Photo: A Ballet

 

Poem: "I worried" by Mary Oliver

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.

 

Photo: St. Teresa of Calcutta Church

 

Prayer: Ignatius of Antioch

All the ends of the earth, all the kingdoms of the world would be of no profit to me; so far as I am concerned, to die in Jesus Christ is better than to be monarch of earth’s widest bounds. He who died for us is all that I seek; he who rose again for us is my whole desire

Literature: Gail Caldwell, from "Let's take the Long Way Home"

What if dying weren't a bad thing? Caroline's death had left me with a great and terrible gift: how to live in a world where loss, some of it unbearable, is as common as dust or moonlight. And then, finally, unwittingly, acceptance wraps itself around your heart.

Photo: The Doorway

 

Prayer: Thomas Aquinas

Come, dear Creator, true source of light and wisdom. Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, dissipate the darkness that covers me, that of sin and of ignorance. Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself. Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion.

Photo: Breath

 

Poem: A Ukrainian Song

Oh, how lonely the coach bell is ringing,

And the dust from the road fills the air.
And the coachman’s sorrowful singing
Floats across the wild fields in despair.
That sad song overflows with such feeling,
So much grief can be heard in that strain,
That my cold heart, long hardened and weary
In my bosom was kindled again.
I recalled other nights, other wand’rings,
And the fields and the forests so dear,
And my eyes, which so long have been arid,
Became moistened like jewels with a tear.
Oh, how lonely the coach bell is ringing,
As it swings in the night to and fro.
And my coachman has now fallen silent,
And I still have a long way to go.

Speak Wisely The Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                                                Speak Wisely

The Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 27, 2022

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Sirach 27:4-7; Psalm 92; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-45

 

          The sage Ben Sira writes about the importance of one’s speech as a window into a person’s character, and he likens it to the fruit of a tree. One’s speech reveals the extent of ones’ self-discipline and good manners. Ben Sira was a scholar of Jewish law and he taught young men about the faith, and he wrote a book of Wisdom that was incorporated into the approved Jewish teachings. His writings are instructions for young people who are setting out in life as a guide for right living.

 

          Many of us find that our words get us into trouble too often and they are the root of our relationship problems, which is the reason Ben Sira cautions his readers. We often think that our words hurt the other person, and they do, but they mostly have an adversarial effect upon us when we speak them. I cannot imagine people feel satisfied with their interactions at the end of the day.

 

          I think about the man who always derails the conversation and makes it about himself – missing the main point that the other person wants to convey. By being narcissistic, he makes himself unheard as people stop listening. I think about the woman with a nihilistic viewpoint in which no one or nothing is ever good. If people were only to listen to her and do exactly what she wants done in her own way, life would be successful. No one listens to her either. I think about the guy who speaks in profanity and uses a certain word as a frequent adjective to describe his forceful disgust. By speaking in such a way, no one pays attention to him or to his inarticulate thoughts. Too many people go to bed each night without feeling heard or adequately expressing what is most meaningful to their lives. It must be a lonely existence.

 

          In fact, I know it is. When I directed 8-day and 30-day retreats, some people would come to pray and to be listened to by someone without judgment or interruption. It might be the only time in their year when someone listens to them and helps them to articulate what they mean. They search for the words that accurately express what they think and feel, and it takes a great deal of time for them to understand what is happening inside of them. Having the language and the vocabulary to express what one is feeling and thinking is what Ben Sira is speaking about. Without it, we are just blind guides to ourselves, a fruitless tree. Our words are our fruits and our forward vision. 

 

          We are in an age in which dialogue is most important for our happiness. If we are the ones talking and the other person is not talking, we are not in dialogue. Dialogue requires a lot more listening than speaking, and it involves checking in with the other person to see if the two are comprehending each other and expressing what needs to be said. We better get some help soon if we want a meaningful and happy life. When we truly communicate and speak with great articulation, we can feel the rightness of it inside. We know we have truly represented ourselves well. When we do this in conversation with others or respectfully in prayer, we find our nobility, and this is what Christ wants us to see in ourselves. He wants us to know that we can be our best selves. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

Monday: (1 Peter 1) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

 

Tuesday: (1 Peter 1) It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you with regard to the things that have now been announced to you by those who preached the Good News to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels longed to look.

 

Wednesday: (Joel 2) Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.

 

Thursday: (Deuteronomy 30) Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

 

Friday (Isaiah 58) Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God.

