I thought this selection from "Beauty: The Invisible Embrace" by John O’Donohue might be helpful for navigating the ugly period we are enduring together:
Somewhere in every heart there is a discerning voice. This voice distrusts the status quo. It sounds out the falsity of things and encourages dissent from the image things tend to assume…
It advises distance and opens up a new perspective through which the concealed meaning of a situation might emerge. The inner voice makes any complicity uneasy. Its intention is to keep the heart clean and clear. This voice is an inner whisper not obvious or known to others outside…
Yet so much depends on that small voice. The truth of its whisper marks the line between honor and egoism, kindness and chaos. In extreme situations, which have been emptied of all shelter and tenderness, that small voice whispers from somewhere beyond and encourages the heart to hold out for dignity, respect, beauty, and love.
That whisper brings forgotten nobility into an area where violence has traduced everything. This faithful voice can illuminate the dark lands of despair. It becomes both the sign and presence of a transcendence that no force or horror can extinguish.
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Nominating Is Available Until Sunday Evening
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PASTORAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS
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It's time to nominate candidates to serve in St. Ignatius' elected positions. You may nominate yourself or someone else. A nominee must be a registered parishioner, age 18 or older, who has been Confirmed in the Catholic Church. Candidates must attend an orientation session in November (date to be determined.) To nominate yourself or someone else, send your candidate suggestion and contact information
here
. All nominations must be submitted by 11:59 PM on Sunday, November 17.
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The Murders of the El Salvadoran Jesuits
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30 Years Ago This Saturday...
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The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador: Lessons to the Faithful
Imagine this scene:
It is the middle of the night at the Jesuit residence on a university campus. It’s dark outside, and all is quiet. The university is located in the heart of an urban metropolis which is fast asleep at this hour. Likewise, the six resident Jesuits are peacefully at rest.
The community, like many university communities of Jesuits, counts among them the rector and vice-rector of the university, a couple of professors, and others who work in social programs at the university. In a small house next door sleeps a university employee and her visiting daughter.
It’s a familiar scene, recognizable to any alumnus of a Jesuit university.
Suddenly, the sound of fists pounding on the doors of the residence pierces the midnight silence. Shouting ensues, and five of the six Jesuits emerge from the back door, groggy-eyed and clothed in nightgowns. Armed men command them to lay face down in the grass.
An order is given. Each one is shot in the back of the head.
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Faith in Action Event
On Sunday, October 27, PREP students and adult volunteers participated in a Faith in Action event, where they assembled bags for the men, women, and children who receive services from Our Daily Bread. Students brought in toiletries, healthy snacks, and candy, and they decorated bags and created cards to place inside the bags. Students made over 100 bags!
Faith in Action events occur throughout the school year and provide valuable resources to people associated with a variety of non-profit organizations in Baltimore City. Students learn about the importance of serving others, with the hope being that they will develop servants’ hearts and strive for greater equity in our society.
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In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Pope Francis, Archbishop William E. Lori encourages Catholics from throughout the archdiocese to contribute to a special “spiritual bouquet” that the archbishop will present to the pope in December.
The spiritual bouquet will take the form of a book produced by the Archdiocese of Baltimore that will include prayers and brief reflections from Catholics about the ways they, their parishes, schools and organizations live out the pope’s priorities in the areas of evangelization, welcoming the stranger, building a culture of inclusion, promoting the sanctity of all life, protecting creation, sharing God’s mercy and forming holy priests.
“I look forward to bringing with me the prayers and support of God’s people of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as the pope celebrates this important milestone in his priestly ministry,” Archbishop Lori said.
The pope will celebrate his anniversary Dec. 13.
Click
HERE
for more information and to make your submission to the spiritual bouquet.
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Worship with Offerings, Liturgy and Prayers for Others
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POOR BOX
This weekend's Poor Box support goes to help
Vulnerable Families in Crisis
.
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MASS MUSIC
Attached is the listing for the music selections at next Sunday's 10:30 Mass.
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THE DAILY EXAMEN
Spiritual and Faith opportunities to deepen
your relationship with Christ.
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Get Ready for Holiday Kindness!
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When doing your Thanksgiving grocery shopping, please remember those who are less fortunate so they can be thankful too. Once again this year at Thanksgiving time we will be collecting groceries for the neighbors of Viva House, the Catholic Worker community in southwest Baltimore. Each month Viva House distributes bags of groceries to those in need. Three times each year the community of St. Ignatius supports them in this good work. When you come to Mass on November 23 or 24, please bring to Ignatian Hall a doubled brown paper bag (or, better still, a reusable bag) filled with:
- 1 box Cheerios
- 1 peanut butter
- 1 jelly/jam
- 1 box spaghetti
- 1 spaghetti sauce
- 1 can of vegetable (collards is a favorite)
- 3 cans meat (chicken, salmon, chili, or such)
- 1 can soup
- 2 cans beans (without pork)
- 2 boxes of macaroni and cheese
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Tuesday, November 12 - 6:30 PM
St. Ignatius Reading & Discussion Group
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Thursday, November 14 - 6:30 PM
Justice & Peace Committee
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Tuesday, November 19 - 6:45 PM
Women of the New Testament
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Wednesday, November 20 - 5:30 PM
Prayer Walk for Peace in the CIty
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Thursday, November 21 - 7:30 PM
Hesburgh Lecture
For complete information see box below.
