A Little Battalion

Jesuit prayer

Here is another little something from the spectacular Fr. Willie Doyle, SJ*:

Passion of Christ, comfort me!

Comfort me for the day is long and weary; comfort me as I fight my way up the path of life, safe to the Heaven of Thy Sacred Heart; comfort me in sorrows, in pain, in sickness.

Comfort me, when temptation rages 'round me, and every hope seems lost.

And when that last dread hour has sounded and my eyes are closing on this world of sin.

O Passion of Christ!

Comfort me then, and lead me gently to Thy wounded Sacred Feet above.

Amen.

--Rev. W. Doyle. S.J.

AMDG,

-J.

* Oh, don't you worry...there'll be a lot more of him in upcoming posts.

"A good Jesuit is a great teacher. Always."

About thirty years or so I first heard this line and, as circumstances have worked themselves out in my life, I've been given ample opportunity to marvel at its accuracy.

So, it is with a glad heart I bring you Abp. Terrence T. Prendergast, SJ doing what a Jesuit does best: Bring people to Christ by teaching them. Much like Jesus did on the road to Emmaus or St. Philip did with the eunuch H.E. shepherd his flock closer to the Lord by opening up the Scriptures to them.

It seems that Abp. Prendergast makes it a habit to teach adult faith development at the Archiocesan Center in Ottawa, and -- surprise, surprise -- these are "packed."

One of the things I like about H.E. is that he makes it a point to not deny the historicity of Scripture, but of having people not get hung up on the tiny details, i.e. not to miss the forest for the trees.

You'll note that his notes (his penmanship which is actually pretty good for a Jesuit) on the chalkboard are riddled with Latin and Greek. (The list of documents on the right side make for excellent reading, huh?) he also highlighted that, "with Tradition and the teaching authority of the Magisterium, Sacred Scripture is central to Catholic Christian life."

Anyway, go check out the rest of the story at the Archdiocese of Ottawa's site.

AMDG,

-J.

More Video Jesuitness

One of our favorite Archbishops, the now-everpresent Abp. Prendergast of Ottawa, goes on tour! Her he is visting some important sites in Italy. The video is in Italian (seems Abp. Prendergast is quite the polyglot!) but you can hear the pleased surprise in the cameraman's voice when His Excellency declares himself a Jesuit.

AMDG,

-J.

Video Jesuitness

Here is a video snippet of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ saying Mass on Maunday Thursday at the chapel "Our Lady of Lujan" -- notice it was filled to overflowing -- of a new drug rehab center in Buenos Aires. All of the 12 men whose feet he washed ("with humility and respect") and kissed ("with great love") are patients of the new "Villa Zabaleta" center in various stages of recovery.

He then crossed the courtyard and helped Fr. Pepe inaugurate the rehab center and then he blessed the assembled, using an olive branch ("symbolizing both peace and victory" like I read elsewhere) to sprinkle Holy Water.

H.E. was clear in his message that those who traffic in human misery as well as those who aid and abet them, "will be condemned" which seems to imply H.E. has a rather sober view of Hell, always good to know.

Although the interstitials are in Spanish, this should be pretty clear. If anyone gets hung up on the Spanish, holler in the combox, and I'll translate.

AMDG,

-J.

Cdl. Bergoglio's Easter Vigil Homily

More from H.E. Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ down in Buenos Aires. (You'll note that in spectacularly Jesuit fashion, Cdl. Bergoglio is brief and VERY to the point.)

AMDG,

-J.

============================================

1. In the shadows of the Temple we have followed the signposts of a long road. God chooses a people and sends them on their way. Starting with Abram: “Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land which I shall show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation.” (Gen 12:1-2). Abram went forth, and became the father of a people that made history along the way, a people on the way towards that which was promised. Us also recently made our way listening to [the telling of] this history of traversing lands and centuries, with our fixed on the paschal event, the definitive Promise made reality, the Living Christ, victor over death, resurrected. Life in God is not passive, it is a life on the road...and even God Himself desired to be on the road, in search of man...and became man. On this night we have traveled both roads: of the people, of man, towards God and that of God to man, both roads leading to an encounter. The anxiousness for God sown in our human heart, that anxiousness of God given as a promise to Abram and, on the other hand, the anxiousness of God's heart, His immeasurable love for us, are to be found here today, before thus paschal event, the figure of Christ Resurrected that resolves in itself all searches and anxiousness, wishes and loves; Christ Resurrected is the goal and triumph of these two roads that meet. This is the night of an encounter...of “Encounter” with capital letters.

