Signs of Christmas - "O Emmanuel" - Photos from the Open House

CHRISTMAS TREE ON DISPLAY IN ST. PETER'S SQUARE


On December 18, Benedict XVI received a delegation from Wallonia, the francophone Belgian region which this year donated the Christmas tree that traditionally decorates St. Peter's Square during this period.

The tree, the lights of which were switched on that evening, is a fir from the Ardennes, one of the most wooded areas in Europe. It is thirty metres high, its trunk has a diameter of seven metres, it weighs fourteen tons and its lower branches reach a length of ten metres. The main tree is accompanied by forty-five smaller trees which will be positioned in various sites around the Vatican.

"The role of this tree", said the Pope in his address thanking the delegation from Wallonia, "is similar to that of the shepherds who, watching through the shades of night, saw how the darkness was illuminated with the message of the angels. ... Standing next to the nativity scene the tree indicates, in its own particular way, the great mystery present in the poor and simple grotto. It proclaims the arrival of the Son of God to the inhabitants of Rome, to pilgrims and to everyone who sees St. Peter's Square on television. Though this tree your land, and the faith of the Christian communities in your region, greet the Christ Child".

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O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.


"O EMMANUEL, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God."







* * * * * *

The annual Christmas Season OPEN HOUSE/PORTES OUVERTES is a wonderful chance for me to meet, chat and exchange greetings for Christmas and the New Year of Grace (in this case Anno Domini 2010) with laity, religious and clergy of the Archdiocese.

This past Sunday was no exception as the following photo spread clearly shows (a hat tip to Heri Riesbeck for supplementing with his images the pix taken with my simple camera):

The whole Nativity Story live (well, except for the baby!)



One of several family groups with children dressed up as shepherds or angels



Some of the Sisters of Sainte-Marie de Namur

Retired Father Gerry Gahagan came dressed to the nines (not even omitting a vest!)



This angel practiced flapping her wings!

My niece Gillian who came over with a full tray of freshly-made peanut brittle; it's hard to eat only one piece...

The priests, Fathers Andrew and Vernon, from Good Shepherd Parish

A multi-generational family

And behind the scenes ...

Following the exchanges in the formal setting of the archbishop's receiving rooms, refreshments were served in the Cathedral Hall where the conviviality continued. Sincere thanks to all who helped with the preparation, set-up and clean-up of a most pleasant afternoon!

"O Rex Gentium" - Mass at Ottawa's Detention Centre - Goodbye, Father Lee ! Pope Reaches Out to Agnostics, Atheists

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.


"O KING of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay."


O Rex Gentium (a sonnet by Malcolm Guite)

O King of our desire whom we despise,
King of the nations never on the throne,
Unfound foundation, cast-off cornerstone,
Rejected joiner, making many one,
You have no form or beauty for our eyes,
A King who comes to give away his crown,
A King within our rags of flesh and bone.
We pierce the flesh that pierces our disguise,
For we ourselves are found in you alone.
Come to us now and find in us your throne,
O King within the child within the clay,
O hidden King who shapes us in the play
Of all creation. Shape us for the day
Your coming Kingdom comes into its own.

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Proclaiming Good News to the Shepherds, Release to Captives (Luke 2:10-12; 4:18)

On Sunday, I drove out to the Correctional Centre for Mass and an exchange with the prisoners who wished to attend that day's worship.

A maximum of twenty may attend and eighteen volunteered to come: most English-speaking but a few francophones, so that we used hymns from the Catholic Book of Worship II that allowed us to go back and forth from English to French. One of the readings was done in French.



In conversation before the Eucharist began, I mentioned that I would be receiving visitors at my home in the afternoon and, as they couldn't get a pass for the occasion, I came to visit them. [Photos of the Open House will be posted with tomorrow's blog entry; in respect of privacy and security, no photographs may be taken inside the prison, so we are limited today to exterior shots.]

Christmas is, after all, about God visiting his people, particularly the poor and marginal (the shepherds) and the ministry of Jesus was to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind, a year of release and liberty for captives (which they could relate to).

The prayers of the faithful were touching, particularly as the men were aware of how their absence from their children at Christmas would be difficult for them and their families. After Mass, we shared a question and answer session, as I find many people love to bring out questions of faith that interest, even trouble them. I left our time together, grateful for the fine work our priests, deacons and lay people do in regularly visiting those in detention and touched by the mutual pledge we made of praying for each other at this time that can be difficult but also spiritually uplifting.



