My philosophy for a happy life | Sam Berns | TEDxMidAtlantic

Consciousness -- the final frontier | Dada Gunamuktananda | TEDxNoosa 2014

Jubilees in Gujarat jesuit Province

On 8th, Frs. J. Amalraj, Roy Miranda, Vijay Shidonkar and Bro. Malcolm complete fifty Golden years in the Society of Jesus. We join them in thanking God for giving them fifty years of perseverance and pray that they may keep on answering the call of God in their day-to-day life.

On 20th, Archbishop S. Fernandes, Frs. Mattam, Ovelil and Alex Thannipara complete 60 years in the Society. We join them in thanking and praising God on this occasion and pray for them.

O ROOT OF JESSE December 19-3rd O Antiphon:

3rd O Antiphon:

O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication:

O ROOT OF JESSE
December 19

Symbols: Plant with Flower

Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

The flower which springs up from the root of Jesse is another figure of Christ. Isaiah prophesied that the Savior would be born from the root of Jesse, that He would sit upon the throne of David, and in Christ this prophecy is fulfilled.

Recommended Readings: Isaias 11:1-12

COME
To deliver us, and tarry not.

O Root of Jesse
"Come to deliver us and tarry not." The world cries out for Christ its King, who shall cast out the prince of this world (John 12:31). The prince of this world established his power over men as a result of original sin. Even after we had been delivered from the servitude of Satan through the death of Christ on the cross, the prince of this world attempts to exercise his power over us. "The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8). In these trying times, when faith in Christ and in God has largely disappeared, when the propaganda of a pagan culture is broadcast everywhere, and the forces of evil and falsehood rise up to cast God from His throne, who does not feel the power of the devil? Does it not appear that we are approaching that time when Satan will be released from the depths of hell to work his wonders and mislead, if possible, even the elect? (Apoc. 20:2; Matt. 24:24.)

"Come, tarry not." Observe how thoroughly the world of today has submitted to the reign of Satan. Mankind has abandoned the search for what is good and holy. Loyalty, justice, freedom, love, and mutual trust are no longer highly regarded. Establish, O God, Thy kingdom among us, a kingdom established upon truth, justice, and peace. "Come, tarry not." "Thy kingdom come."

O Adonai [ O Almighty God]

Today is the second of the O Antiphons, O Adonai (O Almighty God). As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground . . . I am who am." "Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption.

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2nd O Antiphon:
O Lord and Ruler of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush, and gave him the law on Sinai:

O Lord and Ruler
Thou art He "who didst appear to Moses in the burning bush." "I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the rigor of them that are over the works. And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land that floweth with milk and honey" (Exod. 3:7 f.). Thus spoke the Lord to Moses from the bush which burned but was not consumed, which is a figure of God's condescension to assume the weakness of human nature. The human nature of Christ is united to the burning divine nature, and yet it is not consumed.

As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. . . . I am who am" (Exod. 3:5, 14).

O Adonai, almighty God! Mighty in the weakness of a child, and in the helplessness of the Crucified! Thou, almighty God, mighty in the wonders that Thou hast worked! Mighty in guiding, sustaining, and developing Thy Church! "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

"Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption. "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you" (Matt. 25-34).

Long retreat - to be continued

Indian Muslim Girl left parents for Christ...Testimony

Changing Tracks: Mario Joseph, Muslim Imam convert

Freedom complete

Disciple: Who can be called a true Sanyasi?

Master: A man who is completely free.

D: It is said that vows make a man free!

M: No, N. He becomes a slave of the vows,
He will be constantly worried about keeping the vows.
He has a compulsion to keep the vows.
-devasia

Ignatius of Loyola - a reflection 31st July 2014

HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF ST. IGNATIUS 

By Cecil  Azzopardi, S.J.

     

My Dear Brothers and Friends,

I would like to share with you four dimensions from the life of St. Ignatius that forcefully come across to me in my exposure to this man, namely, his relationship to God / to Christ / to the Church / and to the World.

!gnatius is a man taken up with God,, and this comes across more forcefully because it was not always so. He was 31 years old when because of the experience he had at the river Cardoner, his whole life is projected in a dynamic movement towards God. And from then on there was no looking back for Ignatius.

There was only one reality he searched for with every fiber of his being, GOD. Only God, solely God, God alone are phrases we keep constantly bumping into in his writings. This

why Ignatian Spirituality can be summarized in just two words, ‘SEEK GOD’ — Seek God everywhere, seek God anytime, seek God anywhere, seek God in all things. And just living out these two words is a whole way of life.

But for Ignatius God is not only to be sought. God can also be found.

The whole of the Spiritual Exercises is founded on this

be tangibly experienced,

“Let God deal directly and personally with the retreatant,” Ignatius tells the Director of the Spiritual Exercises.

This means we are not chasing a dream, or running after a cloud. God can be met and tangibly experienced.

Ignatius was touched by this God.

— He shed tears that really spoilt his eyes because of his encounter with God.

— We find in his personal diary that his hair stood on end when his whole being was flooded by.God.

