In Sunday’s Gospel, a person asks Jesus how he can inherit eternal life. Jesus says to leave all his worldly possessions behind and follow him. The man was troubled as he had many possessions. It sounds like a daunting ask of any human being. Today, we are tasked to seek the deeper meaning of “[to] leave your possessions behind” and follow Jesus.
To go out into the world to love and to serve is the great command, Jesus showed us. We can proclaim our dedication to love and service through our faith, families, friends, neighbors, creation, and the forgotten people in our midst. We become the hands, feet, eyes, and ears of Jesus as we enter into service for others.
Recently six of us from St. Ignatius Loyola left our possessions behind and set out for the Lakota Cheyenne River Reservation to build the fourth Tiny Home with the National Y Service Project in Dupree, South Dakota. We were the hands, feet, eyes, and ears of Jesus as we worked on this project.
“Only three years ago, our St. Ignatius contingency, had arrived to find four bare cement foundations waiting for panels to be installed by volunteers from all over the country with limited construction experience. When we left on September 17th, 2024, it was very satisfying to see all four house exteriors completed and ready for the electrical, plumbing, and painting phases to begin. I like to think that we not only helped to build houses but also Cheyenne River Reservation residents’ hope for a better future,” said Xiomara Larios.
“My time on the Cheyenne River Reservation was extremely fulfilling, as helping people in need has always been in my heart,” said Dylan Freeman. Elizabeth O’Sullivan reflected, “My time on the Cheyenne River Reservation was a truly phenomenal experience, highlighted by the pleasure I had in working with fellow volunteers and meeting members of the town of Dupree–all were incredibly warm and welcoming. It was deeply inspiring to share time with such amazing people, united by the common goal of building housing for young mothers in need.”
History is messy. Our world is beautiful, messy, and complicated. The Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI in 1493 gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands. American Indians had only a right of occupancy, which could be abolished. On March 30, 2023, Pope Francis disavowed the Doctrine of Discovery that justified the Spanish and Portuguese from seizing land they had “discovered” and colonizing Indigenous land they called the Americas.
Although the Doctrine of Discovery has been disavowed, the trauma and injustices to our Native American people remain. They truly are our Forgotten People.
“My experience in Dupree was an important reaffirmation of the power of relinquishing self-importance and letting the spirit of the process of sharing carry me along. Being an unskilled laborer was perfect as others performed their skills and the whole brought success to the project and appreciation of the grace of mutual respect among strangers,” said Judith Rosenberger, PhD.
Enrico Mazzon reflected on his experience, “I left, NYC for Dupree, without expectations, I found myself with 23 brothers and sisters in Christ, and as a family with a solid foundation in God, we worked together in harmony, love, humility as one and only body. One thing is clearer and more certain than ever in my heart, we were 24 children of God, become one body in Christ, this gives me the clear and sure conviction, that all of us if we act as one body in Christ, we can change the wonderful world we live in.”
All things are possible with God, Mitakuye Oyasin-we are all related!
– Jean Santopatre, Pastoral Associate
October 20, 2024 Essay: Mary SightingsHave you noticed that the press has recently reported on alleged sightings of Mary the Mother of God? The alleged appearances have occurred in different parts of the world—for instance, in Marlboro, New Jersey; Trevignano, Italy; and Velankanni, India. The Vatican has not yet weighed in on the supernaturality of these sightings. What the Vatican has done is to acknowledge that the locations have become popular centers of devotion to Mary and sources of grace for many.
Thus far, the only apparitions the Roman Catholic Church has endorsed are the 19th-century apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France, and those in the early 20th century in Fatima, Portugal. At both sites, the Church has declared that something miraculous had indeed occurred.
More recently, the sightings that have captured the most attention began to occur in 1981 at Medjugorje, Yugoslavia—now Bosnia and Herzegovina. This past August, the Vatican issued its latest report on these sightings. The report acknowledged the spiritual fruits many have received from their visit to the shrine but concluded that no declaration can be made on the supernatural character of the apparitions.
The reaction of the institutional Church to alleged sightings has always been one of deliberate caution. The Church is like a wise old mother, wily as a serpent and simple as a dove, with centuries of rich, sometimes bitter, experience. She knows that at the end of the first millennium much superstition and something like hysteria swept through Europe with wild predictions about the end of the world.