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ST. CLEMENT'S LOSES FATHER JOSEPH LEE, FSSP

After three years in Ottawa, serving as curate at St. Clement's and studying for a licentiate in Canon Law at St. Paul's University, the Superior of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has given Father Joseph Lee a new assignment on the staff of the congregation's seminary in Kansas.

Sunday noon, a farewell indoor winter barbecue was held to send him from the realm of ice and snow to "Tornado Alley". I dropped in briefly on the festivities on my way home from the jail and en route to the "Portes ouvertes".

All the best back in the 'States, Fr. Lee!



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The Pope's Bold Reflection on Evangelization....

On Monday, the Pope exchanged greetings for Christmas and New Year's with his collaborators

Yesterday, as Abbe Daniel Berniquez and I drove out to Saint-Isidore-de-Prescott for a Memorial Mass for the late Abbe Charles Clement, after a bit of time praying from the breviary I began to translate for him, from an item of day's the Vatican Information Service from Italian into French, the Holy Father's address that morning to Cardinals resident in Rome and officials of the Roman Curia who assist him in his governance of the Universal Church.

These pre-Christmas addresses recap the year ending, but often send signals of the Pope's thinking on issues that arise from his ministry and are suggestive of new directions to be contemplated. This year's talk did not disappoint.

There was a review of his trips to the Holy Land (Israel and Jordan) and of God's saving interventions there in history.

There was a strong emphasis on his trip to Africa (Cameroon and Angola) and on the subsequent Special Synod of Bishops on Africa. Indeed, this was the Church's year to focus on the African continent, its challenges, possibilities and real needs for reconciliation, justice and peace.

Finally, mention was made of his trip to the Czech Republic where a majority now declare themselves to be agnostics, even atheists. From this experience, the Pope's thought moved to an analogy from the Jerusalem Temple where the Gentile peoples of the world, not belonging to the the chosen people of Israel, yet found a place to worship God in their own imperfect way.

Which led the Holy Father to wonder whether a contemporary feature of the worship of believers could allow for a space (like the Court of the Gentiles represented) where those of good will might search for God, the One Unknown to them except in their desire for the good, the true, the beautiful.

Above all, he suggested believers must work so that people do not put aside that interior quest which lies at the core of their beings, namely one for God even if not acknowledged as such. While we let ourselves imagine what this might mean for our task of carrying on the new evangelization, here for consideration is part of what Pope Benedict said:

Even the people who describe themselves as agnostics or atheists must be very important to us as believers. When we talk about a new evangelization, these people may become afraid. They do not want to see themselves as an object of mission, nor do they want to renounce their freedom of thought or of will. But the question about God nonetheless remains present for them as well, even if they cannot believe in the concrete nature of his attention to us.

In Paris, I talked about the search for God as the fundamental motive from which Western monasticism was born, and with it, Western culture. As the first step in evangelization, we must try to keep this search alive; we must take pains that man not set aside the question of God as an essential question of his existence. Take pains that he accept this question and the longing concealed within it.

Here I am reminded of the words that Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah, that the temple should be a house of prayer for all peoples (cf. Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17). He was thinking about what was called the court of the gentiles, which he cleansed of extraneous business so that it could be the space available for the gentiles who wanted to pray to the one God there, even if they could not take part in the mystery, for service of which the interior of the temple was reserved.

A place of prayer for all peoples: by this was meant the people who know God, so to speak, only from afar; who are dissatisfied with their gods, rites, myths; who desire the Pure and the Great, even if God remains for them the "unknown God" (cf. Acts 17:23). They needed to be able to pray to the unknown God, and so be in relation with the true God, although in the midst of obscurities of various kinds.

I think that the Church should also open today a sort of "court of the gentiles" where men can in some manner cling to God, without knowing him and before they have found the entryway to his mystery, which the interior life of the Church serves. To the dialogue with the religions it must above all add today a dialogue with those for whom religion is something foreign, to whom God is unknown, and who nonetheless would not like simply to remain without God, but at least to approach him as the Unknown.