2. It is brought to our attention, how the Gospel we have just heard, describes the Encounter of Jesus Christ, Victorious with the women. Nobody stands still...all are in movement, on the move: it is said the women went, that the earth shook strongly; the Angel came down from Heaven, making the stone roll, the guards trembled. Then, the invitation: He will go to Galilee, that all go to Galilee. The women, with that mix of fear and joy --that is, with their hearts in movement -- back up rapidly and run to spread the news. They encounter Jesus and approach Him and fall to His feet. Movement of the women towards Christ, movement of Christ towards them. In this movement the encounter happens.

3. The Gospel announcement is not relegated to a faraway history of two thousand years ago...it is a reality that repeats itself each time we place ourselves on teh road towards God and we allow ourselves to be met by Him. The Gospel tells of an encounter, a victorious encounter between the faithful God, passionate for His people, and us sinners, thirsty for love and searching, who have [finally] accepted placing ourselves on the road...on the road to find Him...to allow ourselves to be found by Him. In that instant, existential and temporal, we share the experience of the women: fear and joy at the same time; we experience the stupor of an encounter with Jesus Christ which overflows our desires but which never says “stay,” but rather “go.” The encounter relaxes us, strengthens our identity and sends us forth; puts us on the road agains so that, from encounter to encounter, we may reach the definitive encounter.

4. I was recently mentioning that, in the midst of the shadows, our gaze was fixed on the Paschal event, Christ, reality and hope at the same time; reality of an encounter today and hope for the great final encounter. This is good because we breathe losses [literally, "disencounters"] daily; we have become accustomed to living in a culture of loss, in which our passions, our disorientations, enmities and conflicts confront us, separate [literally, "eliminates our brotherhood"] us, isolate us, crystallize us inside a sterile individualism which is proposed to us as a [viable] way of life, daily. The women, that morning, were victims of a painful loss: they had had their Lord taken from them. They found themseles desolate before a sepulchre. That's the way today's cultural paganism, active in the world and our city, wants us: alone, passive, at the end of an illusory path that leads to a sepulchre, dead in our frustration and sterile egotism.

Today we need the strength of God to move us, that we have a great shaking of the earth, that an Angel move the great stone in our heart, that stone that prevents us from heading out on the road, that there is lightning and much light. Today we need our soul shaken, that we're told the idolatry of cultured passivity and possesiveness does not lead to [this could also be translated as "give"] life. Today we need, after being shaken for our many frustrations, to encounter Him anew and that He tell us “Be not afraid,” get back on the road once again, return to that Galilee of your first love. We must renew the marcha begun by our father Abraham and which signals this Paschal event. Today we need to encounter Him; that we find Him and He find us. Brethren, the “Happy Easter” I wish you is that today an Angel rolls away our stone and we allow ourselves to encounter Him. May it be thus.

Prayer alert.

This from the lovely and gracious Karen:

Please continue to pray for Fr. Schall, who is still not well.  I'm worried the doctors may have given him the same poison [Levaquin. - J.] they gave me when he had pneumonia recently, and it is -- I now know from much research -- very bad for the elderly.

Fr. Schall, if you are reading this, two things:

(1) if they put you on Levaquin, stop taking it!!!  And sign up for the class action lawsuit.  It'll be fun.

(2)  I'm sorry I had to break it to you that you are elderly.

Joe:  Call in the Carmelites! [I have been informed they are on the case. Heavy prayer artillery indeed. Had they marched with Joshua, Jericho would have fallen halfway before the first lap. -J.]

Everyone else:  And all the other heavy artillery.

