Iñigo7/31/2021 Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola
Today is the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. 55 years ago yesterday I entered the Society of Jesus, crossing the threshold of the Jesuit Novitiate, St Andrew on Hudson. (Now the Culinary Institute of America) As I prayed this morning, reflecting on St Ignatius and his story, I realized that everyone whom I have met since I was 18 years of age is somehow related to my life as a Jesuit. Regis High School, Fordham, Santa Clara, Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Boston College, St Ignatius Parish, St Francis Xavier Parish in NYC, Gonzaga Eastern Point Retreat House. These are the places of life and ministry and the number of people who have enriched my life and I have been privileged to call friends is countless. So, I owe a great debt of gratitude to God and “Iñigo” who was wounded in battle 500 years ago by a “round shot cannon ball.” It was that cannon ball that put into motion the events that would bring about his conversion and change so many lives since then and continuing up to the present day. I wrote a story this past year about the “cannon ball” which I named “Iñu” I submitted it for publication on the Jesuit website but it didn’t “make the cut.” I think it’s pretty good and I hope you enjoy it! iÑu.docx I’m also including the link to a brief video I put together for the end of the 30-day retreat. The music is Anne Marie David playing, Holy, Holy, Holy. vimeo.com/581390246 I also include a link to my dancing Paul Melley’s “Take, Lord and Receive.” https://vimeo.com/265442500#t=444000s I wish you a blessed feast of St Ignatius!
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Mosaic Mosaics7/30/2021 Friday of the 17th Week in OT
Today is the final full day of the Spiritual Exercises that began on June 27th. Here's the homily I'll be giving, "Mosaic Mosaics" Today we remember St Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor who was famous for his brief and pithy homilies. His name means “golden-word.” I’ll try to emulate him and be short and pithy. One of my astute retreatants asked me the question, “Where is the Holy Spirit in the Exercises?” There’s much talk of the good spirit and the evil spirit but what about God’s Holy Spirit. They were surprised that the triple colloquy was always with “God, the father, son, and Mary” Why no colloquy with the Holy Spirit? My answer was convoluted. Something about Ignatius’s devotion to Mary and the western churches “downplaying” the role of the Holy Spirit, unlike the Eastern Churches. After 30 days of accompanying you, my answer would be different. The Holy Spirit is always and everywhere in the Spiritual Exercises. She is the one who is the omnipresent colloquizer. Yes, Clare, “colloquize” is a word. I didn’t make it up. The Spirit is the one who connects the dots for us in our prayer. You’ve all had the experience of being surprised by a thought, feeling, “eureka” moments in prayer. Somehow one thing leads to another in prayer and you say “Where did that come from?” As I thought about today’s liturgy on the feast of St Peter Chrysologus, I was surprised to find that he was the bishop of Ravenna. Anyone ever been to Ravenna? Well, Ravenna is famous for its “mosaics.” These mosaics in churches all over Ravenna, are made of bits and pieces of colored stones that create images of great power and beauty. These bits and pieces, separate in themselves, are stunningly beautiful when viewed together. As you can see, mosaics were on my mind thanks to Peter C. So, when I read the reading from Exodus about the festivals, I saw them as a mosaic of Israel’s response to God through their feasts and rituals. Passover, Shavuot, Yom Kippur, Sukkot. The scripture creates a “mosaic” of these great celebrations for the Jewish people. And how cool is it that the word, “mosaic” has another meaning. “relating to Moses.” How cool is that since Moses has been center stage these past weeks. (Oh there she goes again!” Shavuot is also known as the “Feast of Weeks.” It’s 50 days after Passover. Sound familiar? It’s the feast that is associated with our Pentecost. We are told that is why so many Jews from so many nations were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Last night, when you all shared, I chose to be silent, knowing I would have today to share with you. I hope you heard “the strong driving wind” and saw the “tongues of fire” over the heads of each one of you. I hope you realized that Sofia was very present, enabling you to speak in tongues that everyone in the room would understand. Together, sharing the bits and pieces of your prayer over these 30 days, you created a beautiful mosaic of faith, hope and love. I had not planned to read a poem today but when I woke this morning with mosaics on my mind, I couldn’t help thinking of the poem I wrote for Pentecost in which “bits and pieces” plays a central role . It was inspired by a morning like today’s when the sun is glistening on the water and for all intents and purposes, it looks like a cobblestoned street. You’d almost think you could walk on water, (Peter) And then there was the corn on the “cob,” Randy, Bill and I had for dinner the night before. And then Sofia revealed to me that “cobb” is another word for “seagull.” (Carlene and Jimmy) So here’s Cobble Stones. (On the Quiver of Mystery