Christmas arrives early in Saskatoon - "O Oriens" - St. Peter Canisius, Apostle of the German Counter-Reformation

MSGR DONALD BOLEN BISHOP OF SASKATOON

Pope Benedict XVI today gave the Latin rite Catholics of Saskatoon an early Christmas present, naming Msgr. Donald Bolen, Pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Balgonie, SK and Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Regina as the Seventh Bishop of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, succeeding Most Reverend Albert LeGatt, named Archbishop of Saint-Boniface on July 3rd, 2009.

The personable priest who taught as a sessional lecturer in Religious Studies at Campion College, University of Regina and served at the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity from 2001-2008 is deeply committed to ecumenical dialogue, particulary with the Anglican Communion.

The current Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams awarded the Cross of Saint Augustine (of Canterbury) to Msgr. Bolen in February 2009; the Archbishop's website reported the award as follows:

"In a private audience at Lambeth Palace the Archbishop paid warm tribute to the theological acumen and spiritual discernment that Monsignor Bolen had put unreservedly at the service of Anglican – Roman Catholic relations during his seven-year assignment to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome.

"He expressed the debt of gratitude owed by the Anglican Communion, the members of the international commissions of the dialogue, and successive Archbishops of Canterbury and their Representatives to the Holy See for his friendship and dedication.

"The Archbishop said, Monsignor Bolen has for many years been far more than an able facilitator of Anglican - Roman Catholic dialogue. He has been a friend and colleague whose deep commitment to the possibilities of ecumenical dialogue and our common witness to the truths of the gospel has been unflagging and inspirational. This award is a small sign of the regard - affectionate and admiring - in which Don is held and a sign of my personal appreciation of his work and friendship in recent years.

"A priest of the Archdiocese of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada), from 2001—2008 Monsignor Bolen was the Vatican's officer for relations with the Anglican Communion and the World Methodist Council. In this capacity he served as the co-secretary of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) and the Joint International Commission for Dialogue Between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church. He also served on the international commission responsible for preparing texts for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

"He currently holds the Nash Chair in Religion at Campion College, Regina, Saskatchewan, and looks forward to resuming parish ministry in the summer of 2009.

"The Cross of St Augustine was founded by Archbishop Michael Ramsey. It was first awarded by him on February 19, 1965. It is a circular medallion bearing a replica of the eighth-century Cross of Canterbury and on the reverse side is an engraving of the throne of St Augustine in Canterbury Cathedral.

"This cross has historically been awarded to clergy and lay people of other Christian churches who have contributed conspicuously to advancing friendly relations with the Anglican Communion. More recently it has also been given for outstanding service within the Anglican Communion itself."



At the recent CCCB Plenary last October in Cornwall, Msgr. Bolen gave a marvellous overview of Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue and the new feature in these conversations brought about by Anglicanorum coetibus, the Pope's gesture of openness to Anglicans who wish to be received corporately into unity with the See of Rome.

Ad multos annos, Your Excellency!

* * * * * *



O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.


"O RISING DAWN,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death."

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St. Peter Kanis, S.J. (Latin: Canisius)

Today's Optional Memorial is of St. Peter Canisius, Priest, Religious and Doctor of the Church

Peter Canisius (Peter Kanis; 1521-1597) is honored as a Doctor of the Church for his heroic defense of Catholicism through teaching, preaching and writing catechisms. He was also one of the giants of the young Society of Jesus, serving as the first provincial of Germany, a post he held for 14 years. A man of great energy, he founded 18 colleges and authored 37 books; his catechisms went through 200 printings in his lifetime alone.

Born in Nijmegen, Netherlands, he studied at the University of Cologne where he earned a master's degree in May 1540. He changed his original plan to remain at the university and study theology when he heard about a newly-founded religious order, the Society of Jesus.

One of its founders was then at Mainz, so Canisius traveled there to meet Father Peter Faber. The Jesuit appreciated Canisius' potential and agreed to lead him through the 30-day retreat known as the Spiritual Exercises. During the second week of the retreat, Canisius made an election to join the Society and Faber accepted him as a novice on his 22nd birthday, May 8, 1543.

Canisius returned to Cologne and finished his studies in theology and then was ordained in 1546. Even before he became a priest, he taught Scripture and published new editions of texts of Cyril of Alexandria and Leo the Great. Then he served as theological consultant to Cardinal Otto Truchess at the Council of Trent before going to Messina, Sicily, to teach in the very first school the Society founded.

