I'm singing in this concert in two weeks. Come join, if you are in the area.

 

Two Offerings this week

 Three-part online series on the Autobiography of St. Ignatius

Oct. 11^th, Oct. 25^th, Nov. 8^th: Three-part series on the Autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

 

“A Pilgrim’s Testament: The Memoirs of Ignatius of Loyola” (BC, Jesuit Sources, https://jesuitsources.bc.edu/a-pilgrims-testament-the-memoirs-of-saint-ignatius-of-loyola-new-edition/)

 

Zoom Meeting: https://bchigh.zoom.us/j/85948192450?pwd=YWFLSFo1WU1HNlFrK2l5SXNXanNldz09

Meeting ID: 859 4819 2450

Passcode: 755679

 

Ignatian Artist Guild – Painting Pumpkins with Watercolor.

Join us from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday morning, October 14^th, so that we can paint fall and pumpkin images on watercolor paper. No skills are necessary. We will just let the water flow the paint around our images and we’ll have fun together. If you have your own supplies, bring them. Bring a simple image you want to use as a guide. If you have none, come with your desire to create. We just want you to be with us. Meet at the Main Entrance at BC High and we will work in Kay Myer’s art room.

Franciscan Pilgrimage to Italy

 Franciscan Pilgrimage to Italy

Rome  Assisi  Laverna  Rieti  Spoleto  Florence

April 11-22, 2024

$2,990 per person (ground only)*

 

*Included in Price:

·        Accommodations including 2 nights in Rome, 2 in Rieti, 1 in Spoleto, 3 in

·        Assisi, 1 in Laverna, and 1 in Florence (2 participants per room)

·         Continental breakfast and dinner daily (lunch on your own)

·        Ground transportation (as per itinerary)

·        Local guides with reflections and prayer

·         

NOT Included: Airfare, lunches, gratuity for guides/drivers, trip insurance. (Note that the price is based on a minimum of ten participants.)

 

Itinerary inside. For more information, contact Bret Thoman, St. Francis Pilgrimages:

voicemail: 404-418-6683 ⬧ bret@stfrancispilgrimages.com ⬧ www.stfrancispilgrimages.com

 

Thursday, April 11

The pilgrimage will begin with a departure from Boston on overnight flight to Rome Fiumicino airport (FCO, aka Leonardo da Vinci).

 

Friday, April 12

Upon arrival, you will have a chartered taxi to Rome. Gathering meeting in the afternoon. Dinner/overnight in Rome

 

Saturday, April 13

In the morning, we will offer a guided visit of St. Peter’s Basilica and Square and surrounding area. Take the rest of the day to enjoy Rome at your leisure. Dinner/overnight in Rome

 

Sunday, April 14

This morning we will depart to Rieti to explore the storied city’s history with a guided tour of Rieti Underground. In the afternoon, we will visit two Franciscan hermitages in the Rieti Valley: Fonte Colombo and Greccio.

Dinner/overnight in Rieti

 

Monday April 15

Today we will head out to the third hermitage in the valley: Poggio Bustone. For those who wish, there will be time for a walk up to the grotto known as Sacro Speco. Then we will drive to Cantalice and walk to the fourth hermitage, known as La Foresta (4 miles/1.5 hours). Return to Rieti for din-

ner and overnight.

 

Tuesday, April 16

This morning we say goodbye to Rieti and head into Umbria. First, we’ll stop in Rivodutri to visit a famed beech tree that sheltered St. Francis during a storm. Our first stop will be a hermitage known as Monteluco. Over the centuries, saints like Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Bernardine

of Siena prayed here. Then we continue to Spoleto for a visit including the city and cathedral. Dinner/Overnight in Spoleto

 

Wednesday, April 17

This morning we will continue to Foligno for a brief visit followed by a visit in nearby Spello. Here we will take out our walking poles and walk three miles (1.5 hours) toward Assisi. Overnight in Assisi. (Dinner on your own.)

 

Thursday, April 18

This morning we will have a guided tour of Assisi, including all the main Franciscan sites related to St. Francis and Clare in the city walls of town: Chiesa Nuova, San Francesco Piccolino, Saint Mary Major, Bernard of Quin-

tavalle, Basilica St. Francis. In the afternoon, we will retrace Clare’s “fleeing” from Clare’s childhood home next to San Rufino to the Basilica of St. Clare, to Saint Mary of the Angels. Overnight in Assisi (dinner on your own.)

 

Friday, April 19

This morning we will offer a guided tour of the small church of San Damiano and the mountain hermitage of the Carceri hermitage. Take the afternoon free to explore Assisi how you wish. Overnight in Assisi (dinner on your

own.)