AMDG,

-J.

An archbishop that knows about archbishoping.

Check this Jesuit-ish goodness out.

Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- A top Catholic official in Canada is encouraging elected officials of the Catholic faith to turn from their pro-abortion views if they want to continue receiving communion. Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, SJ says he will first speak with politicians who support abortion and encourage them to convert to the pro-life perspective.

But, for those elected officials who continue to advocate legal abortions, [Prendergast] would tell them they shouldn't be taking part in the Christian sacrament.

"Given your stubbornness on this particular issue, you should not publicly receive the Eucharist until you’ve changed your mind," he told the Western Catholic Reporter about what he'd say.

Read the rest here.

Cdl. Bergoglio's Lenten Homily

One of our fave Cardinals, His Eminence Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ has just issued his Lenten homily online. It seemed to be a good one, and so here it is. (Translation, emphasis mine.)

AMDG,

-J.

The Church sends us forth, on the way to an encounter with Jesus, the only road that has constancy, the only valid way that takes me to meet my Lord, He who gives sense to life.  Starting upon this road today makes us participate in an act, a message and an admonition. 

The act: we are all going to receive ashes on our heads to indicate what we are. At the end of [our] years -- some more, some less -- we all finish the same way: by turning into ash. And yet, a voice inside tells each of us:  "You were born for other things, not just to turn to ashes." You were born for an encounter, for a fulfillment of the heart that is the encounter with Jesus.  And today, upon receiving the ashes that carry this meaning, each of us is should ask [himself]:  "What do I seek in life?"

What do I seek?  Do I seek an encounter with Jesus that is going fulfill me, that gives me the only happiness that cannot be lost?  Or am I goofing around? [Literally, "doing 'the turkey trot'." It's an Argentinism with no direct equivalent...just let it go.] Am I mired in superficiality?  "Father, it's that everyone is like that.  One cannot go against the [social] current..." It's true, at times the environment takes you down. Not long ago, I read a fable written by a monk.  He wrote that some boys were climbing a mountain and they found an eagle egg and they brought it home. When they saw that in their coop there was a turkey incubating her eggs and they put the eagle egg under the turkey with the other eggs.  Then, all the eggs hatched. The hatchlings all started equals but as they grew, they began to become different.  When they began to have some measure of autonomy the turkeys splashed around the water and eaglet was among them even though he did not know how to play in the water; and each time he saw an eagle fly [overhead], he felt something inside him pulling him skyward but he couldn't go...he was among the turkeys. He was acting like a turkey. Are you?  You who has the vocation of an eagle, of an encounter with Jesus...for what do you live?  For mundane things?  To keep up appearances? We all have been called by God to serve Him via different vocations, let's honor those vocations.

Let's all think about it, because it's a message for all of us. The ash puts this question to us:  Do you wish to fly to the message of Jesus, already starting to live in fullness or do you wish to live like a turkey, in superficiality?  That is the meaning of this act. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, yes?

Also the Church puts a message before us. St. Paul, in the Second Reading says: "Therefore I entreat you, in name of Christ -- that's nice…he says "please" -- allow yourself to reconcile with God."  Each one of us has to encounter the Lord more, [as] we are all sinners. Please, if there is anyone [here] who is not a sinner, raise your hand so we can give you a prize. We are all sinners. All.  And we need to reconcile with Jesus that one thing we all know has to be reconciled: an injustice, a hatred, an envy, an aggression, a rupture...you know it and God knows it. Admit with contrition what you have done wrong and allow God's grace to repair your brokenness. But St. Paul, seemingly on his knees, asks us: "Look, if you're a Christian allow yourself to reconcile with God!" This is a good time to allow yourself to reconcile with God!  The time we spend on this road toward encountering Jesus is going to end at Easter when we sing that Alleluia filled with joy.  Because there is our triumph. Not on election night.

Allow yourself to reconcile with God.  That is the message. The act is in [imposition of] ashes and the message is "let's allow ourselves to reconcile with God".