 

Saturday (Isaiah 58) If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 10) “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments.”

 

Tuesday: (Mark 10) Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.

 

Wednesday (Matthew 6) Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others.

 

Thursday (Luke 9) The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. 

 

Friday (Mark 9) “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

 

Saturday (Luke 5) Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them.

.

 

Saints of the Week

 

March 1: Katherine Drexel (1858-1955), was from a wealthy Philadelphian banking family and she and her two sisters inherited a great sum of money when her parents died. She joined the Sisters of Mercy and wanted to found her own order called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to work among the African and Native Americans. Her inheritance funded schools and missions throughout the South and on reservations. A heart attack in 1935 sent her into retirement. 

 

March 2: Ash Wednesday is the customary beginning to the season of Lent. A penitential time marked by increased fasting, prayer and almsgiving, we begin our 40-day tradition of sacrifice as we walk the way of Jesus that ends at the Cross during Holy Week. Lent is a time of conversion, a time to deepen one’s relationship with Christ, for all roads lead to his Cross of Suffering and Glory.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• February 27, 1767. Charles III banished the Society from Spain and seized its property. 
• February 28, 1957. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps began. 
• March 1, 1549. At Gandia, the opening of a college of the Society founded by St Francis Borgia. 
• March 2, 1606. The martyrdom in the Tower of London of St Nicholas Owen, a brother nicknamed "Little John." For 26 years he constructed hiding places for priests in homes throughout England. Despite severe torture he never revealed the location of these safe places. 
• March 3, 1595. Clement VIII raised Fr. Robert Bellarmine to the Cardinalate, saying that the Church had not his equal in learning. 
• March 4, 1873. At Rome, the government officials presented themselves at the Professed House of the Gesu for the purpose of appropriating the greater part of the building. 
• March 5, 1887. At Rome, the obsequies of Fr. Beckx who died on the previous day. He was 91 years of age and had governed the Society as General for 34 years. He is buried at San Lorenzo in Campo Verano.

                                                               Habla sabiamente

El Octavo Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario

27 de febrero de 2022

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Eclesiástico 27:4-7; Salmo 92; 1 Corintios 15:54-58; Lucas 6:39-45

 

El sabio Ben Sira escribe sobre la importancia del habla de uno como una ventana al carácter de una persona, y lo compara con el fruto de un árbol. El habla de uno revela el alcance de la autodisciplina y los buenos modales. Ben Sira era un estudioso de la ley judía y enseñó a los jóvenes sobre la fe, y escribió un libro de Sabiduría que se incorporó a las enseñanzas judías aprobadas. Sus escritos son instrucciones para los jóvenes que se inician en la vida como guía para el buen vivir.

 

          Muchos de nosotros encontramos que nuestras palabras nos meten en problemas con demasiada frecuencia y son la raíz de nuestros problemas de relación, razón por la cual Ben Sira advierte a sus lectores. A menudo pensamos que nuestras palabras lastiman a la otra persona, y lo hacen, pero en su mayoría tienen un efecto adverso sobre nosotros cuando las decimos. No puedo imaginar que la gente se sienta satisfecha con sus interacciones al final del día.

 

          Pienso en el hombre que siempre descarrila la conversación y se centra en sí mismo, perdiendo el punto principal que la otra persona quiere transmitir. Al ser narcisista, se hace pasar desapercibido cuando la gente deja de escuchar. Pienso en la mujer con un punto de vista nihilista en el que nadie ni nada es bueno. Si la gente la escuchara y hiciera exactamente lo que ella quiere que se haga a su manera, la vida sería un éxito. Nadie la escucha tampoco. Pienso en el tipo que habla mal y usa cierta palabra como adjetivo frecuente para describir su repugnancia contundente. Al hablar de esa manera, nadie le presta atención a él oa sus pensamientos inarticulados. Demasiadas personas se acuestan cada noche sin sentirse escuchadas o sin expresar adecuadamente lo que es más significativo para sus vidas. Debe ser una existencia solitaria.

 

          De hecho, sé que lo es. Cuando dirigía retiros de 8 y 30 días, algunas personas venían a rezar ya ser escuchadas por alguien sin juzgarlas ni interrumpirlas. Puede que sea la única vez en el año en que alguien los escuche y los ayude a articular lo que quieren decir. Buscan las palabras que expresan con precisión lo que piensan y sienten, y les lleva mucho tiempo comprender lo que sucede en su interior. Tener el lenguaje y el vocabulario para expresar lo que uno siente y piensa es de lo que habla Ben Sira. Sin ella, solo somos guías ciegos de nosotros mismos, un árbol estéril. Nuestras palabras son nuestros frutos y nuestra visión de futuro.

