Aphorisms for a Meaningful LIfe

These are twenty nuggets of wisdom to remember as you go throughout your day.

ONE.
Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO.
Choose a friend you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE.
Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR.
When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.

FIVE.
When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye..

SIX.
Believe in love at first sight.

SEVEN.
Never laugh at anyone's dreams. 

People who don't have dreams don't have much.  

EIGHT.
Love deeply and passionately.
You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

NINE.
 In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

TEN..
Don't judge people by their relatives.

ELEVEN.
Talk slowly but think quickly.

TWELVE.
When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

THIRTEEN.
Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FOURTEEN.
Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

FIFTEEN.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

SIXTEEN.
 Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

SEVENTEEN.
Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

EIGHTEEN.
When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

NINETEEN.
Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY.
Spend some time alone.

Support in times of disaster

Fr General Adolfo Nicolás has sent out guidelines to Jesuit communities around the world to help them better support communities in times of disaster.

In a letter to Major Superiors on 12 March, Fr Nicolás provided eight practical guidelines for Jesuits to ‘help us render service that is both more effective and more evangelical’.

The guidelines include:

1. Responsibility for responding rests with Jesuit communities and institutions located in a country struck by disaster.

2. Care for disaster victims must be both practical and spiritual.

3. Jesuits are called to be open to, and indeed, to build up forms of collaboration.

4. Share information.

5. Show and welcome international solidarity.

6. Transparency and accountability.

7. Continuing support after the immediate emergency phase.

8. The importance of reflecting on root causes of the disaster after the immediate crisis is over, to prevent future crises.

He said the response to disasters is guided by the examples of St Ignatius, St Francis Xavier and the first companions, who were committed to serving their neighbours both spiritually and bodily. They are also informed by the experience of Jesuits in more recent disaster situations.

‘These and other disasters have given rise to an impressive movement of compassion and solidarity among many groups, organisations and individuals’, he said.

‘Moved by the love of God that we ourselves have experienced, we are invited to collaborate with others in order to contribute what we can to alleviate the sufferings of people affected by these calamities.’

Source: SJ News

Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.

I made an impromptu trip to Northern Virginia to visit my brother and his family before he moves to California to begin a new job this week. I'm glad my schedule was able to accommodate a visit. He bought a spacious house a few years ago and was able to begin a landscape project around it. I will post photos of his project. He is disappointed that he will not be able to see them bloom as his job takes him away from home.

After my visit, I helped direct a weekend Ignatian retreat for Georgetown University. I was able to work together again with a dear friend. I was pleased to meet the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who travelled to Bon Secours Retreat House near Baltimore to make this retreat. I moved by their stories and their search for a meaningful relationship with God. Every story is unique and moving. I am privileged to do this type of work. I'm very grateful.

Questions for the General #6: Social Justice

Libby Rogerson is a Loreto Sister with a long involvement in Social Justice. Libby is presently the Acting Executive Officer of Mary Ward International, the Loreto Sisters’ overseas aid, development and volunteer organisation. Libby is also a longstanding and much appreciated member of the Board of Jesuit Social Services.

Libby’s question: Fr General, I am on the Board of Jesuit Social Services and we grapple with the obvious contrast between the affluence and rampant consumerism of much of Australian society and the poverty and alienation of our Indigenous Australians and other groups who cannot make their way in this system. What do you see is the role of the Jesuits and the Society's works in promoting a more just society?

So we had a difficult question at the beginning and a difficult one at the end. I have been - naturally, it is part of my job - reflecting about the mission of the Society of Jesus, and therefore the mission in which we are all involved and I have come to the conviction that the challenges we have are the same challenges that humanity has. These are the challenges of poverty, hunger, injustice, unemployment, migration, violence, war, suffering, alienation; and then also the need for things that seem very often lost - joy, hope and meaning.

I think the challenges are the same. If you look at the history of religion, all the great religions started from here. How can we reduce human suffering? Why does humanity have to suffer so much? Why do we have to endure so much injustice? Why do we have to be so violent? Why war? These things are totally without reason, but they make humanity suffer. The religions, all the religions, are borne out of the desire to make humanity a little more joyful, to reduce suffering. Buddhism for example - the whole question of Buddhism is how can we eliminate suffering.               

The challenges that we have are not about increasing the number of people going to Mass on Sunday. This will be a factor, maybe, in our pastoral work, and we have to ask ourselves why people don't come. But the real problem is, do people find joy and meaning and hope in life? How can we contribute to that?

Now, the basic question, therefore, for us is what is our point of entry?  We are not an NGO, we are not a political group, we are not an ambitious group that drives to perform for its own interest. We have to discern how we can help humanity. Ignatius knew it very well. It is about changing the human heart. 

There was a meeting at which Father Robert Drinan was present, in the United States. He was sitting next to Robert McNamara who at the time was the president of the World Bank and in the course of the meal McNamara turned to Father Robert and said, ‘Father Robert, the world now has solutions for many basic problems. We can solve the problem of poverty. There are solutions to the problem of hunger in Africa and so forth. The problem is that we lack political will. We lack political will and a will of cooperation to make it happen. That is where you religious people of faith can help.’