And the admonition?  The admonition is the one Jesus gives us in the Gospel:  "Look, don't be a hypocrite, live like you are supposed to." If you are sinful, the Lord tells us, do what every sinner ought do: break down your [hard] heart and be converted. Pray more, make penance (such as depriving yourself of something you like or something superfluous), help others, give alms, perform acts of charity. Do not live for you, because notice that sin, at the bottom [of it all], is grounded in selfishness. When we live in a situation of sin, we live centered in ourselves.  We become the type of man or woman who instead of being called John, Peter, Mary, Antonia is called "me-myself-and-I."  That is what the world teaches us, to be "me-myself-and-I." [To those who live] centered in oneself, in selfishness or "for me," Jesus says:  "No. Pray.  Open your heart to God.  Open your heart to your brothers and give alms. You deprive yourself, that you can give alms. Spend your time visiting your sick brother, accompanying someone in solitude who needs it.  Do not you live for you."

Today we start on this road with an act, a message and an admonition. The ash is the act; allow yourself to reconcile with God is the message and the admonition is more prayer and more penance. More service to others. Let us open our heart to the service of others. 

I ask the Virgin to accompany all of us down this road; this road of reconciliation with Jesus and of encounter with Jesus, which is the most marvelous thing that can happen in our lives. When we encounter the Lord, our heart is broadened, is made greater, it becomes more generous and is capable of giving to the others instead of harvesting for itself. 

May the Virgin help us to understand selfishness does lead anywhere. That vanity and keeping up appearances do not get us anywhere and only leads to ashes.  And, if service to others makes us great -- as does adoration of God -- this clears our path for that encounter with Jesus, a thing I ask for you and for me as we begin Lent.

May be it thus.

One of our fave Cardinals, His Eminence Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ has just issued his Lenten homily online. It seemed to be a good one, and so here it is. (Translation, emphasis mine.)

AMDG,

-J.

The Church sends us forth, on the way to an encounter with Jesus, the only road that has constancy, the only valid way that takes me to meet my Lord, He who gives sense to life.  Starting upon this road today makes us participate in an act, a message and an admonition. 

The act: we are all going to receive ashes on our heads to indicate what we are. At the end of [our] years -- some more, some less -- we all finish the same way: by turning into ash. And yet, a voice inside tells each of us:  "You were born for other things, not just to turn to ashes." You were born for an encounter, for a fulfillment of the heart that is the encounter with Jesus.  And today, upon receiving the ashes that carry this meaning, each of us is should ask [himself]:  "What do I seek in life?"

What do I seek?  Do I seek an encounter with Jesus that is going fulfill me, that gives me the only happiness that cannot be lost?  Or am I goofing around? [Literally, "doing 'the turkey trot'." It's an Argentinism with no direct equivalent...just let it go.] Am I mired in superficiality?  "Father, it's that everyone is like that.  One cannot go against the [social] current..." It's true, at times the environment takes you down. Not long ago, I read a fable written by a monk.  He wrote that some boys were climbing a mountain and they found an eagle egg and they brought it home. When they saw that in their coop there was a turkey incubating her eggs and they put the eagle egg under the turkey with the other eggs.  Then, all the eggs hatched. The hatchlings all started equals but as they grew, they began to become different.  When they began to have some measure of autonomy the turkeys splashed around the water and eaglet was among them even though he did not know how to play in the water; and each time he saw an eagle fly [overhead], he felt something inside him pulling him skyward but he couldn't go...he was among the turkeys. He was acting like a turkey. Are you?  You who has the vocation of an eagle, of an encounter with Jesus...for what do you live?  For mundane things?  To keep up appearances? We all have been called by God to serve Him via different vocations, let's honor those vocations.

Let's all think about it, because it's a message for all of us. The ash puts this question to us:  Do you wish to fly to the message of Jesus, already starting to live in fullness or do you wish to live like a turkey, in superficiality?  That is the meaning of this act. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, yes?