 

          Estamos en una época en la que el diálogo es lo más importante para nuestra felicidad. Si somos nosotros los que hablamos y el otro no habla, no estamos en diálogo. El diálogo requiere mucho más escuchar que hablar, e implica verificar con la otra persona para ver si los dos se comprenden y expresan lo que se necesita decir. Será mejor que obtengamos ayuda pronto si queremos una vida significativa y feliz. Cuando verdaderamente nos comunicamos y hablamos con gran articulación, podemos sentir la corrección de ello en nuestro interior. Sabemos que realmente nos hemos representado bien. Cuando hacemos esto en la conversación con los demás o respetuosamente en la oración, encontramos nuestra nobleza, y esto es lo que Cristo quiere que veamos en nosotros mismos. Él quiere que sepamos que podemos ser lo mejor de nosotros mismos.

 

Escritura para la misa diaria

 

Lunes: (1 Pedro 1) Bendito sea el Dios y Padre de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, 
que por su gran misericordia nos hizo renacer para una esperanza viva, por la resurrección de Jesucristo de entre los muertos, para una herencia incorruptible, inmaculado e inmarcesible, guardado en los cielos para vosotros.

 

Martes: (1 Pedro 1) Se les reveló que no se servían a sí mismos, sino a ustedes en cuanto a las cosas que ahora les son anunciadas por los que les anunciaron la Buena Noticia por medio del Espíritu Santo enviado del cielo, cosas en el que los ángeles anhelaban mirar.

 

Miércoles: (Joel 2) Vuélvanse a mí de todo corazón, con ayuno y llanto y lamento; Rasgad vuestros corazones, no vuestros vestidos, y convertíos al SEÑOR vuestro Dios. Porque clemente y misericordioso es él, lento para la ira, rico en bondad y indulgente en el castigo.

 

Jueves: (Deuteronomio 30) Hoy he puesto delante de ti la vida y la prosperidad, la muerte y la perdición. Si obedeciereis los mandamientos de Jehova vuestro Dios, que yo os ordeno hoy, amandole, y andando en sus caminos, y guardando sus mandamientos, estatutos y decretos, vivireis y sereis numerosos, y Jehova vuestro Dios , te bendecirá en la tierra que entras a ocupar.

 

Viernes (Isaías 58) Clama a voz en cuello y sin piedad, levanta tu voz como un toque de trompeta; Cuéntale a mi pueblo su maldad, ya la casa de Jacob sus pecados. Me buscan día tras día, y desean conocer mis caminos, Como nación que ha hecho lo justo y no ha abandonado la ley de su Dios.

 

Sábado (Isaías 58) Si retienes tu pie en el día de reposo de seguir tus propias ocupaciones en mi día santo; Si llamas al día de reposo delicia, y al día santo de Jehová, glorioso; Si la honras no andando en tus caminos, ni buscando tus propios intereses, ni hablando con malicia, entonces te deleitarás en el SEÑOR, y yo te haré cabalgar sobre las alturas de la tierra.

 

Evangelio:

Lunes: ( Marcos 10) “Maestro bueno, ¿qué debo hacer para heredar la vida eterna?” 
Jesús le respondió: “¿Por qué me llamas bueno? Nadie es bueno sino solo Dios. Tú conoces los mandamientos”.

 

Martes: (Marcos 10) Jesús dijo: “De cierto os digo que no hay quien haya dejado casa, hermanos, hermanas, madre, padre, hijos o tierras por causa de mí y del Evangelio, que no recibir cien veces más ahora en esta era presente.

 

Miércoles (Mateo 6) Guardaos de hacer obras justas para que la gente las vea; de lo contrario, no tendréis recompensa de vuestro Padre celestial. Cuando des limosna, no toques la trompeta delante de ti, como hacen los hipócritas en las sinagogas y en las calles para ganarse la alabanza de los demás.

 

Jueves (Lucas 9) Es necesario que el Hijo del Hombre padezca mucho y sea desechado por los ancianos, los principales sacerdotes y los escribas, y sea muerto y resucite al tercer día.

