Kevin Burns responds to Philip Shano's article on The Suppression of the Jesuits in 1773. and raises a challenge to readers. How did the "aged survivors of the catastrophe" manage to capture the hearts of the young men who would so quickly re-establish the restored Jesuit order after 41 years of invisibility?...
The Mission Intention for February 2014 is For Evangelization: That priests, religious, and lay people may work together with generosity for evangelization. This posting is by Bill Robins, SJ in Kathmandu...
In December 2013, Pope Francis set aside the normal process for canonizing a saint and extended sainthood to Fr. Peter Faber, a Frenchman who was one of the founders of the Society of Jesus. Many people heard the news and probably wondered who he was talking about. Not Jesuits! I'd be willing to bet that if you surveyed every Jesuit and asked about favourite Jesuit saints and blessed, Peter Faber would make the short list. Oh yes! There's no question that we have to include Saints Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier. But they get enough attention. Peter, too, had an influential role in the origins of the Jesuits....
Every Monday I enjoy a picnic along the banks of the Nile in a secluded spot that I found away from the bustle of the city. Cairo is not an easy place to find such a place, so I'm rather pleased with myself. I sit on an old wall and look at the cattails and bulrushes, and imagine where the basket of Baby Moses once nestled. As you can probably see, I'm not a Biblical scholar! Rather, I study Arabic and the Quran. These Monday picnics are my break between the challenges of a morning of Quranic grammar and an afternoon of Islamic theology....
From time to time, over the next few months, as part of the "Our Culture" section, igNation will post poetry written by Jesuits. Poems from Gerard Manley Hopkins and St. Robert Southwell will appear as well as poems by contemporary Jesuits. Today's poem is by Eric Jensen, SJ, who works in the Spiritual Exercises ministry at Loyola House, Guelph....
On February 3, the Church commemorates St. Blaise, a fourth century physician and bishop in Armenia. We know about him mostly because he is the saint invoked in the famous blessing of throats that takes place in many parish communities on February 3. We know more about the widespread devotion to St. Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. There are conflicting versions of stories about his powers to heal....
When you're a reader, there's nothing like finding a new series. It's even better when, by the time you stumble upon it, there is already a bunch written that you can plow through with relish....
Consolation and desolation mean direction. Consolation is a balance between extremes. Desolation is seducing oneself to an extreme. An analogy: In the famous corridor at the Gesu Square (Rome) Jesuit Br. Pozzo applied artistic perspectivism to explain Jesuit spirituality. The corridor teems with masterful paintings and murals. Standing at either end of the corridor renders the murals and paintings warped and disproportionate. Standing, however, at the center of the corridor under a painting of the Holy Trinity renders the paintings along the corridor proportionate. From this center perspective the corridor makes sense. One can enjoy and identify with the artwork. The universe, similarly, only makes sense when we have God as the center of our lives. This worthily explains consolation and desolation....
Democratic sensibility has a long history in Ukraine, at least since the period of the Cossacks – four to five centuries ago. The desire of having a single strong leader is not a part of Ukrainian political or social sensibility, as it is in Russia. Ukrainians are more community oriented, have strong sense of compassion, and reject regionalism. Even most Russian nationals who were brought to the territory by Catherine the Great or Stalin have adapted to the local sensibility. There are exceptions, but as a general feature this sensibility has endured....
Father James Profit, S.J. died on January 11th, 2014 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island after a struggle with cancer. He was in his 58th year of life and 34th year of religious life. In 1999, Jim was missioned to Guelph, Ontario and the farmland there where he would spend the rest of his life. There he was very creative in the context of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, always with a focus on ecological issues. He travelled to many parts of Canada and the world to lead Ignatian retreats with an Ecological focus, doing ground breaking work in the greening of the Spiritual Exercises. With others, he became a leader in a new consciousness that would articulate a fundamental responsibility of all persons and nations to respect and protect the earth. (http://jamesprofit.wordpress.com/2014/01/)...