Also the Church puts a message before us. St. Paul, in the Second Reading says: "Therefore I entreat you, in name of Christ -- that's nice…he says "please" -- allow yourself to reconcile with God."  Each one of us has to encounter the Lord more, [as] we are all sinners. Please, if there is anyone [here] who is not a sinner, raise your hand so we can give you a prize. We are all sinners. All.  And we need to reconcile with Jesus that one thing we all know has to be reconciled: an injustice, a hatred, an envy, an aggression, a rupture...you know it and God knows it. Admit with contrition what you have done wrong and allow God's grace to repair your brokenness. But St. Paul, seemingly on his knees, asks us: "Look, if you're a Christian allow yourself to reconcile with God!" This is a good time to allow yourself to reconcile with God!  The time we spend on this road toward encountering Jesus is going to end at Easter when we sing that Alleluia filled with joy.  Because there is our triumph. Not on election night.

Allow yourself to reconcile with God.  That is the message. The act is in [imposition of] ashes and the message is "let's allow ourselves to reconcile with God".

And the admonition?  The admonition is the one Jesus gives us in the Gospel:  "Look, don't be a hypocrite, live like you are supposed to." If you are sinful, the Lord tells us, do what every sinner ought do: break down your [hard] heart and be converted. Pray more, make penance (such as depriving yourself of something you like or something superfluous), help others, give alms, perform acts of charity. Do not live for you, because notice that sin, at the bottom [of it all], is grounded in selfishness. When we live in a situation of sin, we live centered in ourselves.  We become the type of man or woman who instead of being called John, Peter, Mary, Antonia is called "me-myself-and-I."  That is what the world teaches us, to be "me-myself-and-I." [To those who live] centered in oneself, in selfishness or "for me," Jesus says:  "No. Pray.  Open your heart to God.  Open your heart to your brothers and give alms. You deprive yourself, that you can give alms. Spend your time visiting your sick brother, accompanying someone in solitude who needs it.  Do not you live for you."

Today we start on this road with an act, a message and an admonition. The ash is the act; allow yourself to reconcile with God is the message and the admonition is more prayer and more penance. More service to others. Let us open our heart to the service of others. 

I ask the Virgin to accompany all of us down this road; this road of reconciliation with Jesus and of encounter with Jesus, which is the most marvelous thing that can happen in our lives. When we encounter the Lord, our heart is broadened, is made greater, it becomes more generous and is capable of giving to the others instead of harvesting for itself. 

May the Virgin help us to understand selfishness does lead anywhere. That vanity and keeping up appearances do not get us anywhere and only leads to ashes.  And, if service to others makes us great -- as does adoration of God -- this clears our path for that encounter with Jesus, a thing I ask for you and for me as we begin Lent.

May be it thus.

Jesuits catch MotuMania(TM) Pt. 16

Over at the National Catholic Register, there is an excellent article (by Valerie Schmalz) on the TLM and how it's slowly-but-surely catching on in the campi of Universities and Colleges, with a special shout-out to our beloved Society of Jesus.

Here are the relevant bits:

Notre Dame is just one of a number of Catholic colleges and universities that viewed the Pope’s July 7, 2007, Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum as a signal that the form of the Mass dating to 1570 should be available on their campuses. Others, such as Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York, began offering the Mass of Blessed John XXIII at the behest of students.

and then this:

"There is more ritual, more Signs of the Cross, kissing of the altar and quiet prayers, with the priest facing ad orientem with the people and toward the altar for much of the Mass," noted Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio, editor-in-chief of Ignatius Press. Ignatius Press is the primary English-language publisher of the works of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI.

and also:

Thomas Aquinas College [TAC, under the chaplaincy of the very estimable Fr. Buckley, was one of the colleges which was ready to hit the ground running as Summorum Pontificum took effect on 9/14/07]offers both the extraordinary form and the Mass of Paul VI in Latin and in English. Jesuit Father Cornelius Buckley, chaplain, said some students have embraced the traditional Latin Mass[...according to] Michael Bertotti, a senior at Thomas Aquinas: “I think both forms of the Mass are valid and very good. The old Mass makes more clear the splendor and majesty of the Mass."

as well:

On the East Coast, at Fordham, Jesuit Father Joseph Currie, director of campus ministry, said the university offers the Mass once a month in deference to the Pope and the desire of students who formed a Facebook group to request it.