 

Viernes (Marcos 9) “¿Por qué nosotros y los fariseos ayunamos mucho, pero tus discípulos no ayunan?” Jesús les respondió: “¿Pueden los invitados a la boda llorar mientras el novio está con ellos? Días vendrán cuando el novio les será quitado, y entonces ayunarán.”

 

Sábado (Lucas 5) Jesús vio a un recaudador de impuestos llamado Leví sentado en el puesto de aduana. Él le dijo: “Sígueme”. Y dejándolo todo atrás, se levantó y lo siguió. Entonces Levi hizo un gran banquete para él en su casa, y una gran multitud de recaudadores de impuestos y otros estaban a la mesa con ellos.

.

 

santos de la semana

 

1 de marzo: Katherine Drexel (1858-1955), pertenecía a una rica familia de banqueros de Filadelfia y ella y sus dos hermanas heredaron una gran suma de dinero cuando sus padres murieron. Se unió a las Hermanas de la Misericordia y quería fundar su propia orden llamada Hermanas del Santísimo Sacramento para trabajar entre los africanos y los nativos americanos. Su herencia financió escuelas y misiones en todo el sur y en las reservas. Un infarto en 1935 la envió al retiro.

 

2 de Marzo: Miércoles de ceniza es el comienzo habitual del tiempo de Cuaresma. Un tiempo penitencial marcado por un aumento en el ayuno, la oración y la limosna, comenzamos nuestra tradición de 40 días de sacrificio mientras caminamos por el camino de Jesús que termina en la Cruz durante la Semana Santa. La Cuaresma es un tiempo de conversión, un tiempo para profundizar la relación con Cristo, porque todos los caminos conducen a su Cruz de Sufrimiento y Gloria.

 

Esta semana en la historia jesuita

 

• 27 de febrero de 1767. Carlos III destierra la Sociedad de España y se apodera de sus bienes.
• 28 de febrero de 1957. Se inicia el Cuerpo de Voluntarios Jesuitas.
• 1 de marzo de 1549. En Gandia , apertura de un colegio de la Compañía fundada por San Francisco de Borgia.
• 2 de marzo de 1606. El martirio en la Torre de Londres de San Nicolás Owen, un hermano apodado "Pequeño Juan". Durante 26 años construyó escondites para sacerdotes en hogares de toda Inglaterra. A pesar de las severas torturas, nunca reveló la ubicación de estos lugares seguros.
• 3 de marzo de 1595. Clemente VIII levantó al P. Roberto Belarmino al Cardenalato, diciendo que la Iglesia no tenía igual en saber.
• 4 de marzo de 1873. En Roma, los funcionarios del gobierno se presentan en la Casa Profesa del Gesú con el propósito de apropiarse de la mayor parte del edificio.
• 5 de marzo de 1887. En Roma, las exequias del P. Beckx que murió el día anterior. Tenía 91 años y había gobernado la Sociedad como General durante 34 años. Está enterrado en San Lorenzo en Campo Verano.

Photo: An Allee

 

Poem: Just Sit There by Hafiz

Just sit there right now

Don’t do a thing

Just rest

For your separation from God

Is the hardest work in the world

Let me bring you trays of food

And something that you like to drink

You can use my soft words

As a cushion for your head

 

Photo: Church founded by Mary Baker Eddy

 

Prayer: David Whyte, Consolations

All intimate relationships—close friendships and good marriages—are based on continued and mutual forgiveness. You will always trespass upon your friend's sensibilities at one time or another, or your spouse's. The only question is, Will you forgive the other person? And more importantly, Will you forgive yourself? We have to deepen our understanding, make ourselves more equal to circumstances, more easy with what we have been given or not given. We must drink from the deep well of things as they are.

Photo: Mary

 

Prayer: Cyril of Alexandria

O God of love, who has given a new commandment through your only begotten Son, that we should love one another as you love us, you gave your beloved Son for our life and salvation. We pray that you give to us, during our lifetime, a mind that forgets the past ill will, a pure conscience, sincere thoughts, and a heart to love our brothers and sisters.