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Sunday, November 24 - 9:30 AM - 1 PM
International Food, Crafts & Art Fair
For complete information see box below.
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Sunday, November 24 - 9:45 AM
Respect for Life
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Put These Events on Your Calendar
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Thursday, November 21, 7:30 PM
St. Ignatius Church
740 N. Calvert Street Baltimore, MD 21202 410-727-3848
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Deaths from drug poisonings now top 72,000 per year, more than twice the number of deaths from traffic accidents, twice the number of deaths from firearms, and four times the number of drug deaths in 1999. For the first time in over a century, life expectancy for many groups is now declining. Much of the increase in drug poison has been due to abuse of prescription opioids and heroin. This talk outlines the origins of the crisis, its impact on the lives of so many, why some areas seem to be hit harder than others, and discusses some of the efforts to combat the crisis.
William Evans is a Keough-Hesburgh Professor in the Department of Economics. His research covers a broad range of areas including health economics and the economics of education. His papers have appeared in the top journals in the profession, and his research is frequently featured in the popular press. In 2012, with colleague James Sullivan, Professor Evans co-founded the Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) which is a research center that has partnered with Catholic Charities USA to identify effective and replicable solutions to reduce poverty in America. Professor Evans and his wife Eileen have three boys: Conor (ND ’12), Brendan (ND ’15), and Patrick.
✦ A reception will follow the lecture
✦ There is no cost for this event
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St. Ignatius Catholic Community in Baltimore is blessed to encounter a rich diversity of cuisines, crafts, and artwork through its parishioners and friends. Join Us! for the 2nd annual International Food, Crafts, and Art Fair to enjoy food from around the world, support local immigrants and refugees selling their crafts, and view artwork on display that will bring an international flair to Ignatian Hall. We welcome all to support, celebrate, and share in the unique beauty of the many cultures in our midst.
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Celebrating Advent with the Prophet Isaiah – A Quiet Retreat in the Ignatian Tradition.
December 6-8, Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth, Wernersville, PA
Join colleagues, alumni, friends and fellow parishioners for this quiet weekend of prayer and reflection in the Ignatian tradition. Our time will be spent with a series of guided reflections, periods of personal prayer, Mass and evening socializing – at a truly historic and beautiful Jesuit shrine. There will be opportunity for individual spiritual direction as well. As a special treat -- we’ll also participate in the Jesuit Center’s Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols. The retreat will be facilitated by Fr. Tim Brown, Sue Cesare and Fr. Steve Spahn. We’ll begin with dinner on Friday Dec. 6 and conclude with lunch on Sunday December 8. Cost is $180. For questions and reservations, contact
apodles@loyola.edu
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After 30 Years, Theologian Says Martyrs' Work Continues in
El Salvador
Jesuit Fr. Jon Sobrino remembers his mentor, Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría, and the country's problems even after the war
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A memorial to the slain Jesuits and to Elba Ramos, the Jesuits' housekeeper, and her teenage daughter, Celina, on the University of Central America in El Salvador campus (NCR photo/Chris Herlinger
SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR — Jesuit theologian Fr. Jon Sobrino was in Thailand when he got word of the murders.
Sobrino received the call about midnight. A friend, Julian Filochowski, now the chairman of the
Archbishop Romero Trust
, was on the phone from London. "Jon, are you sitting?" he said.
Filochowski recited the names of Sobrino's slain colleagues at the University of Central America in El Salvador, commonly known by the acronym UCA: Jesuit Frs. Ignacio Ellacuría; Ignacio Martín-Baró; Segundo Montes; Juan Ramón Moreno; Joaquín López y López; and Amando López.
He also recited the names of Elba Ramos, the Jesuits' housekeeper, and her teenage daughter, Celina.
Living in El Salvador in 1989, "it came to my mind that they [the clerics] could be killed," the Spanish-born Sobrino said in an interview with NCR earlier this year. "It was not an active expectation, but it also did not come as a total surprise."
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Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Jesus
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By
Thomas Gumbleton
In one of his letters, St. Paul tells the people to whom he's writing that Jesus is the visible image of the
invisible God. As we listen to the Scriptures today, I think we'll find out how that works out in a very beautiful way, and also then maybe helps us be more committed to doing what, a few weeks ago in the Letter to the Hebrews that we were reading, the author said: "Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus." We want to know God, don't we? We want to come to have some awareness of God in our lives. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Here's how it works in today's lessons.
In our first lesson from the Book of Wisdom, the author has written very carefully about God and gives us a description of a God who is all powerful, a God who is totally other from ourselves. The author tells us about God, "You are able to show your power at any moment for the entire world. The whole universe before you is like a grain that tips the scales, or like a drop of morning dew on the ground. But because you are almighty, you are merciful to all." What the author is telling us is that God is the God who has the power, which God exercised to bring into being the whole universe.
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READER NOTIFICATION:
"Parish: the thought" is a publication of St. Ignatius Catholic Community, Baltimore. Each edition contains articles and news feeds that are included for awareness of current topics in our world today. The positions expressed by outside authors and news feeds are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of St. Ignatius Catholic Community or its staff.
- This e-zine was compiled by John C. Odean
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