Great, heartening stuff.

-J.

RIP - Fr. Jorge Sardiñas, SJ

As you know, Fr. Sardiñas died on Saturday from heart failure. Here is his obituary by Oscar Corral of The Miami Herald, that finally got online:

BELOVED PRIEST WHO TAUGHT AT BELEN DIES AT 80

The Rev. Jorge J. Sardiña, the grandson of a former Cuban president, a classmate of Fidel Castro, and a highly regarded Jesuit priest who taught at Miami's Belén Jesuit Preparatory School, died of heart failure Saturday. He was 80.

Sardiña, a teacher and counselor for decades, was popular among students at the elite Miami school, which was formed in exile after the Catholic Jesuits were expelled from Cuba following Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959. Friends said the priest spent his last days in a hospice quietly reciting Mass to himself over and over.

''You're talking about a person who lived his vocation and his priesthood so powerfully,'' said the Rev. Willie García-Tuñón, a Jesuit who teaches at Belén and who was once a student of Sardiña. "These kids were attracted to him and how sincere he was. They felt that they were in the presence of someone holy.'' This is true, even my CCD students who are typical 14 year old boys were visibly shaken by his death.

Sardiña's sister, Mariana Sardiña López-Oña, said her brother wanted to be a priest since his First Communion, and tried to enter the seminary when he was 12, then again two years later, but his parents persuaded him to wait until he graduated from high school.

Jesuits, including Sardiña, adhere to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Belén has been a shaping influence in the lives of many Miami and Cuban leaders, including Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, congressional candidate and Democratic activist Joe Garcia [not me, it's another guy], Broadway actor Raul Esparza and even Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who attended the school in Havana and, after the revolution, shut it down.

''A favorite of Belén students for over four decades, Father Sardiña began as a member of the Belen community in 1933, the year he began at El Colegio de Belén,'' the school said in an e-mail to alumni. "During his two tenures at Belen Jesuit (1961-1965 and 1981- 2008), he served as an English and theology teacher, as well as a spiritual counselor for the middle-school students, creating a solid foundation in their faith and devotion to God.''

Sardiña, the grandson of Cuban President Mario García-Menocal, entered the Society of Jesus in 1947, just two years after graduating from high school, Garcia-Tuñon said. He was ordained in 1959 and took his final vows in 1965, once the school had relocated to Miami from Havana.

Sardiña graduated in the same class as Fidel Castro in Havana and the two boys knew each other, said López-Oña, 77, of Miami. Sardiña told his sister that Castro had a ''brilliant'' memory and would tear pages out of books as he learned them standing in line to enter a classroom.

Sardiña told her Castro wanted badly to be on the basketball team, but didn't know how to play.

''He [Fidel] wanted not just to be on the team but to be the captain, but he didn't know how to play,'' she said. "So he would put a light bulb outside and practice into the night until he became very good. Jorge said that whatever he [Fidel] had a drive to do, he did it. He also said Fidel had a chip on his shoulder and wanted to improve himself in everything and wanted to be the first and the best of everything.''

Sardiña counseled sixth- and seventh-graders at Belen in Miami, a first Jesuit contact for many youngsters entering the competitive school. He offered the kids an ear, candy and the occasional handkerchief. Often during lunch periods, he could be found in the school's chapel. The article doesn't say this, but he spent that time hearing Confession.

Sardiña's niece, Beba Sardiña Mann, said her uncle's religiosity was authentic.

''My uncle had a calling since he was a very young boy,'' she said in an e-mail. "He would spend a lot of time in church as a child, he would go every morning for communion. He was very much loved because he was very much in touch with God and with the times.''

Belén said Sardiña practiced what he preached.

"We mourn the loss of a true 'man for others,' '' the e-mail said, invoking the Jesuit motto.

A wake for Sardiña will be held at the school's west Miami-Dade campus, 500 SW 127th Ave., Monday night. A Mass will be held in his honor at the school Tuesday morning.

AMDG & RIP,

-J.