In 2019 I hope to enjoy healthy companionship with many people, especially my fellow Jesuits, colleagues, neighbours, and students.
I think I can graciously slow down as age catches up with me. I try to enjoy this slower pace while encouraging students to learn, and enjoy learning, their physics, while preparing for college studies and adulthood. The textbook is based on the 14th edition of Sears and Zemansky, the book we used at Gonzaga University in 1965! More good memories!
Another hope for the coming year is to continue to let go, as younger Jesuits, all from South Asia, administer our Nepal Region in their own way. On my arrival in Nepal forty-one years ago, along with the foreign-born, there were a handful of Indian Jesuits here and only one Nepali Jesuit. Now among sixty Nepal Jesuits, only four are from outside the sub-continent.
I welcome this change as Christians in general and Jesuits in particular, are melding into Nepal’s culture. It’s a joy for me to be seen as a left-over, but an appreciated left over, as others efficiently handle the administration of our schools, college, social institutions, and communities.
The Nepalese are most hospitable and always have time to “drop everything” for a chat over tea or something stronger. They open the door to me for house visiting and parish ministry. They continue to teach me to slow down and enjoy the present. I look forward to a year of doing just that!