Symposium on Ignatian Spirituality - Sr Leena Dorothy rjm

Symposium on Ignatian Spirituality

Under the able leadership of Fr Shekhar Manickam, the coordinator of Province Commission for Ignatian Spirituality, a Symposium on Ignatian Spirituality was organized at Jeevan Darshan Kendra, Vadodara from 1 to 3 February. The important feature of the Symposium was to share with the members of the Ignatian Family various modules of the Ignatian retreat. There were thirty participants, including nine Sisters from four different Congregations that follow Ignatian Spirituality.

The resource persons were: Frs Lancy D’Cruz (Eco-Spirituality), M.I. Raj (Word of God vis-à-vis human ego), Joseph Mattam (Traditional Ignatian Retreat based on personal experience), Victor Davamani (Ignatian Retreat for laity blended with charismatic dynamics), Ornellas Coutinho (The 19th Annotation – A Retreat in Daily Life) and Lawrence Dharmaraj (Dynamics of spiritual direction). They made very creative, insightful and richly experience-based presentations which were followed by clarifications and interactions.

A substantial amount of time was spent on sharing personal experience of the participants – either as retreatants or as retreat preachers. The common thread of all the sharings was the importance of personal prayer, gift of the Spirit, initiative of God and an interconnected ambience in directing a retreat.

One could confidently say that this symposium has been able to achieve its purpose: to strengthen the bond among the family members and to deepen our common Ignatian heritage. It was an encouraging, empowering and enriching experience as a result of which some of the participants, especially the sisters, felt called deep within to preach retreats in future. We wish them all the best and God’s blessings (Sr Leena Dorothy rjm).

Fr. John and Tommy

Fr. John and Tommy

Fr. John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago, writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders.

It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on that day. I was unprepared and my emotions flipped.

I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of Faith course.

Just look up!

THE BUZZARD

If you put a buzzard in a cage that is 6 feet by 8 feet

and is entirely open at the top,

The bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner.

The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground

with a run of 10 to 12 feet.

Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly,

But will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

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THE BAT 

The ordinary bat that flies around at night,

a remarkably nimble creature in the air,

Cannot take off from a level place.

If it is placed on the floor or flat ground,

all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and,

No doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation

from which it can throw itself into the air.

Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

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THE BUMBLEBEE

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies,

unless it is taken out.

It never sees the means of escape at the top,

but persists in trying to find some way out

Through the sides near the bottom.

It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

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PEOPLE

In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee.

We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up!

That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem...

Just look up!

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Sorrow looks back,

Worry looks around,

But faith looks up!

Live simply,

Love generously,

Care deeply,

Speak kindly, and

Trust in our Creator,

Who loves us.

Share this with a friend... I just d
c/o Arokiadas sj

Charitable strides

Charitable strides

      More than 6,500 Amdavadis participated in the 11th Annual Motif Charity Walk; helped to raise Rs 44 lakh

Amdavadis walked and jogged their way to good health on a chilly Sunday and in the process helped raise Rs 44 lakh. More than 6,500 people, from the age of 6 to 60, participated in the 11th edition of annual Motif Charity Walk. 

    The 5-km walk and 10-km run was flagged off from LD College of Engineering and passed by B K School of Management, Vijay Crossroads, Helmet Circle, Blind People’s Association and PRL before coming back to LD. 

    Chartered Accountant Pushpendra Sisodia said, “Thirty of us have come to participate in this event. This is a great initiative and we want to take this opportunity to set an example for youngsters. Bringing about social awareness is very important.” 

    The beneficiaries of the fund raised this year would be Jivdaya Charitable Trust which helps injured stray animals and birds, Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust that supports victims of social injustice in rural areas, Prabhat Education Foundation that nurtures children with special needs and learning difficulties and Special Olympics Gujarat Charitable Trust which empowers people with intellectual disabilities. 

     CEO of Motif Inc Kaushal Mehta said, “This year, we had 60 corporates supporting us, which is a record. It is indeed heartwarming to see this kind of awareness among the people.”

     The director of the Unteshwari Sammilitalayam - a centre for and with the disabled persons, Fr Girish expressed his joy at Motif Charity walk “Indeed, I, in a small way, am part of this process of making our fellow brethren to commit for a noble cause. What a joy to walk with all”! 

Peace Summit 2009 - Educating the Heart and Mind

World Youth Days Inspired Jesuit Scholastic to Join the Society

FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US

When one reads Helen Prejean's, Dead Man Walking, what is often lost in the sheer power of the story is what she recounts at the very end of the book and intends precisely as the real ending to the story.

The book ends with the story of Lloyd LeBlanc, the father of the boy who was murdered, and his struggle to forgive his son's killer.

After the execution of the man who killed his son, Prejean describes how she would occasionally meet Lloyd LeBlanc at a chapel which holds perpetual adoration. Kneeling with him, in the middle of the night in a silent chapel, they would say the rosary together. Prejean describes how, at a point, he shared with her his struggle to forgive his son's killer.

When he arrived with the sheriff's deputies in the deserted field to identify his son's body, he had knelt down beside the body and prayed the Our Father. When he came to the words: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," he had not stopped praying or made any mental reservations. Instead he added the words: "Whoever did this, I forgive them."

There, beside his dead son's mutilated body, he had forgiven the man who had done that to his son.

FASTING - "Give it up"

It might surprise some Catholics to learn that fasting during Lent is not meant to be undertaken solely for one’s spiritual well-being. While self-abnegation can serve as a vivid reminder that our physical bodies should not rule our lives, the early church fathers thought that fasting needed to be connected to something else: almsgiving. St. John Chrysostom wrote that fasting without almsgiving was hardly praiseworthy; in fact, it hardly counted as fasting at all. Ironically, he compared it to gluttony and drunkenness, since it smacked of selfishness. For St. Augustine, fasting was avaricious unless one gave away what one saved. The practice, then, needs to be informed by charity, not simply a desire to attain spiritual perfection.

Pope Benedict XVI is to step down

Pope Benedict XVI is to step down

Pope Benedict XVI is to step down, the Vatican announces

Pope Benedict XVI has announced he will resign in two weeks. Here is his full statement:

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013