Online Jesuit Studies

Online Jesuit Studies

For alumni, parents, and friends

 

11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Wednesdays

 

Father John Predmore, S.J. is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

 

Topic: Lenten Ignatian Series

Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://bchigh.zoom.us/j/81870877216?pwd=ZjFPMU9RNi9FU3JDSWJJQ2FBOUloQT09

 

Meeting ID: 818 7087 7216

Passcode: 962075

 

 

            During Lent, we will hold online sessions for our BCH community to discuss contemporary issues in our shared Jesuit mission. The worldwide church is in the midst of a two-year synod in which we dialogue and learn how to walk together. Taken from the major themes of Father General Arturo Sosa’s book, “Walking with Ignatius,” we will examine the Jesuit themes given to the Society by Pope Francis. It encourages and invites all people to become involved in the dealings of the world as contemporary Jesuits and our colleagues live out the renewed mission. 

 

            All are welcome. Bring a friend. Come once, or come for the entire program. The program will begin with a prayer and end with a reflection, and the majority of the time will be discussing contemporary events that are crucial to our building up the Kingdom of God on earth. The program begins at 11:00 a.m. and ends at noon with times for questions and dialogue.

 

Walking with Ignatius Today

A Lenten Series

 

 

March 2 – Bold Living in Today’s World: Globalization, the pandemic, and a loss of vision to the common good has created cracks in our fragile social structures and creates new visions. 

 

March 9 – A New Dream for the Church – Solidarity: At Vatican II, the authority of the People of God has been emphasized, and dialogue is necessary as discern the signs of the times.

 

March 16 –  Showing People to God – The Spiritual Exercises and Discernment are fundamental to the spiritual life and offers freedom to people as they make life’s decisions.

 

March 23 – Walking Alongside the Poor, the World’s Outcasts – A concern to walk alongside the most needy has always been central to our understanding of our religious life.

 

March 30 –  Growing in Awareness of Our Common Home – Ecological awareness does not come readily in our society, and is a sensitive but necessary topic to consider. 

 

April 6 – Jesuit Education, A source of Freedom and Hope; Accompanying Young People – Enlightened Ministry involves a tension between a deep spirituality and developing the resources available to us. Holding that tension is part of the Jesuit charism. 

 

April 13 – Shared Mission, Dialogue and Openness – We are partners on a mission that is not ours but belongs to Christ. What shared mission looks like in a time of synodality.

 

 

 

Saturday, March 19th

Lenten Poetry: Steps on the Journey to the Cross

Director: John Predmore, SJ

Allow God to form and inspire your words as we reflect upon Lenten poems with exercises to creatively express the movements of our individual Lenten journeys. This two-day prayer experience begins on Saturday with a follow-up on Tuesday. 

 

 

Saturday, April 23th

Easter Glory Fills the Page

Director: John Predmore, SJ

Christ’s victory reigns. Creatively express yourself through hearing and creating poems of Easter triumph and joy. This two-day prayer experience begins on Saturday with a follow-up on Tuesday.  

Spirituality: Vincent Van Gogh

 If you hear a voice within you say, "you cannot paint," then go ahead and paint, and the voice will be silenced.

Spirituality: Robin Casarjian, Forgiveness

To live without forgiveness is to live separated from the sacred and from the most basic instincts of our heart. To live with forgiveness is to reveal in each moment the beauty and value of life. To live with forgiveness is to choose in each moment an active role in creating relationships, organizations, communities, and a world that works for everyone.

Photo: Be Mine

 

Spirituality: Maya Angelou, from an interview in Psychology Today, February 2009

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are. So that we can see, oh, that happened, and I rose. I did get knocked down flat in front of the whole world, and I rose

Treating each other with dignity The Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                         Treating each other with dignity

The Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 20, 2022

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38

 

          Every faith tradition carries some aspect of the Golden Rule: Do no harm; Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and yet it is so hard to live up to that teaching. Then Jesus compounds it by adding: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is an equally hard teaching, and sometimes it is easier to love the anonymous neighbor than it is to love those who are closer to you. 

 

          King David shows us how it is nobly done. He had a chance to take his adversary Saul’s life and thereby end the threat against his own life, but David realized that Saul was God’s anointed and would not harm him. Perhaps that is the key for us when we see people who are competitive with us or aggressive. We night need to change how we view the person so that we see them, not as an opponent, but as a child of God who share in our common humanity.

 

          Our newsmakers will focus on the battle between warring factions and will hope for one side to be victorious. In our sports world, we focus upon being the best or the most clever to gain competitive advantaged. Our best-selling books will tout success as rising above the mediocrity of human experience so that we can be at the very top, often at the expense of others. Our biblical stories tell us that people of faith ought to have different values. We need a worldview that is consistent with our faith life. We need to be counter cultural.

