From the Pastor: 12.28.08

FROM THE PASTOR, Dec. 28, 2008 After inviting us in the “Exercises” to use our graced imagination to “contemplate” the mystery of the Incarnation – as I have discussed in my last two columns – St. Ignatius next proposes imaginative contemplation of the Nativity.  In the “first prelude,” he calls to mind the basics of the story: “how Our Lady went forth from Nazareth, about nine months with child,…seated on an ass, and accompanied by Joseph and a maid, taking an ox, to go to Bethlehem to pay the tribute which Caesar imposed on all those lands.” ...

Homily: 12.28.08

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church – 6:30 p.m. Feast of the Holy Family – 12/28/08 Because of the way our minds and hearts are made, we can’t take a mystery like the Incarnation on board all at once.  That’s why, over the centuries, the Church developed the liturgical seasons – so that over time, we can look at and appreciate the different facets or faces of a complex mystery.  The other day, on Christmas itself, we considered the actual birth of Jesus as an infant – the stable and manger, the annunciation to the shepherds by angels, and...

Homily: 12.24.08

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church – 8:00 p.m. Christmas “Midnight” Mass – 12/24/08 As many of you know, I taught preaching at a seminary for a number of years.  It was during those years that the epic film, “Titanic,” was released; and I used it in class to argue that the writer/director, James Cameron, was one of the best “preachers” in America.  After all, I argued: people were paying $7.50 a head – that’s what movies cost in 1997! – to watch and listen to a “sermon” that lasted nearly three hours; and in many cases, they...

Homily: 12.21.08

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church – 11:30 a.m. 4th Sunday of Advent B – 12/21/08 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical version of “Cinderella,” the main character tells her fairy godmother that her one wish is to go to the ball, but that she knows it is impossible.  The fairy godmother responds in song that “the world is full of zanies and fools who don’t believe in sensible rules, and won’t believe what sensible people say.  And because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes, impossible things are happening...

From the Pastor: 12.21.08

FROM THE PASTOR: DEC. 21, 2008 A recurring pattern in the “Spiritual Exercises” has St. Ignatius starting the retreatant off praying at the “cosmic” level, and then leading him or her gradually to the more intimate and personal plane.  This pattern is certainly operational in the Ignatian contemplation on the Incarnation. Thus, as I discussed in last week’s column, he invites the retreatant to enter imaginatively into the God’s-eye view of the unredeemed human condition in the first “panel” of the “diptych.”  (I always think of those spectacular...

From the Pastor: 12.14.08

FROM THE PASTOR: Dec. 14, 2008 The name “Jesuits” started out as a not-so-flattering nickname conferred by detractors of the Society of Jesus.  “Society of Jesus” is itself an unfortunate rendering of the Latin “Societatis Jesu.”  The Romance languages – including Ignatius’ native Spanish – get it better.  “Compañia de Jesus.”  And in Spanish, the order’s members become “compañeros de Jesus” – “companions of Jesus.”  All of that by way of saying that Ignatian spirituality is unapologetically Christ-centered.  While recovering from...

Homily: 12.13.08

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church – 7:30 a.m. 3rd Sunday of Advent – 12/13/08 “He has sent me to bring glad tidings…  I rejoice heartily in the Lord…”  So says Isaiah.  And Paul says, “Rejoice always!”  In fact, that’s why I’m wearing rose vestments this morning.  They signify joy on this 3rd Sunday of Advent which is called “Gaudete,” or “Rejoice” Sunday, because Catholics have been reading “joy” readings on this Sunday for centuries.  But what on earth does “joy” mean?  Hasn’t the word become a bit like...

Homily: 12.08.08

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church – 7:30 p.m. Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – 12/8/08 I’ve been known to say in preaching on August 15 that the only “assumption” we can make on that feast is that Mary is in heaven.  I suppose, similarly, I might say of today’s feast that many Catholics have no “conception” – or at least, a mis-“conception” – of what the Immaculate Conception is really about.  So let me make the point with another bad joke. You’ll remember the story from the 8th chapter of John’s Gospel of the...

Homily: 12.07.08

2nd Sunday of Advent B – 12-7-08 Old St. Joseph’s Church – 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Parents, at times, function like prophets.  Based on past experience and common sense, they say things like: “Stop that!  If you kids keep throwing that ball around in here, something’s going to get broken, or someone’s going to get hurt.”  Sometimes, their kids listen to and believe them and change their behavior; other times, they continue to engage in horseplay until – wonder of wonders – something gets broken of someone gets hurt, or...

From the Pastor: 12.07.08

FROM THE PASTOR – Dec. 7, 2008 Advent is upon us; the purple is out again.  But I liked the practice at one of my former assignments where we had two different shades of purple vestments.  We used to use the lighter, more rosy purple for Lent; for Advent, we reserved the darker, more bluish purple.  We did that because, while Advent is a “penitential season,” it has a very different feel from that of Lent. Advent is about preparation and expectation – about “cleaning house” and waiting in joyful hope.  This brief season reminds us how our ancestors in faith...