A few months ago, I created a Communion of Saints prayer collage. I pasted onto a large poster board icons of my favorite canonized saints, along with photos of family and friends—my personal saints—who have gone to their heavenly place. Next to Ignatius and Martin de Porres are my godparents, Marie and Jack Mulligan. With Julian of Norwich and John XXIII are our fellow parishioners Jean Junker, Carlos Cuartas, and Nicolás Nuño as well as my dear friend Fr. Michael Sehler, S.J., longtime teacher at Loyola School. Every morning, as I begin my day, I spend some time in quiet prayer with all of them. I ask for their blessing and inspiration, I thank them for loving me into the person I have become, and I pray for them as they continue their journey on the other side of life and death. The prayer collage is like a window into heaven; we all come to the glass and enjoy a few moments with each other, sharing a loving gaze.
I have noticed that as I age, the ranks of those I know on the other side are steadily filling. The generation that came before me are, one by one, departing. Now and then, a peer crosses over as well, a reminder that my time here is limited. Each death deepens my devotion to the Communion of Saints, a beautiful but underappreciated dogma of our church. And I am grateful that our tradition dedicates this month of All Souls to remembering and praying with them.
It is a blessing to be able to say to our loved ones all that needs to be said before we are parted from each other, words like, “I love you.” “I forgive you.” “I apologize.” “I am grateful for all you have done for me.” I feel blessed that I was able to have a long and enjoyable conversation with Jean Junker the last time I saw her, that I was able to tell Carlos how much I appreciated his friendship, and that the last thing Mike Sehler said to me before he died was, “I love you.” This is how it should be, but sometimes unforeseen circumstances or emotional obstacles or breakdowns in relationships might leave important things unsaid before death comes. Often, when someone dies, we are left with a lot of “if only…”
The Communion of Saints affirms that our relationships with the dead continue, that love is stronger than death. God’s infinite mercy and creativity allow us another opportunity to tend to unfinished business. Moreover, I have found that death has the power to strip away barriers to communicating about what is important; we are more able to speak and listen from the heart. The defenses and defensiveness that we so carefully curated in life around certain relationships are dismantled. As the years pass, we might come to better understand those who have gone before us – their stories, their gifts, their wounds. Compassion can begin to flow—and perhaps, over time, in relationships where it is needed, reconciliation occurs.
Near the end of his life, the great spiritual writer Henri Nouwen reflected more deeply on death and dying, and what becomes of our love and connection to those who go before us. “You have to trust that every true friendship has no end,” Nouwen wrote, “that a communion of saints exists among all those, living and dead, who have truly loved God and one another. You know from experience how real this is. Those you have loved deeply and who have died live on in you, not just as memories but as real presences.” This month of All Souls offers us an invitation to renew our connection with loved ones who have taken their places among the saints. May we pray for and bless them as they do us!
— Brian Pinter, Pastoral Associate
October 27, 2024 Essay: Church and State: Despair and Hope
During my recent visit to Ireland, I visited Trinity College in Dublin and joined a long line of tourists to view The Book of Kells. More than catching a brief glimpse of this magnificent manuscript, what held my attention and, I dare say, inspired me was a copy of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic that is displayed in the same library. The Proclamation echoes the refrains of our Declaration of Independence. To be free from tyranny, to trust in Divine Providence, and to hope for a better and more just future for everyone are the aspirations for nationhood that are embedded in each word of both documents. In my reading of the Proclamation on that day, the din from the throng of visitors to the Long Hall could not dampen the passion, purpose, and pride that rang out from the words on a single page of faded paper in a glass-enclosed display case. The meaning of what it must mean for someone to be Irish was palpable.
As we know from our own history, aspiring to be independent and free from tyranny comes at a cost. All seven signatories to the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic were executed as traitors by the British. Conflict and the shedding of blood would ensue for three decades before the Republic of Ireland was established. As a nation, we, as Americans, are all too familiar with the reality that to establish and preserve the principles upon which our nation was founded requires vigilance and sacrifice. The words of the founding documents of both nations are not simply written in ink. They are embodied in our resolve to remain true to them and to live them each day as beacons of hope to others who yearn to be free – from fear, from want, from tyranny, from the shackles of injustice, discrimination, and violence.
As I reflected on my visit to the library of Trinity College, I appreciated the symbolic significance of the placement of The Book of Kells and the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, two documents that have anchored the Irish psyche. The Book of Kells is at the entrance to the Long Room, and the Proclamation at the far end of the room, a vivid display of the separation of church and state. However, it is more than the placement of these Irish treasures that was starkly represented. What is equally striking is their profound similarity. Both embody an awakening of hope out of the shedding of blood and the darkness of despair.
What underpins every democratic nation is faith in God, no matter how one worships God or by what religion one may be identified. The founding documents of both Ireland and the United States clearly articulate what we hold as the God-given rights of all women and men and explicitly entrust the protection of these rights and of the nation to Divine Providence, the Most High God.
We, like the Irish, are striving to abide by the aspirations of who we are as a nation and people of faith. At times, our differences have the ability to overwhelm us and lead us to the darkness of despair. However, it is within our grasp to be guided by hope and trust in a brighter future. Our histories reveal that we are resilient and can overcome the ugliness of polarization and divisiveness, but it requires vigilance and courage to remain true to what we believe.
As we approach what is arguably the most consequential presidential election in our history, perhaps it is time for us to turn to what anchors us as a nation, our abiding trust in God and the democratic principles upon which our nation was founded. At Trinity College, one is led from The Book of Kells to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. May our abiding trust in the provident care of God and our Declaration of Independence guide us in the decision to be made on November 5th.
Let us continue to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and for one another that we may be resolute as pilgrims of hope and joyful disciples of Jesus Christ.
— Rev. Dennis J. Yesalonia, S.J., Pastor
October 20, 2024 Essay: Mary SightingsHave you noticed that the press has recently been reporting 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 in Velankani, India. The Vatican has not yet weighed in on the supernaturality of these sightings. What the Vatican has done is 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 and 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 13, 2024 Essay: All Things Are Possible with God: Building Tiny Homes on Lakota LandIn 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