.  But,
eventually, fully realizing that her son’s vocation was indeed from God, she finally agreed to her son’s wishes.  He entered the Society in 1817. 

He was chosen among the first Jesuits to go to Naples to reopen the Jesuit college there after it had been closed for many years.  He was ordained in 1824, at the age of twenty-nine.  He taught at various schools the rest of his short life. He was a powerful preacher; all who heard him were moved.  The students viewed him as an exemplary priest and many chose him as their confessor.

Scarlet fever took his life too soon; those, aware of his extraordinary holiness, introduced his cause in Rome in 1906. The road to sainthood begins with the title, Servant of God, then, Venerable, then Blessed.  If the cause progresses, the last step is beatification and sainthood.  The men and women who have been given these titles are a
fascinating assortment of personalities and lives.  

Yesterday, theology department chairman, Brian Tittl had appendectomy surgery.  Please keep him in your prayers. Lord, teach us to be generous.  Teach us to give without counting the cost and fight without heeding the wounds. (St. Ignatius Loyola) Saint John Berchmans pray for us.  Saint Ignatius pray for us.

Stay Away from Motives

In St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises he says:  “It is necessary  that every good Christian put a good
interpretation on another’s statement rather than condemn it as false.” Stay away from motives.  If you find yourself attacking somebody’s motives, you are almost certainly violating this rule of Ignatius’. 

Attributing presumed motives to others shifts the discussion
away from the issue and onto the person – and thus shifts it away from the
questions of truth as well.  Moreover, attributing motives to others
always strikes a false note for me because knowing someone’s motive requires
knowing their internal psychological states, a rather dubious
proposition.  When tempted to question someone’s motives, it might be best
to think how irritating it is when someone  questions our motives.

Anthony Lusvardi, SJ

Blessed Michael Carvalho, S.J.

1577-1624

Martyr of Japan

 Ever since Michael Carvalho was a Jesuit novice in Portugal, he longed for the Japanese mission.  When he finally got to the East, his time was brief.  Fr. Carvalho’s missionary career was without significant accomplishment, but God does not measure a martyr’s worth by what he achieves, He measures it by the love the martyr has in his heart. 

 After ordination, he requested missionary work in Japan, but was given a teaching position in theology in Goa, India.  After 14-years teaching, he was sent to Nagasaki.  Disguised as a Indian soldier, Fr. Carvalho landed in Nagasaki on August 21, 1621.  The Great Persecution against Catholics was in force, and since all missionaries were in hiding, they could only secretly exercise their priesthood. 

 Two years later, Fr. Carvalho was travelling back to Nagasaki after a mission project.  He was arrested and taken to prison.  He was put in a pen, made of stakes without a roof or walls.  Heat, cold, wind and rain beat upon them.  He received a handful of rice and saucer of water in the morning and the evening.  He was unable to wash or change clothing and was without sanitation; the stench was overpowering.  He wrote another Jesuit: “We (all those in the pen) are all feeble and infirm in body, but we are sustained and consoled in spirit for God grants His favors in proportion to our sufferings.”

 On this day in 1624, he was executed by slow fire.  He held a crucifix, his eyes on the figure of Christ; he sang psalms to God.  Fr. Carvalho was tied to a stake.  The wood was arranged in such a way that it took two hours before his soul returned to God. The longing that he had in his heart was now satisfied.

Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, Joseph Tylenda, S.J.

 Pat Wood, mother-in-law of SJJ staff person, Inga Wood, begins chemotherapy Wednesday for breast cancer.  She has undergone two surgeries and will have four rounds of chemo, and then, radiation. Please pray for her.  Guide us that we may be more sensitive to our neighbors’ s needs.  We pray for awareness of those needs:  the need of the old to know they are wanted, the need of the young to know they are listened to, the need of all people to know they are of value. (Women of New Zealand.)  Saint John Berchmans pray for us. Saint Ignatius pray for us.

 The Wisdom of Pope Francis

 “Depicting the pope as a sort of superman, a star, is offensive to me.  The pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly, and has friends like everyone else.”  From an interview with Corriero della Sera, March 5, 2014

 “God is not afraid of new things! That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts, and guiding us in unexpected ways.”  From a homily at the beatification of Pope Paul VI, October 19, 2014

 The pope was warned by a friend in regards to his many public appearances, “Jorge, we know that you don’t wear a bulletproof vest.  There are many crazy people out there.”  Francis calmly replied, “The Lord has put me here.  He’ll have to look out for me.”  Though he had not been asked to be pope, he said the moment his name was called out in the conclave, he felt a tremendous sense of peace.  An despite animosities he was likely to incur, he assured his friends, “I still feel the same peace.” 

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