In September 1549 Pope Paul III asked him to return to Germany to head an effort to defend the Church against the attacks of reformers. The young Jesuit received the almost impossible mission of halting the defections of Catholics and winning back those who had already left the Church. Canisius first went to Ingolstadt, Germany and established a pattern he would follow elsewhere. He began teaching at the university, but also devoted great efforts to preaching so that he could explain the fundamental truths of Catholic teaching from the pulpit. His work had an immediate impact on Catholics there.

Canisius subsequently taught and preached in Vienna, Prague and Fribourg. He also founded seminaries and colleges. During his time in Vienna Canisius first developed the catechism for which he is most known. Written in Latin, Summary of Christian Doctrine, was published in April 1555 and devoted most of its attention to the theological points of controversy between Catholics and Protestants. Aimed at college students, it was followed by shorter versions for secondary students and for children.

As the first provincial of Germany, Canisius made a huge contribution to Jesuit governance in the region that included Swabia, Bavaria, Austria and Hungary. He visited Jesuit houses, supervised expansion and made the Society of Jesus a leading force in the Counter Reformation. He also took part in ecumenical gatherings such as the one in Regensburg (1556-1557) and returned to the Council of Trent in May 1562.

Canisius lived a full life and died peacefully at age 76 in Fribourg, Switzerland.

"O Key of David" - Fourth Sunday of Advent - Avoiding a Winter Storm

WOMEN GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT:
TAKE, FOR EXAMPLE, MARY AND ELIZABETH....

If one were to imagine Luke as a preacher of the gospel about Jesus and ask about his favourite motifs, the heralding of good news to the poor and outcast would rank high on the list. So also would the themes of the universality of God's saving purpose, the blessings of poverty and the dangers of wealth.

Prominent, too, in Luke's depiction of the way things are for Christ Jesus and His followers, are the role of the Holy Spirit in both the life of the Teacher and His disciples.

Prayer and praise of God are frequently on His lips and on theirs, as are the joy and praise which dwelling in God's presence brings.

Luke was deeply aware of the role and significance for the early Christian community of the twelve apostles to whom Jesus entrusted governance of the faith community He established. But the evangelist was equally conscious of the key role played by women in receiving, supporting and furthering God's saving plan during Jesus' public ministry and in the first years of the fledgling Church.

Only Luke tells us that, as Jesus went through the Galilean cities and villages proclaiming and bringing Good News of the Kingdom of God, the Twelve were with Him accompanied by some women--Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna--and many others, who provided for them out of their resources (8:1-3).

As the preceding account of Jesus' meeting with a sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee illustrates (7:36-50), discipleship arose out of encounters with Jesus that touched women at the core of their being.

Further, Luke alone informed his readers of Jesus' meeting with Martha and Mary in their home (10:38-42), told of His cure of a woman bent over double for 18 years (13:10-17) and noted that Jesus narrated a parable of a persistent widow, who demanded and got justice from an unwilling judge as an illustration of the need to pray always and not to lose heart (18:1-8).

That women model a disciple's receptivity to the gospel message is powerfully displayed in the account Luke gave of Jesus' conception, birth and infancy. Unlike Zechariah's doubting question to the angel Gabriel on learning his wife would conceive (1:18), Mary's question at the annunciation contained no connotation of unbelief (1:34).

Gabriel explained that her conception of Jesus would take place by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit so that her child would truly be called Son of God (1:35). Mary's reply manifests the classic expression of trust in all God might ask of a creature, Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word (1:38).

Today's gospel depicts the joyful mystery known as "the Visitation". Elizabeth and Mary's meeting anticipated the future encounters between their sons, John the Baptist and Jesus. While yet in the womb of his mother, the Baptizer leapt for joy at the presence of Jesus in the womb of Mary.

Elizabeth, we are told, was filled with the Holy Spirit the first of many such fillings Luke recorded (1:67; 2:25; Acts 2:4; 4:8; 13:9). Generally in Luke-Acts, before a person opens his or her mouth to sing God's praise or proclaim the gospel, he or she is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Elizabeth's loud cry (Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.... Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord) is the cry of the Spirit in song. Elizabeth's knowledge of Mary's pregnancy can only be understood as having been given her by the Holy Spirit.

