From the Pastor: 10.23.11

All of the articles in the current issue of the international “Review of Ignatian Spirituality” treat the thought-provoking subject of “Secularization and Ignatian Spirituality.”  At first glance, it seems a peculiar focus for a spirituality journal.  But on further reflection, it makes perfect sense for Ignatian spirituality, which has acknowledged from its earliest beginnings that our encounters with the divine necessarily take place in a particular human “here and now.”  Indeed, part of why the “Spiritual Exercises” remain useful and relevant as a...

From the Pastor: 10.16.11

I am sure that some of you are familiar with the writings of Joseph Girzone.  A retired priest from upstate New York, he is the author of “Joshua” and at least six or seven sequels in the “Joshua” series.  The novels imagine what it would be like if Jesus were to become incarnate in our world today, just as he once did in ancient Palestine.  The author self-published “Joshua” in 1983, and its popularity grew by word of mouth until it became an international best seller.  It was made into a major motion picture in 2002, starring Tony Goldwyn and F. Murray...

Homily: 27th OT(A) 10.02.11

We heard two “parables” this morning: one from the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament, and one from the Gospel of Matthew.  Now as near as I can tell, the “hooks” or the “catches” in these parables for once are not hidden or obscure; rather, they are right there “in our face.”  In the parable from Isaiah, the unpleasant surprise was the harvest itself.  Although the vineyard owner planted on “a fertile hillside,” and although he “spaded it, cleared it of stones,…planted the choicest vines;…built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press,”...

From the Pastor: 10.09.11

In the rule of St. Benedict (early 6th century) we read “hospes venit, Christus venit” – which might be loosely rendered as “When a guest comes, Christ comes.”  The point, of course, is that when we welcome or receive someone, we are to act is if it were Jesus whom we were welcoming and receiving. Like most saintly wisdom, this ideal of Christian hospitality (practiced still today at Benedictine monasteries around the world) did not originate with St. Benedict.  Rather, Benedict got the idea where most saints throughout the centuries have gotten most of their...