So maybe this is our point of entry. The concerns are the same as all of humanity, but maybe our point of entry as spiritual people, as people with a vocation to proclaim the Gospel and to bring a new way of life to humanity, is to reach the heart of people so that there is an inner change. If we don't change the heart, society will still change, as we have seen with Communism. It moves to the right, then to the left, then to the right, then to the left, but we never reach the point of balance - where everybody has a chance to feel and to be human.

Therefore, the question is how can we enter and how can we cooperate? That's why a meeting like this gives me so much comfort because is a question of cooperation.  The problems of the world are far beyond what any group can manage - hunger, poverty, unemployment, injustice, ecological destruction, all these things are far beyond what a group of Jesuits can do, but maybe together, networking with many others who have the same power, maybe Buddhists, maybe Hindus, maybe Moslems with the same heart, maybe we can cooperate to make our world a little more human, a little more like God wants the world to be.

We don't have programs that are definite solutions to the problems of the world, but we can make our education an education for values and for promoting contribution to our society, and we can make our pastoral work about creating a better society, and we can make our work with JRS about bringing dignity and hope to people, et cetera.

I think this is the time to dream, to think about the big mission, not reduce it to a particular project or a particular country or a particular area of work.  But we are part of a big mission and in that mission maybe we can do something. Maybe it's a little thing, but that's something. Together with the something that is being done by others, like we have here, maybe it can be a sizeable contribution. 

I think this is a challenge and it is an open-ended challenge, because the crimes of humanity are very serious and it's an ongoing quest. It demands a lot of us to give everything we have because these are the basic questions of humanity.

Fr General fielded questions from six people at his address on 25 January. In this edition of Province Express, we feature the second three questions. The other three questions were featured in the last edition. 

Fresh and Green (in the late afternoon sun)

To see photos of a version of shamrocks, click on the link below:

Pics of St. Patrick's Day's Greens

Ten Daffodils

Today's warm temperatures allowed me to open the windows of my bedroom to let in a gentle ocean breeze. It is the first time since November since my windows were open for an extended period. The fresh air smells healthy. The sound of the ocean waves rhythmically lapping onto the rocks sounded like a familiar friend returned. Its presence provided peace.

Ten daffodils opened up to the world today. Dozens of plants dot the gardens and forests openings and will soon announce that they have arrived. Once again, it seemed like familiar friends returned.

I spent the afternoon collecting rocks to form a border for the garden beds. I suspect it will neaten up the beds and protect them from grass trimmers. I will work on another bed's border tomorrow. This is getting to be fun. Sometimes I feel like the outdoors is neater than my room.

Another evening stroll concluded my day. I just could not shut myself in my room when the stars were bright and the air so still. The quiet pond is intriguing me. I thought I saw reflecting eyes on the banks of the pond. I'll have to bring some Leki poles with me in case of a scared animal. In the darkness, I was nearly struck by a retreatant bicyclist who did not wear any reflective lights. I turned off my flashlight so I could be still in the darkness, but I see that I am to put safety first.

The evening sounds are different from the day. I feel as if I am more part of the forest because I need heightened senses to distinguish sights and sounds. It really is cool.

I love my work. I enjoy my life. A retreatant asked me if I like what I do and I thoughtfully responded yes. Even though I hear great stories of suffering, I hear tales of tremendous faith and a seeking of a God who desperately loves us and wants to be found. The sacred in my work increases each day and God is more present to me. I'm grateful. I'm damn grateful.

A Happy St. Patrick's Day

I finally was able to get outside and do some lawn work. I began tidying up the place as I've created woodpiles all over the property. I want to get them all placed in one heap before the warm weather comes to stay.

In the areas I cleared of brush debris, tons of daffodils are coming up. The once thick forest now looks like a meadow glen. Within a day or two, one quarter of the daffodils will blossom. Crocuses are ready to peak through and narcissus and tulips are well on their way. Tomorrow, I will build a rock border around the flower beds.

The St. Patrick Day celebration went well. A cooked breakfast with tasty Irish Soda bread from Br./Fr. Ricky Curry's recipe in his "Jesuit Guide to Bread-Making." The boiled dinner hit the spot as well. Mass was lovely, if I do say so myself, with the festive decorations for the altar and ambo.

For an evening celebration, our guest Irish tertian, who is here on experiment, regaled us with traditional songs and guitar strumming. It is a lovely way to celebrate in the middle of a retreat. We watched a couple corny Irish Leprechaun movies on the Hallmark channel at night. They were   entertaining, but they will never be given an award by the Academy of Motion Pictures. So what! It's all about enjoying frivolity.

Oh, I listened to our recording (Chorus North Shore) of Handel's Messiah. It is great. It is a professional performance. We have to now rehearse for our June performance of Verdi's Requiem.