From the Pastor: 10.25.09

FROM THE PASTOR: October 25, 2009 Thanksgiving (the holiday) is still a month-and-a-half away, but for us Christians, an “att-ee-tude of grat-ee-tude” (as some of my local friends say!) should never be far from us.  After all, if we believe that God created everything that exists and holds it in existence as a gift to help us on our life journey to him – an assumption that St. Ignatius lays out at the beginning of the Exercises, as I noted in my previous column – then we’ve got a whole lot of thanking to do.  It seems likely that’s why our ancestors-in-faith...

Homily: 10.25.09

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church – Philadelphia, PA 30th Sunday in OT (B) – 10-25-09 – 7:30 a.m. & 9:30 a.m. Bartimaeus is one of my favorite people in the Gospels.  First off, he has an actual name – so that immediately makes him feel friendly and accessible.  But I also think he has a great story, one in which he provides an awesome model for how to be a disciple of Jesus.  And as I see it, that story breaks down into four significant points. First off, Bartimaeus is really clear about his blindness.  Mark doesn’t tell us whether...

Homily: 10.18.09

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church – 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. 29th Sunday in OT (B) – 10-18-09 In his wonderful little book, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy & Fairy Tale, Presbyterian writer, theologian and preacher, Frederick Buechner asks this provocative question:  “Is it possible, I wonder, to say that it is only when you hear the Gospel as a wild and marvelous joke that you really hear it at all?  Heard as anything else, the Gospel is the church’s thing, the preacher’s thing, the lecturer’s thing.  Heard as a...

From the Pastor: 10.18.09

FROM THE PASTOR: October 18, 2009 Since we are a Jesuit parish, I thought it might be interesting to do a series of columns on key graces and movements in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola.  Inigo de Loyola underwent a deep personal conversion at around the age of 30 after reading the life of Christ and the lives of the saints during a lengthy recuperation from battle injuries.  During a visit to the Benedictine monastery at Montserrat, Ignatius made a general confession and kept “vigil at arms” before the famous “black Madonna.”  He then left his...

From the Pastor: 10.11.09

FROM THE PASTOR: October 11, 2009 “Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December but the days grow short when you reach September…”  Somehow, it has gotten to be October already, and autumn is upon us.  While relief from the heat and humidity may be welcomed by many, there is still something wistful and bittersweet about autumn.  The turning leaves are beautiful, but the color also signifies that they are dying.  Fresh apples and squash are plentiful and tasty, but they are the last ones we will see for this growing season.  It is clear to all of us...

From the Pastor: 10.04.09

FROM THE PASTOR: October 4, 2009 Last Thursday, I spent the day at a workshop at St. Anthony’s parish in Ambler.  It was the title that sold me:  “Becoming a Welcoming, Engaging and Affirming Parish.”  Mind you, here at OSJ, we are already all of those things – we hear it from visitors and from parishioners old and new all the time.  But there is always room for growth as we move forward with our shared mission, desiring “to be transformed through the action of the Spirit into a community united with Jesus Christ” (OSJ Pastoral Plan).  And the promotional...

Homily: 10.04.09

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church, Philadelphia 27th Sunday of OT (B) – 10-4-09 – 6:30 p.m. Recently, I have been listening in the car to Karen Armstrong’s book A History of God, which focuses specifically on the evolving understanding of God in the three monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  In discussing the faith of Abraham, Armstrong makes an interesting point – namely, that Jewish patriarchs, like Abraham, lived long before their religion encountered philosophy.  For better or for worse, once Judaism – and later,...