So the institutional Church acts slowly. Usually, she ignores or opposes these phenomena, knowing most of the alleged apparitions will quickly be forgotten. If they refuse to go away, she scrutinizes them with great care. If they pass all the scientific tests, the Church may say—not that Mary appeared on earth and delivered a message—but that it is a good thing to make a pilgrimage to this place and pray there for healing and conversion and world peace in accordance with the Gospel.
The Church has to help protect religious-minded people from an innocent attachment to extraordinary religious phenomena: miracles, vision, prophecies, private revelations—even spiritual “highs”. These have a perennial fascination for us. But attachment to them can retard growth rather than advance it.
To paraphrase Jesus in the Gospels, why should people look for spectacular signs? They have Moses and the prophets. If they do not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe the spinning sun or an apparition from heaven. “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign. Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.”
Authentic religion is always a call to the world of pure faith. This is the dark world of the unseen where we face the God who is mystery of mysteries. In the world of pure faith, there are no voices, no visions, no miraculous healings—nothing that the senses can cling to. There is God and only God.
Nothing more. Nothing less. And God is enough. Authentic religion has little to do with flashes of light in the sky or with rosary beads changing color. It has everything to do with deep faith.
— Fr. William J. Bergen, S.J., Senior Priest
October 6, 2024 Essay: Has the Time of Fraternity Arrived?An “Amber Alert” for our world this October might notify us of the following soul-searching events: October 2-29, Toward a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission; October 4, the Feast of St. Francis; October 7, Commemoration of Terrorist attack on Israel leading to horrific attacks and loss of life among Palestinians; and the endless angst of the election season. What is the connection among these events? How is Christ present? Where are our faith, hope, compassion?
In June, I discovered an article in a quarterly, “OFM Fraternitas”. It has had the effect of stirring my own hope and conviction that Christ is indeed at work in and with us in our struggles for human decency. On February 4, 2019, Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar signed a joint agreement, “The Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” This historic agreement was signed on the 800th anniversary of the meeting between St. Francis of Assisi and the sultan Malik El-Kamil during the 5th Crusade. Born from the dialog between Tayyeb and and Francis, the document declares a “Culture of Dialog as the Path; Mutual Cooperation as the Code of Conduct; and, Reciprocal Understanding as the Method and Standard for different faiths to live in solidarity and peace.” They asked world leaders to re-discover the values of peace, justice, goodness, beauty, human fraternity and co-existence in order to stop the bloodshed, environmental decay, moral and cultural decline in the world. Panic terror and pessimism are instrumentalized by the absence of these values as well as incorrect interpretations of religious texts and inadequate policies linked to poverty, hunger, and injustices.
On October 4, 2020, Pope Francis followed up on this agreement by releasing his Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, which expanded and deepened the concept of fraternity for all people. On October 4, 2023, Francis opened the first session of a Synod on Synodality intending it to be a laboratory for learning skills of communion: respect for the other, listening, discernment, actualizing the dialogs, and inculcating an approach of Church as a communion of brothers and sisters both internally and externally.
In February 2023, “The Abrahamic Family House” was blessed and inaugurated in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Designed by Nigerian-British Architect David Adjaye, the Abrahamic Family House is a concrete expression of the ideals of both the Abu Dhabi Agreement and Fratelli Tutti. It consists of a campus with three worship spaces all in cubic, equal size design: Ahmed Al-Tayeb Mosque facing Mecca; Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue facing Jerusalem; and St. Francis of Assisi Church facing east toward the Rising Sun. A fourth structure, The Forum, serves as a welcome place for convening ecumenical programs and a space for other religious communities of the world to practice their faith. An internal garden with symbolism from the three faiths links these structures. Residences for the pastoral leaders of each group are attached to their worship space so that the sense of “neighbor” can become real. Plans for an interfaith outreach for migrants and refugees, an orphanage and a school are underway.
Rev. Stefan Luca, OFM CAP, the Pastor of St. Francis Church, believes that the Abrahamic Family House reflects the deepening commitment of the Church to the future horizon of human communion through interfaith relationships. Bishop Paolo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, notes that the Vicariate, with over 200 ethnic groups is a migrant community. Most exciting, both men see this experiment as a stronghold for establishing a new ecclesiology, a migrant ecclesiology where a theological Pentecost can find space and expression through fraternity and experience, learned through dialog and conversation.
