Bill Clarke, SJ, is a member of the team of spiritual directors at Loyola House of Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph and continues his commitment to L'Arche.
18 posts
"Jean’s spirit continues to infuse these communities with his vision that each and every human being whatever their gifts or limitations are a valued precious child of God that can contribute to the well being of our world."...
"Hopefully our Lenten journey will be a time to choose more deeply and consistently our belovedness."...
"There are so many people and even whole countries that are experience desperate poverty with children and other vulnerable people by the thousands even millions dying each day. It is shamefully little for me to experience a bit of hunger from time to time. "...
"My favourite poet Gerard Manley Hopkins says it well in his Spring with the opening line: “Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –“ and later in the poem asks; “What is all this juice and all this joy”?"...
A small child sees these pretty little yellow flowers and with great delight picks a bouquet as a love offering for "mommy" who receives the gift with great delight. The lowly dandelion is more than just a pretty face however. It labours constantly with the earth for our well being. Sending down its long tap root it loosens and aerates the soil and brings much needed nutrients more to the surface to feed other plant life with shallower root systems....
I was sitting with a group of people in the peaceful, prayerful atmosphere of the Loyola House chapel listening to Father Eric leading us in a personal reflection as part of an evening service of reconciliation. He was suggesting that sometimes there is buried in our memories an experience, perhaps even going back to early childhood, where we have been hurt or have hurt someone in a way that leaves us in need of healing or forgiveness. As I thought about this, to my surprise the memory of a little brown coat came to me and I had to struggle to hold back the tears....
I was sitting with a group of people in the peaceful, prayerful atmosphere of the Loyola House chapel listening to Father Eric leading us in a personal reflection as part of an evening service of reconciliation. He was suggesting that sometimes there is buried in our memories an experience, perhaps even going back to early childhood, where we have been hurt or have hurt someone in a way that leaves us in need of healing or forgiveness. As I thought about this, to my surprise the memory of a little brown coat came to me and I had to struggle to hold back the tears....
Since 1980 I have been living here on the land of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph, where as it happens this year we Jesuit are celebrating the 100th anniversary of coming to this property. Over my 33 yrs here the many wonderful trees have befriended me in a way that is totally surprising to me. It was a tree that took the initiative in one of the early years during the month of May while I was making my annual 8 day retreat out at the Old Orchard Hermitage....
Now that I have reached the ripe age of eighty, an event I celebrated this past July, people sometimes ask me when I plan to retire. My usual answer goes something like this: "People retire in order to be free to do whatever they enjoy doing, and, since I thoroughly enjoy what I am presently doing what would it mean for me to retire? Besides, we Jesuits rarely actually retire"....