Elizabeth went on to declare that, in addition to the blessing of a child given her by the Lord, a further blessing was hers in that the mother of my Lord comes to me. Elizabeth then explained the meaning of her child's leaping in her womb. It was a sign of the joy which the arrival of the Lord Jesus offers (the child in my womb leaped for joy).

Whenever the Lord enters into people's lives, the joy of friendship with God overflows into prayer and praise. Inspired by the Spirit, Mary testified to this, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.



O CLAVIS...O KEY OF DAVID

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

"O KEY of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death."

GETTING OUT OF NYC BEFORE THE STORM....

The last day in New York included a visit to the Metropolitan Museum in the morning.

The Metropolitan Museum, NYC





Then, in the afternoon, I was given a guided tour of the renovated St. Ignatius Loyola Church by the pastor, Fr. George Witt, S.J.



St. Ignatius Church, NYC

And in the evening I travelled to the Metropolitan Opera to take in Richard Strauss’ Elektra, a harrowing tale of vindication, love and death. Very moving:



Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, NYC

On my return from the Met, on foot to see and delight in all the night-time Christmas decorations, I took note of anxious tone of the weather forecasts about the snow storms affecting the Eastern seaboard (President Obama left Copenhagen in a hurry to beat the storm).

So, I quickly decided to cancel my flight (which on Air Canada’s website seemed iffy) in favour of Amtrak’s slow-moving [11 hours] Adirondack train from NYC’s Pennsylvania Station to Montreal’s Central Station. It seemed wise in light of the subsequent cancellation of Canadian flights to and from LaGuardia Airport.



Besides, I did not want to miss out on Mass this morning at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre on Innes Road and I really did feel it would be important to be home as host for this afternoon’s Open House.

On the train, my seatmate was Andre Bernard a young man from Marseilles studying to be a minister in a Mt. Zion Interdenominational School for Ministry in Grantville, PA, on his way to Longueueil, QC to visit family for Christmas.

We had a wonderful and at times deeply spiritual conversation that made the trip a most pleasant one. Even when one sees the Christian Church differently, one can admire the news of a personal conversion and a vocation to spread God’s word and life to others.

"O Root of Jesse" - Visit to Fordham U, Czisek Hall

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

"O ROOT of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer."

Sonnet by Malcolm Guite based on today's O Antiphon:

O Radix
All of us sprung from one deep-hidden seed,
Rose from a root invisible to all.
We knew the virtues once of every weed,
But, severed from the roots of ritual,
We surf the surface of a wide-screen world
And find no virtue in the virtual.
We shrivel on the edges of a wood
Whose heart we once inhabited in love,
Now we have need of you, forgotten Root
The stock and stem of every living thing
Whom once we worshiped in the sacred grove,
For now is winter, now is withering
Unless we let you root us deep within,
Under the ground of being, graft us in.

Fordham University, Rose Hill Campus: The Jesuit University in New York City

I spent two happy summers on the Rose Hill Campus of Fordham University in the Bronx (1966, 1967) studying Hebrew and Aramaic.

With my Colombian friend Ivan Trujillo (who later left the Jesuits), we lived in "Martyrs Court" residence, put up with the almost unbearable heat and noise (the old Third Avenue elevated train ran just outside our window, though sometimes it seemed the trains would come through the walls) as night and day we studied Hebrew grammar, irregular verbs, etc.

The university campus has grown by leaps and bounds (with another wave of construction going on presently) but the Fordham Chapel is still a place for solace and contemplation, there is still a tiny graveyard outside the Jesuit faculty residence which I love to visit because among those buried there is a Jesuit named Fr. John Prendergast (born in Savannah, GA) as well as Fr. John Larkin, S.J., famously admired among Jesuits for having refused his nomination as second bishop of Toronto.

After admiring in Bishop's Hall the stained glass window with my coat of arms (and those of other alumni named to the episcopacy, including one whose motto was the same as mine ["In nomine Jesu"] and devotions in the chapel and cemetery), I headed off campus a few blocks to Ciszek Hall, named after the famous Jesuit priest who was captured in Russia, did time in the gulag and prisoners' camps under the Soviets and camp back to the United States in 1962.