The witness of a dual path to human communion based on interfaith relationships, is both theological/spiritual as well as concrete. With the spiritual and human challenges of today, we are all “migrants” in the sense of standing on the borders of unknown landscapes. Perhaps our Christian call is to embrace a new social location as “migrant” with its potential to create fraternal communion for our ecclesial journey.
— Sr. Kathryn King, FSP
September 29, 2024 Essay: Humanitarian Crises Facing the PalestiniansAs the war in Gaza approaches its first anniversary, the nation of Israel continues to confront significant threats to its security while the Palestinian people are suffering through three humanitarian crises.
The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is difficult to capture. Before the war, 2.2 million persons lived in the 140 square miles that is Gaza—an area roughly the size of Las Vegas. Of these 2.2 million persons, just under half were children. More than 1.3 million Gazans, including some 600,000 children, have been displaced. Clean water, food, medical supplies and medical services, and housing are all now inadequate to meet the needs of the civilian population. In addition, health crises are multiplying due to the lack of proper sanitation, the conditions in which persons are forced to live, and the inability to secure adequate food. Responding to the humanitarian crisis has been made difficult by the fact that Hamas operates within the civilian population and infrastructure which often results in Israeli military actions that exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. Israel has also not prioritized provision of aid to the civilian population. Its stringent inspection requirements of humanitarian aid, the limited access points for such aid, and attacks on aid convoys transiting the West Bank, have all made it extraordinarily difficult for international relief organizations to assist the people of Gaza.
A second humanitarian crisis impacting the Palestinians is the treatment of Palestinians in detention. Israeli Defense Forces established a detention center at its Sde Teiman base, near Be’er-Sheva in the southern Israeli desert, to hold captured militants as well as civilians they had taken into investigative custody. These civilians, ranging in age from teenagers to persons in their seventies, are held at this facility until they are either released or transferred to Israeli prisons. Numerous reports, including a whistleblower report from an Israeli doctor, have revealed harsh and abusive conditions that have led to the deaths of some of the civilian detainees. In Israel itself, civilian prisons are now overpopulated largely due to the influx of Palestinian detainees. The National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, boasts of having worsened the conditions for Palestinians in custody. In response to criticism of these conditions, Ben-Gvir replied, “Everything published about the abominable conditions of Palestinians in Israeli jails was true.” It has to be noted that not all the Palestinians in Israeli prisons have been convicted of crimes. Some are administrative detainees who have neither been charged with a crime nor granted a trial. They and their lawyers are prevented from seeing evidence against them. The conditions of Palestinian detainees in the military and civilian systems have contributed to a rise in militancy among the Palestinians.
A third humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians is the worsening conditions in the West Bank. While Palestinians there have long had to deal with attacks from Israelis living in West Bank settlements, the scope and the violence of those attacks has increased dramatically since the October 7th assault on Israel by Hamas. In addition, Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations report that under Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a portfolio in the Defense Ministry, land seizures, building permits for Israeli settlers, and illegal settlements have all increased. Smotrich has declared publicly, “We will continue to fight the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state.”
Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorist organizations including Hamas and Hezbollah. The United States rightly supports Israel in its efforts to defend itself against these organizations both of which have shown a callous indifference to civilian suffering and death—both among Israelis and within their own populations. Yet, we also have an obligation to hold the Israeli government to account when it violates fundamental human rights. To do otherwise, is to contribute to the crises impacting the Palestinians that serve to further destabilize an already volatile region.
— Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J., Associate Pastor
September 22, 2024 Essay: Journeying Together: Taizé CommunityKate Noonan: We enjoyed a retreat at the Taizé Community, an ecumenical retreat center in Southern France. Why were you drawn to Taizé?
Adele Gallo: I was actually interested in the music of Taizé, their community being renowned for their chant. The chants are brief and focused. The chants appeal to me because I’m very attracted to sacred music, particularly liturgical music. The Taizé chant really, if you’ll pardon the pun, sings to me.
K: Did you know what to expect at the retreat center?
A: Knowing that their mission is retreats for student groups, I expected to see lots of dorm buildings, but that proved to be wrong. We were truly in an idyllic country setting with little evidence that over 2000 people were at the retreat center with us. It was a very peaceful place, as charming as anything you’d see in a picture, yet it was serving all these young people.
