March 3, 2020
Carissimi:

Consider this Lent what goes on in your thoughts and ruminations. As Fr. Nouwen has written:

When we look critically at the many thoughts and feelings that fill our minds and hearts, we may come to the horrifying discovery that we often choose death instead of life, curse instead of blessing.

Jealousy, envy, anger, resentment, greed, lust, vindictiveness, revenge, hatred ... they all float in that large reservoir of our inner life. Often, we take them for granted and allow them to be there and do their destructive work.
 
But God asks us to choose life and to choose blessing. This choice requires an immense inner discipline. It requires a great attentiveness to the death-forces within us and a great commitment to let the forces of life come to dominate our thoughts and feelings.

We cannot always do this alone; often we need a caring guide or a loving community to support us. But it is important that we both make the inner effort and seek the support we need from others to help us choose life.
Reflections
Pope Francis: Maybe Give Up Getting Mad Online for Lent
By Tyler Huckabee
February 26, 2020

It’s Ash Wednesday, and many Christians are observing the beginning of Lent by giving up something for the season (we’ve got a few suggestions  here ). Over at the Vatican, Pope Francis has his own suggestion for what Christians should consider giving up for the next 40 days:  online trolling .

“We live in an atmosphere polluted by too much verbal violence, too many offensive and harmful words, which are amplified by the internet,” Pope Francis said. “Today, people insult each other as if they were saying ‘Good Day.’”

Lent, the Pope suggested, “is a time to give up useless words, gossip, rumors, tittle-tattle and speak to God on a first-name basis.”

Francis is the first Pope to have a  Twitter account , so he knows what he’s talking about.
Information You Need to Know
Dear Jesuits residing within the MAR Province,

Due to the Coronavirus situation becoming a global concern, many questions have been raised about it. We want to share some information on it in order to answer some of the questions that any of you may have. Please don't hesitate to contact me or our Health Care Coordinator about the Coronavirus, (COVID-19). 

How COVID-19 spreads

Person-to-person spread
The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.
Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

Spread from contact with infected surfaces or objects
It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. READ MORE
Lenten Season & Holy Week at St. Ignatius
We invite you to join us each Wednesday in March for Lent: Wednesday Evenings of Reflection from 6 to 7:30 PM. The first one is tomorrow!

We will celebrate Mass at 6 PM in the Chapel of St. Peter Claver, then share a simple supper in Ignatian Hall with a brief reflection and discussion to provide spiritual nurture in Ignatian tradition. Mass will be presided over by Fr. Jim and Deacon Andrew.

The evening is co-sponsored by The Justice and Peace and The Hospitality Committees.

We have created a Lenten Portal that will take you to each Wednesday evening’s focus, readings, and questions, which will be part of that week's discussion. You will also be able to RSVP for each session, which will allow us to plan for the necessary printed materials and the food for our simple suppers we will share together. Our hope is that this portal will allow you to prepare yourself before you arrive. If you don't get to the readings...come anyway! To enter the Wednesday Evenings of Ref lection portal, click here .
The following are various Lenten Events and Holy Week Masses happening in and around St. Ignatius Parish.

Wednesday, March 4 –  Lenten Evening of Reflection
Wednesday, March 11 –  Lenten Evening of Reflection
Wednesday, March 18 –  Lenten Evening of Reflection
Wednesday, March 25 –  Lenten Evening of Reflection
Monday, March 30 –   Lenten Penance & Reconciliation
Saturday, April 4 – Palm Sunday
Sunday, April 5 – Palm Sunday
Wednesday, April 8 – Tenebrae Service
Thursday, April 9 – Holy Thursday
Friday, April 10 – Good Friday
Saturday, April 11 – Solemn Easter Vigil Service
Sunday, April 12 – Easter Mass Schedule
Upcoming Events


Saturday, March 7 (9 AM)
Saturday Retreat in Ignatian Spirituality
For complete information, click here .
Tuesday, March 10 (6:30 PM)
St. Ignatius Reading & Discussion Group
For complete information, click here .


Thursday, March 19 (6:30 PM)
Interfaith Committee Meeting
For complete information, click here .
Sunday, March 22 (9:45 AM)
Respect for Life
For complete information, click here .
Lenten Growth Opportunity
Father Tim Brown, SJ, Sue Cesare and
Father Steve Spahn, SJ cordially invite you to attend 

“THE LENTEN BEATITUDES” 
WEEKEND RETREAT 


  • Friday, March 27 – Sunday, March 29,
  • Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth in Wernersville, PA 
  • Web info: www.jesuitcenter.org


The Weekend Retreat, facilitated by Father Brown and Father Spahn, will include meditational talks, silent time for Prayer & Reflection; Daily Mass, Evening Social, and an optional opportunity for Spiritual Direction. 

For details and registration please contact 
Anita Podles: APodles@loyola.edu  
Worship with Offerings and Liturgy
POOR BOX 
This weekend's Poor Box support goes to support the KIPP (Knowledge Is
Power Program).
MASS MUSIC   
Attached is the listing for the music selections at next Sunday's 10:30 Mass.
In the Media
A crucifix featuring Jesus with African features is seen at Assumption Catholic Church in Washington Oct. 20. (CNS photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann, Catholic Standard)

Black History Month: Confronting the Mixed History of the Jesuits

by Ken Homan, SJ

*Warning: This piece contains significant racist language*

In 1967, Superior General Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ,  wrote a letter  to the American Jesuits calling them to task for their collective inaction on racism. Arrupe stated, “The racial crisis involves, before all else, a direct challenge to our sincerity in professing a Christian concept of man.” Arrupe’s subsequent critique of the American Jesuits was sharp. Arrupe observed that Jesuits failed to work in, support, or worship with Black communities. He identified some causes of this inadequacy of Jesuits to truly live their faith: acceptance of stereotypes, insulation from poverty and the poor, and conforming to the wider white community’s discrimination against People of Color.

As we celebrate Black History Month, I am led to reflect on difficult questions about Jesuits and race. American Jesuit history reflects much of that of American Catholicism as a whole. I believe examining this history provides critical self-reflection for Jesuits and Jesuit collaborators, as well as address how we might begin reconciling the grievous sin of racism as a broader society. READ MORE
Martha Hennessy in the library adjacent to the Maryhouse chapel, part of the Catholic Worker houses in New York City (Mercedes Gallese)

Catholic Worker Confronts New Era
As TV documentary spotlights Dorothy Day's legacy, today's Catholic Worker houses face new challenges

by Peter Feuerherd, Don Clemmer, Sarah Salvadore
March 2, 2020

NEW YORK, SOUTH BEND, IND. AND PHILADELPHIA — Martha Hennessy sits in a library adjacent to the Maryhouse chapel in New York, where the wake for her grandmother, Dorothy Day, was held in 1980.

Photos of Day and other Catholic social justice activist heroes, such as St. Óscar Romero, line the walls. A few blocks away at Joseph House, also a Catholic Worker facility, a soup lunch is being prepared for guests — much like it has been since Day, with her friend Peter Maurin, began the Catholic Worker movement in 1933.

Like her famous grandmother, Hennessy describes fame as a danger. A cult of celebrity will do the movement no good, she says. But the movement is awaiting a renewed burst of interest, as a  PBS documentary  on Day is planned to air March 6.

Hennessy is cooperative with the documentary project, which she describes as an important historical statement. On this January day, she has just returned here from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she had participated in a panel on Day's legacy the night before. READ MORE