Archive for the ‘Theology’ Category

The lighting of the first Advent candle marks the beginning of the penitential season, a holy time to focus on repentance and on our need  for Jesus in our World.  Yet, often in the preparations for Christmas, we can lose sight of the reason for the season. Jesuit Father Thomas Madden, retreat director at the Jesuit Spirituality Center in Grand Coteau, offered the following reflection to help us refocus our sights…

Now that Thanksgiving is past, we may turn our full attention and energy to preparing for Christmas.

The merchants already for some weeks now have been trying to capture our attention and get us to start the shopping frenzy that makes the coming month the most important time of the year for them. And there are reminders here and there to “put Christ back in Christmas,” but it is an annual campaign that seems to lose more ground every year to take hold of the popular, maybe even the Christian, imagination.

What does it mean to “put Christ back in Christmas” besides going to church on Dec. 25? How might Jesus himself answer that question about how to celebrate his birthday?

I asked myself the question and heard the answer in something that he himself once said.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Ignatian Examen is a spiritual treasure that has helped countless people become more aware of God’s presence in their daily lives. The Missouri Province of Jesuits has produced podcast reflections for you to prepare during the season of Advent for Christ’s birth.

Longing for the Lord: an Advent Examen links the Ignatian Examen with another treasure of Church tradition, the O Antiphons from the Liturgy of the Hours for the week before Christmas. The O Antiphons give us a way of looking at Jesus and finding the events in his life that speak to us. On these pages you will find some simple aids to prayer that will help you sustain a mood of eager expectation as the Advent season builds towards Christmas.

Ready to start? Listen to Jesuit Father Joseph Tetlow as he explains in a simple fashion how to do the basic Examen and then offers a deeper explanation of how to keep using the Examen and apply it to Advent.

Beginning on Dec. 17, there will be special prayers each day, based on the O Antiphons. Links will appear at the top of this page that you can use individually or as a family to join the Church worldwide in its Advent prayer.

Please visit the Missouri Province of Jesuits website for the full podcast reflections and transcripts.

How do Jesuits approach Islam and Muslims in the various contexts of countries and works? How do the Spiritual Exercises guide our perception and action within the Christian-Muslim relationship and what can we learn in listening to Muslim spiritual experience?

These were some of the main questions asked in the international meeting “Jesuits Among Muslims” which took place in Rome, hosted by the Gregorian University. 37 Jesuits from five continents participated in the meeting, highlighted by the visits of Father General and Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council of Interreligious Dialogue.

American Jesuit, Father Patrick Ryan’s paper “Looking at Islam with Ignatian eyes – Reading Ignatius with Muslim Eyes” opened this circle of reflection on Jesuit foundations, followed by a fruitful discussion about “Ignatian Discernment: Relevant for our Modus Procedendi with Muslims Today.”

“Certain images and themes in the spirituality of Ignatius have a certain parallelism with themes in Islamic spirituality, without suggesting any derivation of either from the other; the similarity between the Quranic motif of the fall of Iblis (the Devil) for refusing to bow before Adam and the medieval Christian sense that the sin of the angels was their rejection of the planned Incarnation as the background for Spiritual Exercises # 50 (the sin of the angels); the centrality of election in the spirituality of Ignatius and the similarities with and differences from Islamic istikhara ; imagery from military life in both Muslim mystical jihad al-akbar (“the greater jihad”) and the Crusade/Reconquista imagery in some of Ignatius’ most famous writings,” commented Fr. Ryan.

The meeting aimed on the one hand to a reflection on the shared spiritual-theological basis underlying and inspiring all the very different apostolic engagement of Jesuits which reaches from the courageous pastoral presence in difficult situations as in Algeria or Pakistan to the scholarly reflection on the Arab-Christian heritage in Beirut (Universite Saint Joseph) and Rome (Jesuits at the Pontifical Institute of Oriental Studies, others at the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies).

In preparation for the new English translation of the Mass, Jesuit Father John Baldovin, a professor of historical and liturgical theology at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, presents this in-depth study of the New Roman Missal. Hopefully it will help your prepare for the changes you will be experiencing this weekend in the pews.

The brief overview is about the changes in the translation along with some ideas for faithful ministers of the church to engage this new translation responsibly and use it as well as possible.

The New Roman Missal: Challenge & Opportunity from Jesuit Conference USA on Vimeo.

The Roman Missal is the book containing the prescribed prayers, chants and instructions for the celebration of Mass in the Roman Catholic Church. Published first in Latin under the title Missale Romanum, the text is then translated and is published in modern languages for use in local churches throughout the world. In this video, Fr. Baldovin, gives a background on the history of the translations, their implications and how we got to the latest translation of the Missale Romanum to be implemented in United States parishes this weekend.

Jesuit Father Terrence Devino will mark 25 years as a priest this coming spring, remembers the strong stirrings he felt for the priesthood back when he was a college student — feelings he wasn’t sure anyone else could understand.

“I was scared to death to talk about it,” he recalled.

Fr. Devino doesn’t want anyone at Boston College who may be mulling a vocation to the priesthood or religious life to feel scared or alone. To that end, he works diligently directing Manresa House, BC’s center for vocational discernment, where an abundance of warmth, hospitality and spiritual guidance awaits for anyone seeking to explore a religious calling.

Established by University President William P. Leahy, SJ, in 2007, Manresa House takes its name from the town in Spain where St. Ignatius of Loyola prayed for more than 11 months, leading to the ultimate creation of the Spiritual Exercises. The house originally was under the direction of then-Campus Minister Jesuit Father Jack Butler, who now serves as BC’s vice president for University Mission and Ministry.

“College students spend lots of time searching. This house offers a place where students are encouraged to look at how to serve the Church,” Devino said. Communication and economics major Christopher Knoth ’14 is grateful for Manresa House and its director.

“Fr. Devino is a man who is more than just someone to talk to because he talks back. I have never met a man who is as dedicated. He selflessly gives all his energy to anyone who enters the doors of the Manresa House,” said Knoth, an Ignatian Society member and graduate of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland.

“He has given me so much direction in my life and I am beyond blessed to call him a friend. He has gotten me through my hardest times at school and I have celebrated some of my highest of highs with him as well. My college experience would not be nearly as personal and influential on my life if it were not for Fr. Devino.”