K: How were the retreat days structured?
A: Each day, in a sense, followed a contemporary version of monastic prayer. We met three times a day, morning, noon, and night for prayer, extensive periods of silent prayer and chant. Our all-adult group met each morning after breakfast. Brother Pedro provided—in his charming Spanish accent—a meditation on a scripture reading, breaking open the Word in a thoughtful and challenging way to consider and pray about. He left us to focus on two or three questions to take up later in the day.
K: Each afternoon we met in a smaller English-speaking group to address the questions Br. Pedro had offered in the morning. Can you describe our faith-sharing groups?
A: Oh, I thought they were spectacular from the beginning. Just for starters, the group consisted of people with children of school age, a retiree, a woman whose husband was in another group, a Brother, and a female Methodist pastor. The commonality was we were all there to get closer to God and to do so together. I found the groups really heartwarming. And the biggest surprise was that some of these people had been coming back to Taizé every year for 20-some years!
K: It was during the very intimate, faith-focused discussions our group really blossomed. It was truly a joyful experience.
A: Our facilitator was excellent. He knew when to push and when to step back. It was noteworthy how he drew information, not just as information, but as reflections of our personal spirituality. It was clear that we all reverenced the confidentiality of these conversations.
K: I was introduced to the Taizé community and chants at Yale Divinity School, but I didn’t know much about the Taizé experience. Could you talk about that a little?
A: The ultimate structure was that every week ended in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Throughout our exercises, we were always headed there. I thought it was significant that, unlike other retreats I’ve been on, there was no daily Mass. As we approached Thursday, reading again Jesus’ address to his apostles at the Last Supper, and moving on to when these very apostles abandoned him, handed him over to the executioners, it all came as a new affront to our Savior. Friday evening, we had the opportunity to venerate the Holy Cross. And so it was that the Resurrection surprised us, like a rewrite of the final episode. I thought I knew the story so well…turns out I didn’t. Alleluia!
K: On Sunday our week concluded with a Catholic Mass. One of our new retreat friends made it clear it was not to be missed. Please tell me your impressions of the Catholic Mass.
A: Well, I was happy to be back on familiar territory. The week without Mass reminded me of the days when our parishes were closed down during COVID. I remember crying because we couldn’t receive Communion, only watch the Mass online. We could see the Mass being celebrated, but we couldn’t be there. It created a terrible sense of hunger. When we had Mass on Sunday morning, I recognized the feeling. We were finally being fed. That was a really joyous experience.
K: When I received Communion that Sunday, it brought me to tears. I too was hungry for the Eucharist.
A: I am in awe of the structure of the retreat week. It’s really well thought out, and yet you’re not aware of, you know, go do this at such and such a time, go do that. Day by day, scripture reading by reading, we were always moving through salvation history, always hearing the call of God to come closer. The invitation does not limit, does not discriminate, but is offered in the freedom of God’s love for each individual.
— Kate Noonan, Director of the Interparish Religious Education & Adele Gallo, Teacher at Convent of the Sacred Heart
September 15, 2024 Essay: Experience the Wonder of AccompanimentThere is much discussion in our culture today about loneliness. Last year, the surgeon general even issued an advisory about this nation’s crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection. But is not only secular leaders who are calling on us to come together and be present to one another. Pope Francis, writing on what he calls accompaniment in The Joy of the Gospel, says “We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur.”
Each time I participate in faith sharing with the St. Ignatius community, I am amazed at the depth of reflection, vulnerability, and sincere desire to grapple with the mysteries of faith: the earnest efforts to untangle the ways that the very meaning of the universe intertwine with the quotidian duties of our daily life. What is our purpose? How does that interact with our daily tasks? How should we respond to job losses, illnesses, crises of faith or the routine of our lives—and how should we speak to God about these experiences? What comfort and hope can Jesus offer? What solace can we offer one another? As Pope Francis says, “Our personal experience of being accompanied and assisted, and of openness to those who accompany us, will teach us to be patient and compassionate with others.”
In these moments of sharing, I feel the opposite of loneliness. If we believe the Ignatian precept that God is in all things, we know that we are never alone, but it can be easy to mistake that we are. If you are hungry to make connections as you deepen your prayer life and to experience the wonder of accompaniment, Meeting Christ in Prayer (MCIP) is for you.