 

Saturday, April 20

Today, we will depart Assisi as we make our way up into Tuscany. On the way, we will stop in Gubbio to visit the Franciscan church containing a wall of the house of the family that housed St. Francis, as well as a statue of

wolf, commemorating the taming of the wild beast. Next, we will continue to the mountain hermitage of Laverna, where St. Francis received the stigmata. For those who wish to walk up the mountain, there is a 2-mile hike to the peak. Dinner/Overnight in Laverna

 

Sunday, April 21

After some final Franciscan reflections, we will head up to Florence. On the way, we will stop in Pontassieve, famed for its pottery.

Dinner/Overnight in Florence

 

Monday, April 22

Departure from Florence airport to Boston 

 

*The itinerary is subject to change due to factors beyond our control. However, the focus on the spiritual nature of the trip will always be the overall objective.

Pope Francis, The Synod, and the New Style of Church

 Sept. 27^th – Pope Francis, The Synod, and the New Style of Church

Time: 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time

 

In Rome, participants across the world are gathering to speak collegially about their unique regional needs. The church intends to listen, as it focuses upon its goals of communion, participation, and mission. Fr. Predmore will give a presentation that begins with the efforts of Pope Francis to be the representative of Catholics across the world. We will see how globalization has affected and influences a worldwide communion, and we will examine how Pope Francis addresses the contemporary issues within the church. We are a church in motion, and the new way of walking and journeying together represents a transformative shift in the Church’s style as it attempts to be relevant to humanity dispersed across the globe. 

 

Zoom Meeting: https://bchigh.zoom.us/j/85948192450?pwd=YWFLSFo1WU1HNlFrK2l5SXNXanNldz09

 

Meeting ID: 859 4819 2450

Passcode: 755679

The Botolphian

 I am posting this because it says a lot about the community of faith gathered at BC High. The school runs a literary journal called the Botolphian, reminiscent of Boston's beginnings in England. Students right short stories and prose for publication, and this year they surprisingly dedicated the issue to me. A student who just completed his tenth grade wrote these words. The one who writes the dedication is certainly more worthy than the recipient, but I just want to show you the quality of education and the thoughtfulness of he student body. 

Fall 2023 Spiritual Offerings

 Dear friends,

 

Blessings to you as you prepare for the new academic calendar. I hope your summertime has been restorative and filled with good memories from being with friends, colleagues, and family. I hope you are well and that your spirits are elevated.

 

Here is a program of offerings for the coming year. You are welcome to attend any of them. You may invite family and friends to these programs. Please feel free to share this email. 

 

This email contains programs on the following topics.

 

 

1. Wednesday Afternoon Ignatian Discussions, Autobiography of Ignatius
2. The Practice of Compassionate Communications
3. The Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life (19^th annotation)
4. Ignatian Artists Guild
5. Tuesday Morning Adult Education: Prayer Takes Us Home.

 

 

Please email me if you have questions.

 

God bless you.

 

Fr. John Predmore, S.J.

 

Wednesday Afternoon Ignatian Discussions

4:00 to 5:00 pm EDT/EST

  

Sept. 27^th – Pope Francis, The Synod, and the New Style of Church

 

Three-part series on Ignatius of Loyola

 

Oct. 11^th               Autobiography of Ignatius

Oct. 25^th          Autobiography of Ignatius

Nov. 8^th            Autobiography of Ignatius

 

“A Pilgrim’s Testament: The Memoirs of Ignatius of Loyola” (Jesuit Sources, BC: https://jesuitsources.bc.edu/a-pilgrims-testament-the-memoirs-of-saint-ignatius-of-loyola-new-edition/)

Early Jesuits urged Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), founder of the Society of Jesus, to share the story of how God had worked in his soul. His memoirs, they hoped, would inspire and guide Jesuits and other readers for years to come. Barton Geger, S.J., provides a new introduction and original annotations for this edition of A Pilgrim’s Testament.  Geger includes fascinating notes that accompany this important text, making the autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola more accessible to all. 

St. Ignatius of Loyola (c.1491–1556) was a Spanish nobleman who had a spiritual conversion when he was thirty years old. Ignatius did two things for which he is famous. First, he wrote a little book called The Spiritual Exercises, which is a manual of sorts to guide people through a thirty-day silent retreat.  The second thing that Ignatius did, after he became a Catholic priest, was to create a fraternity of priests and lay brothers called the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits for short.