pg.91) cobbles_tones.docx Skiffs and Ifs7/29/2021 Memorial of Sts Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Below is my entry from 2 years ago. Since then, something must have changed since Mary and Lazarus are now mentioned by name on the USCCB website for this day….. The photo above was sent to me by Maria Hanlon who was taking the Harborwalk home and noticed the two sailing “skiffs,” one with the name Martha and the other Mary. All that’s missing is one with name Lazarus! I don’t know enough about boats to know whether they are small enough to be “skiffs” but for the purposes of this reflection, I need them to be small “skiffs” so I can talk about big “ifs.” The timing of the photo was perfect since I knew that the Memorial of St Martha was today. I read that it’s also a memorial for Mary and Lazarus but they are not mentioned by name. Maybe Martha chose the better part after all! “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” That’s a very big IF! It’s an “if” that is filled with grief and even some recrimination. The grief that Mary and Martha experience at the loss of the brother, Lazarus must have been even more intense believing that Jesus could have made a difference, had he been there. How many times in our lives have we felt a profound regret about something that has happened to us our a loved one and we say “If only……” And so, when Martha professes her faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Resurrection and the Life it is so much more than a theological statement or affirmation of belief. From the depth of her mourning, her loss, her pain she is able to find the “will” power to say, “Yes, I will believe you and believe in you!” Martha and Mary have the great good fortune of Lazarus’ coming out of the tomb and being restored to his former life. If only Jesus could have done the same for those who have lost loved ones to an untimely death! But like Martha, we need to draw from the well of love deep within to make the affirmation, “Yes I will believe you and believe in you!” To Know a Veil7/28/2021 Wednesday of the 17th Week in OT
My reflection for today is posted much later than I had expected. Just one of those days! But, to tell the truth, it turned out to be more than “just one of those days.” Today is the birthday of Gerard Manley Hopkins. As I try to express the depth of my spiritual feeling in poetic form, I often feel the muse of GMH inspiring me. I’m grateful for today’s readings about the “veil” since it enabled me in my homily for the 8 day and 30 day retreat to include “To Know a Veil” Wednesday of the 17th Week in OT I expected to see you all wearing a veil this morning. After 8 days of intense prayer and conversation with God in your “tent” of meeting, you do look radiant! So much so that you shouldn’t be surprised if someone on your return asks why you didn’t use sunscreen while you were outside at EP. And you might wittily reply, I did use “sun” screen but not “son” screen. That explains my radiance. I have had been speaking to Jesus as “one friend speaks to another.” And where have your “tents of meeting” been these days? The blessed sacrament or Mary Chapel? Your room overlooking the Ocean? The patio, if you had one? Or has this whole place been one great “Tent of meeting” How intense is that! And while you were here, did you find your pearl of great price? What was it? Discovering again that in God’s eyes, in Jesus’ arms, in the Spirit’s surprise, you yourself are a “pearl of great price?” Did you discover how Christ desires to be the treasure of your heart? Has the veil of mystery been lifted a little, so that you have had some glimmers of who God is and who God desires to be for you? There is a difference, you know, between a mask and a veil. Once upon a time both meant mystery. Now there’s no mystery with masks. We know why we need them and what they are for. But a veil still holds its mystery. The veil invites wonder. What is it that is hidden behind the veil? In Moses’s case, it was his face, radiant with God’s reflection. During your days of retreat, you have experienced some dramatic skies, like last night. A few blazing sunrises, some densely foggy mornings. Living here as I do, I am fortunate to see the sky in all its array. One morning, last October, I looked out and saw a remarkable sight. The whole sky was black/dark blue, except for a sliver of light across the horizon. It looked to me like a “veil” or a curtain in a theater, raised just a little so you could see the stage lights behind it. And I thought “who is it behind the curtain? What mystery is behind this veil? And what will I see when the veil is lifted? to_know_a_veil.docx In tents!7/27/2021 Tuesday of the 17th Week in OT