MCIP is an eight-week opportunity to explore and develop our relationship with Christ, through introduction to prayer practices and faith sharing. As faith sharers, we listen attentively to each other’s experiences of prayer and Christ, understanding that these enrich our own connection to our savior. We may discover a new insight that we can apply to our prayer practice or hear a story that resonates with the same struggles that we have, whether they be with family, work or another aspect of contemporary life.
We all come to MCIP with different challenges that we are coping with; through the program, we learn how to turn to Christ for strength. Participants have joined the program on journeys of coming to faith as older Catholics, discerning their direction in life as young Catholics, and everything in between. You can ask for God’s grace, discover or develop patterns in your prayer life, and above all, create a relationship with Christ through a greater understanding of his incredible and unique journey on Earth. During the week, you will commit to reading and praying in solitude, preparing for the weekly sessions when you are together with other participants.
In The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis writes that, “One who accompanies others has to realize that each person’s situation before God and their life in grace are mysteries which no one can fully know from without.” Celebrate the mystery of having a spiritual experience that is at once fully your own and at the same time deeply shared with others. In MCIP, you can accompany others by being present to their sharing—and at the same time, feel the power of being accompanied by a generous, thoughtful community. Quoting Blessed Peter Faber, Pope Fracis reflects that time is God’s messenger. Give yourself the gift of time devoted to your spiritual life. Come take the MCIP journey—a path you’ll travel with Christ, but also with the other retreatants. All you need is an open heart and a listening ear.
— Cynthia-Marie Marmo O’Brien
Member, Meeting Christ in Prayer
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines pilgrimage as the journey of a pilgrim. Its secondary meaning is the course of life on earth. A pilgrim is defined as one who journeys in foreign lands or who travels to a shrine or holy place. Hope is defined as a desire accompanied by the expectation of or belief in fulfillment. A Christian’s understanding of hope is that it is a virtue that comes from God and leads people back to God. It is the desire for eternal life and the kingdom of God as a source of happiness and joy.
As you may recall from an announcement I made In the Spring, Pope Francis has proclaimed the Jubilee Year 2025 as a Year of Hope. By tradition a Jubilee Year is a time for pilgrims to journey to Rome and visit the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul and walk through the doors of the four major basilicas of Rome (St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major, and St. John Lateran), thereby meriting an abundance of blessings.
Let’s face it. Not all of us will be able to make a pilgrimage to Rome next year. That is not to say that we cannot participate in a pilgrimage of hope during the Holy Year. In fact, are we not already on that pilgrimage? Recall the definitions of pilgrimage, pilgrim, and hope. A pilgrimage is the journey of life to what we hold sacred. It is hope that points us in the right direction and guides our steps. As God’s gift to us, hope will never fail because what we desire has already been fulfilled. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that allows us to journey with a strong stride to our walk and a joyful spirit in our hearts. The challenge that we face is to have the willingness to open our hearts and minds to the reality of God’s presence in the world and in our lives.
As pilgrims, we will invariably journey through a foreign land, and sometimes it is at our very doorstep. The terrain will seem like the highest mountain or the darkest valley. Those encountered along the way will seem to us like barbarians, heathens who threaten our very existence. Personal hardships or tragedies, like massive blocks of granite blocking the path, may dampen our spirits and attempt to extinguish our fervor. It is at times such as these that we take refuge in our faith and are buoyed by hope, for we know that God is true to God’s word. We will recognize God’s kingdom in our daily lives amidst the din and the clamor and the rough edges of our world. We will have arrived at the destination of our pilgrimage, the world in which we live.
St. Ignatius Loyola exhorts us to see God in all things. All of creation reflects God’s presence in the world. God’s kingdom is here, not in some galactic realm of wispy clouds and ethereal bodies. Jesus Christ fearlessly proclaimed the kingdom of God in the here and now. He challenged those who would listen to him to a conversion of heart so they could experience that kingdom and, in turn, proclaim his message to everyone. Like those first joyful disciples, we are confronted by the same skeptics who would deny that reality and sow the seeds of fear and division. Our pilgrimage of hope in a world that often seems bent on self-destruction, however, is firmly rooted in the belief that the world, that all God’s creation, is sacred and reflects the image of God.