Hence Ignatius would dare say in his autobiography that towards the end of his life,

“each time and hour that he wanted to find God he found him.”

My Dear Brothers, I find this statement frightening in its boldness — and yet inspiring in its honesty.

It is in Christ that Ignatius finds his way to God. From early in his conversion lgnatius comes to discover that Jesus can take a hold of his heart as intensely and passionately as the lady of his dreams.

And so initially in remorse, but later out of gratitude and wonder Ignatius turns to ‘Christ our Lord hanging on the Cross and asks of himself:

 

“What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought Ito do for Christ?”

These questions well up from a heart moved with profound gratitude and love, for when eh was on the brink of despair because of guilt, he finds himself embraced in God’s mercy. This experience of God’s mercy is the foundation grace that links lgnatius and every Jesuit to Jesus.

Later on his pilgrimage through life we find a prayer of longing arising from the depth of his soul, an anguishing 

Prayer, “Mary place me with your Son Jesus)’ ignatius knew that Jesus, and Jesus poor, had become the most precious love of his life. This he had no doubt. But has the Lord accepted him in the intimate circle of his friends? — “like the apostles” aslgnath.is is often fond of repeating.

And so he asks Mary to intercede for him with her Son.

I would like to place here the deep-felt request we find Ignatius making later on in his spiritual journal, when he pleads.

“Eternal Father confirm me, Eternal Son confirm me,

Eternal Spirit confirm me, My only God confirm me.”

16 years after Pamplona Ignatius is confirmed, when at La Storta on his way to Rome, God the Father places Ignatius with His Son carrying the Cross.

                                                                       

                         Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me

There the Father binds lgnatius to Jesus by making him the servant of the same mission He entrusted to the Son.

— It is as servant of this mission that Ignatius is placed with Christ.

— It is as servant of this mission that Christ places him in the heart of the Trinity.

In his personal diary Ignatius will note down:

“I felt Jesus presenting me, or placing me, or simply being the means of union in the midst of the most Holy Trinity.” (February 27th, 1544)

This is why Ignatian mysticism is a mysticism of service. Union through service — Service out of loving union. Every human person is on a journey into the heart of the Divine. But for us Jesuits it is only as servants of Christ’s mission that we can find ourselves placed with Christ In the heart of God.

Ignatius’ relationship with the Church is intriguing and challenging.

He launches out as a free-lancer in the Church.

Touched by God he wants to converse with anyone willing

To listen about what is burning in his heart. However while doing this, he gradually finds himself coming in confrontation with the authorities of the Church.

While Ignatius nourishes his conversion experience in the arms of the Church, his first public encounters with Church authority seem to be one of opposition. For him at this stage, the Church seems to keep coming in the way of what he wants to do.

And yet, it is precisely in facing this authority in freedom that he finds the way where God is mysteriously leading him to.

In his Autobiography we do find, that whenever he feels that the Church closes the door to what he thinks he should be doing, Ignatius asks himself, “What must I do now?”

In this question we discover that Ignatius does respect the authorities of the Church. He takes seriously what is asked of him. And at the same time the very question reveals that he is not stifled. He keeps searching. lgnatius keeps that freedom of spirit not by fighting back, not by confronting, but by constantly searching.

Ignatius by integrating in a very delicate balance, obedience to the authorities of the Church without surrendering his liberty of spirit and his availability for the service of God’s people, he comes to discover his apostolic vocation within the Church. He is  more a free-lancer in the Church but an apostle sent by Christ through the Church.

Placed with Christ as servant of the mission entrusted by the Father, Ignatius finds himself sent through the Church into the whole world.

The Spiritual Exercises open with the Principle and Foundation and it is here that we can find a basis for understanding Ignatius relation to the world.

His search for God, his openness to the beyond, his quest for the more, takes place in the very context of the world. There is only one path for lgnatius to journey to God, and this 32 .IGNIS — 1999/3

is in and through the rest of creation’ as he puts it in the Principle and Foundation.

Because at the Cardoner Experience God is encountered at the center of everything, for Ignatius discovering God is simultaneously affirming the whole universe.

Hence after the Cardoner Experience there is a total re-orientation that takes place in his life:

                        

— from a penitential to an apostolic spirituality;

— from imitating Christ, to serving him;

— from renouncing the world to getting involved in the world.

If Ignatius asks us to seek and find God in all things, it is because God is at work in all things, even in the sinful situations of our world and the brokennes of humanity.

And so my Dear Brothers, without the slightest hesitation we can invest the whole of ourselves in the service of the world, seeking God, where God is not only just present but is also labouring in the world.

It is precisely because God is already at work in the world before we are sent, our Last General Congregation dares to affirm that for us Jesuits there is a level of consciousness of God that is only accessible in and through our apostolic commitments. (GC. 34, No. 252)

This is the core of an apostolic spirituality.

My Dear Brothers,

Touched by God, embraced in His mercy, sent with his Son into the world, may we be found to be men ablaze with God, who wish to give greater proof of their love and distinguish ourselves in the service of the Lord.