Today we hear about the conversations Moses has with God in the tent of meeting. It must have been very intense in the tent since Moses always comes out looking “radiant.” He speaks to God “face to face.” In fact, his face is so radiant that it strikes awe and wonder in those who see him. It’s so intense that he has to wear a veil to cover his face, except when he enters the tent to speak with God. Now that's intense! If you have made the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius in any form, you know that the heart of Ignatian prayer is “speaking with God as one friend speaks to another.” Intimacy and intensity are the hallmarks of Ignatian prayer because one is invited to converse with God, “face to face.” And from that experience of prayer, when one is filled with consolation, you can’t help but be “radiant.” You have to remove the veil that hides your face and speak directly and honestly to God. At first that’s pretty “scary.” It’s in our nature to hide ourselves, especially the sinful parts of ourselves. We don’t want an “unveiling” of our true selves, or at least the self that we think we are. Ignatius says that God sees us as we are, as sinful but loved unconditionally. If you let God do the unveiling, you may find yourself radiant with joy. Over the years I have been extraordinarily blessed working with dancers whose faces are “radiant with joy” when they dance for the Greater Glory of God. I’d invite you to look at the opening Song of Praise and see the radiance on the faces of Nicole Huggins, Jamie Huggins and Wendy Lawson. Here’s the link https://vimeo.com/265442500 Time Travel7/26/2021 Memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne The photo above is my grandparent’s wedding in the early 1900's. I’m thinking of them, William Roggy and Augusta Wachter, today on the memorial of Jesus’s grandparents, Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary of Nazareth. The photo enables me to travel back in time to imagine what a wedding was like more than 100 years ago. They were married on June 10th 1914.(Another reason that "time travel" is on my mind is that I have taken to watch “Outlander” in which "time travel" is a central theme. I’ve only finished season 1 so I expect to be spending a good deal more time on all the episodes that lie in wait for me.) We’re coming to the end of the 30 day Spiritual Exercises in which the retreatants have used their imagination to “time travel” and place themselves in the scripture stories so they can experience themselves with Jesus in his humanity and with his followers. We also trust that Jesus is the ultimate “time traveler” as he enters into the prayer of the retreatants in the present. I must confess, however, to wishing that we could actually travel back in time and experience what “really” happened in the upper room, on the beach, on the road to Emmaus, in the garden after the Resurrection. At least our imaginations give us some access to what really matters; Jesus’s coming to heal wounds and console his followers after his death. My oldest brother, Rich, is the "time traveler" in our family. He has done an amazing job in weaving together the stories of our ancestors. In 2021, he, his wife Pat and I visited an old family homestead in Norwell, Ma. The house you see was built by our 7th great grandfather in 1682 and is situated in Norwell, once part of Scituate (Rich has also managed to trace that family line back to the Norman Invasion, when the name Bowker was Bouquier. (Probably butchers, like my grandfather, William Roggy. BTW, My maternal grandfather’s line goes back to Alsace-Lorraine and the family were Anabaptists, present day Amish. Fascinating!)
Enough of our family history. What about yours? Aren’t you intrigued by the “way back when” of your ancestry? This feast of the grandparents of Jesus invites us to think about who we came from, their lives, loves, joys and struggles. I imagine that at some point they were immigrants, with hope and dreams of building a life in America. Sound familiar? There is no evidence in scripture of the names of Mary’s parents. Somewhere along the line, they were given these names of Joachim and Anne. The names do not really matter as much as the imagination that we can bring thinking of Jesus as a young boy and the relationship he might have had with his grandmother and grandfather. Our family is very fortunate that my brother has taken the time to bring to life the stories of these ancestors. What a gift it is for the “way back when to be a “here and now.” A Sunday Smorgasbord7/25/2021 17th Sunday in OT
Today I’m offering a smorgasbord of delicious reflections for you to choose from. With the theme of the abundance of bread and fish in the scriptures today, why not use a Scandinavian word that offers choices of what appeals to your taste. Here there are homilies, stories, music and dances to choose from. Shell, We Dance/ Feast of St James/ Santiago de Compostela Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. JA Loftus) Rachel and Michael’s Miracle/ Gospel story Undertow: Poem for the 4th Week of the Spiritual Exercises written on July 25th, 2020 This morning’s sunrise was a smorgasbord of colors and hues to pick and choose from. Any favorites? The shell below is from the Camino of Santiago de Compostela. So-So?7/23/2021 Friday of the 16th Week in OT