Readers will find Ignatius struggling with many of the same questions and tensions that Christians face every day: Why should I belong to the church, if I can follow God in my own way? What should I do with my life? How do I fight this temptation? How do I know when God is trying to tell me something? Is it ever acceptable to say “no” to good people who ask for my help?

Zoom Meeting: https://bchigh.zoom.us/j/85948192450?pwd=YWFLSFo1WU1HNlFrK2l5SXNXanNldz09

 

Meeting ID: 859 4819 2450

Passcode: 755679

 

 

The Practice of Compassionate Communications

 

This Wednesday afternoon online series keep us balanced during difficult conversations. We will examine what sort of information to take in, and to notice when conversations experience a power imbalance. We will negotiate and set boundaries, especially when dealing with someone else’s anger. We will review deep-breathing techniques to listen meaningfully and to develop understanding. We will learn how to use right speech to bring to sustain meaningful relationships. 4:00 pm -5:00 pm

  

RSVP for this series, come when you can, drop out as needed. 

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://bchigh.zoom.us/j/88406666714?pwd=dC9nVnJqZHJTb1YwcS80UnBRQSszdz09

Meeting ID: 884 0666 6714

Passcode: 367817

 

 

                        September 6^th

                        September 20^th

                        October 4^th

                        October 18^th

                        November 1^st

                        November 15^th

 

 

 

The Ignatian Exercises Retreat in Daily Life

(or The 19^th Annotation Retreat)

 

 

 

August 28^th, 2023 – May 6^th, 2024

Mondays by Zoom: 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight and Saving Time

 

Resources: The Ignatian Adventure, Kevin O’Brien, S.J.

Retreat Direction: On an individualized basis, often by Zoom

 

Creativity Option: People are free to express their graces and experiences by drawing, sketching, painting, or through any creative technique that deepens their prayer movements.

 

Movements:

 

The first few weeks will help people assess and adjust their prayer practices to sustain a nine-month program. One moves through the Exercises by receiving graces from God.

 

The first movement focuses upon one’s relationship with God, the Creator, and our dependence upon God’s mercy.

 

In the second movement, God introduces us to the life of Jesus of Nazareth, with whom we deepen our relationship, often testing the limits of the friendship. This is the heart of the Exercises and the place where we will spend most time. We will focus upon dialogue and conversation as the central part of our prayer.

 

In the third movement, we follow Jesus to his Cross where we emphasize our compassion and solidarity with him as he endures his Passion. We become like chaplains to him as we listen to what he is experiencing in his heart and emotions.

 

The fourth movement is the time of Resurrection, which is a new beginning of the relationship, and a time to see and love the world the way that God sees and loves the world.

 

 

Ignatian Artist Guild

Faith-Art-Ignatian Spirituality

 

This is a group that will meet at BC High once a month from September through May to deepen one’s prayer and to explore one’s creativity. All levels of creators are welcome. No experience is needed. The goal is to enjoy our faith, to explore prayer techniques, and to have fun with creative endeavors to build community.

 

We will meet once a month on a Saturday morning: 9:00 – 11:00

 

We will run monthly podcasts for those who are remote and want to join our enterprise.

 

 

Sept 16^th :        Photography Walk or Zentangles (weather dependent)

 

Oct 14^th :         Pumpkins -watercolors

 

Nov. 4^th:           Zentangles or Photography Walk

 

Dec. 9^th:           Christmas Card making

 

Jan. 13^th:         Snowflakes; paper cut-outs

 

Feb. 10^th:         Snow- watercolors

 

March 9^th:       Collages

 

Apr. 6^th:           Poems - Easter

 

May 4^th:           Environment

 

 

 

Tuesday morning Theology Book Club:

 

Adult Education: Prayer Takes Us Home: Gerhard Lohfink

 

A lot of people would like to learn to pray all over again. Others are not so sure they ought to pray. They want to know whether prayer will help them and, more than that, whether it will be of any use at all to our world.

This book gives an answer—not in the form of glib instructions, but by introducing the reader to the theology of prayer. It refers again and again to the Bible, especially the Psalms. At the same time, it speaks about personal experiences as well. Gerhard Lohfink writes in inviting, easy-to-read language, answering questions such as:
     “To whom do we pray?”
     “Does it make any sense to ask for things in prayer?”
     “What happens in the Eucharistic Prayer?”
     “What is so special about the Psalms?” 
     “How can I practice Christian meditation?”
This book offers an inviting approach to Christian prayer.

 

Tuesdays 8:00 am - 9:00 am

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://bchigh.zoom.us/j/81168224605?pwd=UlA0VFpKZyttRmxSU1QzSnpvN2kvQT09

Meeting ID: 811 6822 4605

Passcode: 866898