In his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis exhorted the Church and all who believe in Jesus Christ to proclaim in word and deed “the joy of the Gospel.” As a community of disciples of Jesus Christ, we are on a pilgrimage of hope, bound together by our faith and our commitment to bring into our daily lives and to the world the joy of the Gospel. Nurtured by hope, we, as a parish, are now on the threshold of implementing the goals of the parish’s Vision Statement. With God’s help, our aspirations will be actualized through a large dose of grit and determination. What we desire to accomplish is within our reach if we but open our minds and hearts to the goodness and joy that abounds among us. Our task is to join the mission of Jesus Christ in establishing in our world that kingdom of happiness and joy, of peace and justice, that God intended from the moment of creation. Please join in this communal pilgrimage of hope.
As we rev up the engine to begin a “new year” in the life of the parish, let us pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and for one another that we may be joyful companions in our pilgrimage of hope, this year and always. And may all that we do be for the greater glory of God and the salvation of all!
– Rev. Dennis J. Yesalonia, S.J., Pastor
ISJ Essay: College Mentoring Program 2024: St. Ignatius Loyola and LSA PartnershipThe song, “ For Good,” accompanied the slideshow, highlighting the achievements of the students in the LSA-ISJ College Access Program. “People come into our lives for a reason, Bringing something we can learn, And we are led, To those that help us most to grow, And we help them in return.” These lyrics speak to us about mutuality and capture the essence of this program, now in its second year. Terry, a mentor, provided an example of this mutuality when he said, “Our reward comes when the students excitedly open their college acceptance envelopes to find they not only have achieved their dream of college admission but with scholarship money as well.”
Wallace Hall was transformed on Saturday, June 29th, adorned with graduation decorations as we celebrated the achievements of the class of 2024. Melina Gonzalez, LSA, and Fr. Yesalonia welcomed everyone to the celebration. Each mentor spoke in glowing tributes about their student and mentioned highlights from the year that enriched their lives. Terry and Dolores Quinn shared how they bonded with Vivianna during a rain-drenched tour of Stony Brook University. Laura and Jazmine created a bond when Jazmine was comfortable to ask for help. Daniel took the initiative to pursue environmental science, a cause that is also dear to Nick and Fran Naccari. Regan Orillac and Blanca shared tears of joy as Regan highlighted the
fraught circumstances that Blanca had to overcome and how she excelled despite her circumstances.
The students expressed their gratitude to their mentors and the College Access Program. Daniel described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” This opportunity is life-changing and St. Ignatius Loyola was described by Melina as “the light at the end of the tunnel,” as LSA had the dream but needed a partner to help them navigate the college application system. Jacqueline, a rising college sophomore, and the catalyst for this program spoke in glowing terms of how Laura Silvius still plays a vital role in her life and how she is the family she needs in addition to her own family.
Fr. Yesalonia welcomed and congratulated the students on their academic achievements and acknowledged the role the mentors played in their success by asking the young students to be motivated to help others when they encounter a neighbor in need. This message of mutuality is the ingredient that makes LSA special and was the title of a recent book, Mutuality in El Barrio, Stories of the Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service. It is widely recognized that contributions made by Melina Gonzalez and Lucia Aguilar to the success of this program go far beyond their daily roles with LSA. In her closing speech, Lucia said, “Payment is seeing you succeed.”
This event marked both an end and a beginning of what we endeavor to be a cycle of success, as we have begun working with the next class of seniors and juniors. Some of the families were in attendance at Saturday’s celebration, as well as families from 11th grade as we continue to assist LSA when a need is recognized.
- Jimmy Coffey, Ignatian Social Justice Ministry member
Have you ever walked through a field of wildflowers? It is like a riotous palette of colors that stretches to the horizon, a carpet bedazzled with precious gemstones. The illusion is one of a gateway that leads to another reality, one of tranquil beauty or a field of dreams, where nature itself is a gracious host. Planted in mystery on knolls, in crags, and untilled soil, they grow with wild abandon, watered by no effort of their own. Arrayed in splendor beyond even that of Solomon, they neither toil nor spin – Matthew 6:28-29. Their rapture of contentment seduces the eyes of all who gaze upon their radiance. And in that glance, we are invited to reflect upon who we are in the vast expanse of God’s creation.