Sew… a needle pulling thread. Actually, it’s “sol” and this is a lyric from the song from the Sound of Music. That explains my choice of a photo from a visit to Salzburg in 2016 and a tour of the film’s sites. The one I chose is the house that was used for the Von Trapp family. If you were to ask me how I was doing these days, I’d probably respond, “So-So.” It’s a great grace to be directing the 30-day retreat but challenging at the same time. The news of the world, especially the resistance to vaccination and the Delta variant weighs us down with worry, and that’s only the beginning of the list of “woes.” Today’s gospel, however, can be an antidote to the “so-so” as it is the parable of the “sower.” This was a passage that the retreatants prayed with over the past week or so, and one person came to the realization that the seed of God’s word within oneself is sometimes received in a way that bears fruit a hundred-fold but at other times, hardness of heart, worries, doubts and fears impede the seed from being deeply planted. It’s helpful to realize that at different times in our lives, we are more open and receptive to God’s grace working in us and helping us to bear fruit. I’ll share with you again, “Full Grown” a poem I wrote last year at this time when we heard this parable of the Sower. It plays with “Sow/Sew and So” full_grown.docx “Full groan” also describes how I’ve been feeling of late about “On the Quiver of Mystery,” my collection of poems from the last year. It’s a long story but I have so many copies that I “groan” whenever I look at the boxes piled up! If anyone who is reading this, is interested in purchasing a copy, let me know. I’ll autograph it and pay for postage! All proceeds go to support our ministry at the retreat house. My email is frvereec@bc.edu Feast for the "Ayes"7/22/2021 Feast of Saint Mary of Magdala It was only five years ago that Mary of Magdala’s day in the liturgical calendar was raised from a memorial to a “feast.” It was Pope Francis that elevated her stature and gave her the “official” title, “Apostle to the Apostles.” Mary has her rightful place as she is the first witness to the Resurrection. She “feasts her eyes” on the vision of her beloved Jesus who appears to her as the Risen One in the garden outside the tomb. I chose this morning's clear blue sky to accompany this reflection since it was a "feast for the eyes" with its beauty and clarity after the hazy days we have had of late. And since it was a feast for the "eyes," I started thinking about "ayes" which means "yeses" The first that came to mind was Mary of Nazareth’s “Yes” to the invitation to give birth to God’s beloved son who will be named Jesus. Then I thought about Mary of Magdala’s “yes” to her beloved friend at the foot of the Cross and in the garden. From the depth of her grief at Cross and Tomb, she was able to say “Yes” to the one who had healed her, loved her, and transformed her grief at his death into the joy of his rising. The gospel today is a “feast for our eyes and ears as it was for Mary of Magdala. You may have already read my story “Justus” in which Mary of Magdala plays a central role. I share it with you on her feast day. justus.pdf Wednesday of the 16th Week in OT
The photo above has nothing to do with the reflection on than that the sea is red and we're still in the Exodus story so...... And the gospel is the parable of the "sow-er"...... With all the whining that the Israelites are doing in the desert, the title I used for these readings two years ago bears repeating. But I couldn’t resist adding, “What’s the manna with you?” since God’s response to their whines is feeding them with manna and quail. This is what I wrote two years ago. When I was thinking yesterday afternoon of a title for today’s reflection, a smile came across my face. The story of the Israelites whining about their trek through the desert and God’s feeding them with manna and quail made me think of the common expression ‘wine and dine” and give it another meaning. That was yesterday’s smile but today the smile is more a grimace. Seeing the effects of yesterday’s tornado on the Cape, hearing from friends about diagnoses of illnesses of all kinds, lamenting the sudden and tragic loss of loved ones of dear friends, whining feels justified. At the heart of the whining is the WHY? It’s the question the Israelites asked, “Why did you bring us to this place? Why all this suffering? Why, Why, Why?” (Two years later, the “why” questions are clamoring for answers even more, especially because of the ongoing pandemic and the suffering of so many who cry out for healing. The “why-ning” of today is even more desperate now. Is God’s response, "What’s the manna with you? Haven’t I fed you and nourished you in countless ways? Pay attention to what is right before you very eyes!") Sometimes when you are feeling the weight of the world and its brokenness and you have no answers to the question “WHY?” and you are tired of WHY-NING, someone invites you to dinner, or prepares a home-cooked meal for you (More than manna and quail). It’s no surprise that when there is a death in the family, neighbors bring “comfort” food. Sometimes the only response to the heart-breaking “whys” of life area the words, “Take and Eat, Take and Drink. This is for you.” The manna and the quail in the Exodus story are meant to be much more than bodily nourishment. It’s meant to be “soul-food.” God is hearing the cries, complaints, whines of the people, responding not with answers to the “whys” but giving them what they need to continue the journey. So if you’re why-ning today, perhaps there will be some version of “manna and quail” appearing and you may say to yourself “What’s the manna with me?” AuthorAs an ordained Catholic priest for 45 years and a member of the Jesuits for 57 years, I've had a great deal of "spiritual" experience! This is a place where I can continue to share my thoughts about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and what it means to live the "mystery of God." Categories |
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