 

          The question is how to do it, and the answer begins with our thoughts. Our first activity is to generate a thought. From that thought flows, an attitude, then a word, then an action. Everything points back to our fundamental worldview. At the Second Vatican Council, the thoughts of the Bishops and Cardinals changed, and then they produced a document and constitution that is nothing short of miraculous.

 

          In it, a new vision of Catholicism appeared and we can use this as a model for our daily life. The Council moved:

 

          from commands to invitations, 

from laws to ideals, 

from definition of ideas to beholding a mystery, 

from issuing threats to persuading by invitation, 

from coercion and force to forming one’s conscience, 

from monologue to dialogue, 

from ruling to serving, 

from withdrawing from the world to integrating itself into it, 

from excluding people to a spirit of welcome and inclusion, 

from hostility to friendship, 

from rivalry to partnership, 

from suspicion to trust, 

from static and unchanging to ongoing, dynamic progression, 

from passive acceptance to active engagement, 

from fault-finding to appreciation, 

from behavior modification to inner-appropriation....

 

We have to decide how we want to be. Changing our worldview means that we have the ability to shape our thoughts and then everything else will follow. We know that we cannot change others, but we can change the way we see and perceive, and that makes all the difference. People will respond to the way we treat them, and if we treat them well, they will treat us kindly as well. King David had the idea to get rid of his adversary, and then he thought better of it. We can make the same adjustments. King David’s solitary action was a model for Israel. Our solitary action might not make big waves in the world, but it will bring us into right relations, and that is enough, and I guarantee you that your solitary action will have a lasting effect upon someone, and that will bring hope and further love into this world. We change hearts one at a time, and we begin with our own. Grace will follow. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

Monday: (James 1) Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

 

Tuesday: (James 1) Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him. 

 

Wednesday: (James 1) Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger for anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

 

Thursday: (James 2) Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom that he promised to those who love him? But you dishonored the poor.

 

Friday (James 2) See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

 

Saturday (James 3) Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 8) He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore. 

 

Tuesday: (Mark 8) The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 

 

Wednesday (Mark 8) He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked, “Do you see anything?” Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly.

 

Thursday (Mark 8) Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 

 

Friday (Mark 8) Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.

 

Saturday (Mark 9) Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

 

Saints of the Week

 

February 21: Peter Damian, bishop and Doctor (1007-1072), was orphaned and raised by his brother, Damian, a priest in Ravenna. He began as a hermit monk and was then made abbot and cardinal. He became a reformer in the church often speaking out against clerical laxness. 

 

February 22: The Chair of Peter is celebrated on this day. Previously, both Peter and Paul were remembered until their feast was transferred to June 29^th. As the custom was ingrained in practice, Christians continued to honor the contributions Peter made to the church as the first of the apostles in continuous succession.

 

February 23: Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155), was made bishop of Smyrna and was the leader of the second generation Christians. He was a disciple of the apostle John and a friend of Ignatius of Antioch. He wrote catechesis and rites for initiation into the Christian community. He was martyred in 155 and is a Father of the early church. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• February 20, 1860. Pope Pius IX visits the rooms of St Ignatius. 
• February 21, 1595. At Tyburn, the martyrdom of Robert Southwell after he had suffered brutal tortures in Topcliffe's house and in prison. He embraced the jailer who brought him word that he was to be executed. As he breathed his last, Lord Mountjoy, who presided over the execution, exclaimed: "May my soul be one day with that of this man." 
• February 22, 1599. By order of Pope Clement VIII, the superiors general of the Jesuits and the Dominicans, assisted by others, met to settle, if possible, the controversies about grace. Nothing came of the meeting, since the Dominicans insisted on the condemnation of the writings of Fr. Molina. 
• February 23, 1551. The Roman College, the major school of the Society later to become the Gregorian University, began its first scholastic year with 15 teachers and 60 students. 
• February 24, 1637. The death of Francis Pavone. Inflamed by his words and holy example, sixty members of a class of philosophy that he taught and the entire class of poetry embraced the religious state. 
• February 25, 1558. St Aloysius Gonzaga received tonsure at the Lateran basilica. Within the next month he would receive the minor orders. 
• February 26, 1611. The death of Antonio Possevino, sent by Pope Gregory XIII on many important embassies to Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Germany. In addition to founding colleges and seminaries in Cracow, Olmutz, Prague, Braunsberg, and Vilna, he found time to write 24 books.