In the humdrum or hectic pace of our lives we often fail to see the field of wildflowers in which we live. Preoccupied with a myriad of concerns, we are reluctant to let go of what blinds our vision to be fully aware of God’s abiding care for us in each moment of our lives. For you see, each of us is a wildflower in God’s eyes. We are that field planted and nurtured by God. The question that we often struggle with is whether we truly believe this.
In her poem, Wildflowers, Gaby Comprés, a poet from Santo Domingo, invites her readers to see themselves as wildflowers who are transported to places where, without effort on their part, beauty is waiting to burst forth and create an endless field of wildflowers. She writes:
Let’s be wildflowers;
let our souls be scattered by the wind.
Let us grow, wild and free, tall and brave,
in the places we dream,
in the places where our longings are filled.
Let us grow between the cracks of brokenness,
and we will make everything beautiful.
The summer months are now upon us. Many of us will scatter far and near to find places of respite. Many will remain in the canyons of New York City. And for some, a summer vacation is a fanciful dream. No matter where we may find ourselves during the lazy or frenetic days of summer, we will experience a field of wildflowers if we are but open to it and allow God to be both the sower and cultivator of our lives.
In gazing upon the beauty of a field of wildflowers, whether we do it in person or in our mind’s eye, we take delight in the willingness of wildflowers simply to bask in the sunshine of a summer’s day. Let our prayer be that we revel in God’s gaze upon us so we may fill the cracks of brokenness and become for others a vision of hope and love.
Happy gazing! Happy summer!
Dennis J. Yesalonia, S.J., Pastor
June 23, 2024: Who Am I? Whose Am I? What Am I Called to Be?As you reflect on the Gospel reading this Sunday, imagine yourself in the boat with Jesus. Who are you? Which disciple resonates with who you are at this moment in time? Or do you resonate with Jesus’ persona? St. Ignatius calls this the Imaginative Prayer when you put yourself into the story and discover who you are in that story.
Jesus was asleep and not bothered by the waves knocking the boat around. He knew who he was, and he knew they were safe with him in the stormy sea. On the other hand, some of the disciples were nervous and felt they were in imminent peril. Yet, they did not know at this time Who Jesus really was, and they looked to him to save them. As soon as they awakened him, Jesus calmed the sea. Jesus questioned their faith and even though they still did not realize who Jesus was, the Son of God, they turned to him for help. When I was a Yale/ New Haven Bridgeport Hospital chaplain intern, we used this Gospel reading for our chapel time. As we entered into the Imaginative Prayer experience, I fell asleep, like Jesus, because I was on call all night. I leaned into Jesus. It was a stormy night with one code blue death, and I was the spiritual presence for the patient and the family. Life is filled with stormy days and nights, and when I lean into Jesus as my True North, I know I am safe.
To know Jesus, first and foremost, transforms and transcends who I am. In this discernment, I come to understand Whose I am. Who has called me by name? Of course, my parents, family, and friends play a key role in whose I am. Yet, God also calls me by name as his beloved daughter. Jesus is my brother, and I see the Holy Spirit as the feminine spirit of God—the Ruah, the breath or wind of God. As Catholics, we believe in the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When stormy seas arise, I relate to God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit depending on who I need the most at that time. I believe that Jesus’ disciples turned to God and looked upon Jesus as their brother, not knowing his true identity and destiny until the Last Supper. The disciples belonged to God, and when Jesus was with them, they belonged to him.
We can never be sure that Jesus’ disciples truly understood what he was calling them to be, as they laid the groundwork of faith for future generations. Do you think these men actually understood the depth of what they were called to be? The disciples’ faith wavered at times, and they didn’t always understand Jesus’ parables. Through these times of their waffling faith, Jesus reminded them of their mission and accompanied them. Jesus transformed them into becoming the apostles he needed to carry on his teachings when he would no longer be an earthly being. He was their rabbi—their teacher. Ponder on who or what you are called to be. Who are the important teachers in your life?
Reflecting on these three questions, Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., says, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human existence.” If you can think of yourself as a “spiritual being,” you will look at the world with new eyes. With these new eyes you will be awakened to the answers: Who Am I? Whose Am I? What Am I Called to Be?
As we approach the Synod in October and await the outcome of how woman might have leadership roles in our Church, St. Ignatius Loyola Women’s Voices is planning a Day of Reflection. Save the date for October 5 framed around these questions: Who Am I? Whose Am I? What Am I Called to Be?
— Jean Santopatre, Pastoral Associate