We read his memoir With God in Russia (1963) in the dining-room at Ignatius College, Guelph when I was a novice, but much more touching were his spiritual reflections upon his ordeals in He Leadeth Me (1973), still an outstanding religious book.

Father Ciszek died twenty-five years ago this month (December 8, 1984) and his cause for canonization is in course (he is now titled "Servant of God"); for details see www.ciszek.org. Here are more details on Father Ciszek from the Wikipedia entry:

Rev. Walter Ciszek, S.J. (November 4, 1904–December 8, 1984) was a Polish-American Jesuit priest known for his clandestine missionary work in the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1963.

Fifteen of these years were spent in confinement and hard labor in the GULAG, including five in Moscow's infamous Lubyanka prison. He was released and returned to the United States in 1963, after which he wrote two books, including the memoir With God in Russia, and served as a spiritual director.

Since 1990, Ciszek has been under investigation by the Roman Catholic Church for possible beatification or canonization. His current title is a Servant of God.

Here are some quotations reflecting his spirituality:

"The power of prayer reaches beyond all efforts of man seeking to find meaning in life. This power is available to all; it can transform mans weaknesses, limitations and his sufferings."

"Across the threshold I had been afraid to cross, things suddenly seemed so very simple. There was but a single vision, God, who was all in all; there was but one will that directed all things, God's will. I had only to see it, to discern it in every circumstance in which I found myself, and let myself be ruled by it. God is in all things, sustains all things, directs all things."

The altar at which the Servant of God Walter Ciszek, SJ celebrated Mass

"To discern this in every situation and circumstance, to see His will in all things, was to accept each circumstance and situation and let oneself be borne along in perfect confidence and trust.

"Nothing could separate me from Him, because He was in all things. No danger could threaten me, no fear could shake me, except the fear of losing sight of Him. The future, hidden as it was, was hidden in His will and therefore acceptable to me no matter what it might bring.

"The past, with all its failures, was not forgotten; it remained to remind me of the weakness of human nature and the folly of putting any faith in self. But it no longer depressed me. I looked no longer to self to guide me, relied on it no longer in any way, so it could not again fail me.

"By renouncing, finally and completely, all control of my life and future destiny, I was relieved as a consequence of all responsibility. I was freed thereby from anxiety and worry, from every tension, and could float serenely upon the tide of God's sustaining providence in perfect peace of soul."

When he lived at 2502 Belmont Avenue, it was known as the John XXIII Centre, which has now transferred to Pennsylvania.



Fathers Rich Zanoni (left) and Vinny Sullivan

Jesuit scholastics in "First Formation" (immediately following First Vows, they study the humanities and philosophy), some 25 in number from various Jesuit provinces live, study and pray under the guidance of two colleagues from my studies with them forty years ago: Fr. Vinny Sullivan and Fr. Rich Zanoni.

I celebrated Mass with the community and joined them for supper.
Two sisters of one of the men from Milwaukee joined the scholastics who had finished exams and handed in their papers in a game of Cha-boo (a cross between Charades, which I am familiar with, and Taboo, a game I had never heard of). It made for raucous laughter.

Some photos from adventures of recent days:

Lunch at the Edison Hotel Cafe with Fathers Bentley Anderson (centre) and Jesse Rodridguez

The climax of the Radio City Hall Christmas Spectacular

The Catholic League has a creche on Fifth Avenue at 60th Street, near one of the entrances to Central Park

The Cartier store decorated like a Christmas gift

The Christmas Tree and ice skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza

At St. Patrick's Cathedral: flowers left before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the recent feast day

"O Adonai" - Getting reacquainted with NYC

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

"O ADONAI, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

It has been about eight or nine years since I last visited the "Big Apple", so the CNEWA meeting allowed me a couple of days afterwards to reacquaint myself with a city I got to know fairly well when studying at Fordham University (AB, '67) and visiting with Jesuits I had know during studies of philosophy here or theology in Toronto (where some New York Province Jesuits attended Regis College in the years I was a student and/or prof there).

There is no snow in New York so, though it is cold (the temps hovering just below freezing with wind), it is also sunny and rather pleasant to walk around. The Jesuit community has responsibility for Loyola School on the corner of Park Avenue and East 83rd Street, next to which is St. Ignatius Church, recently refurbished though I have not yet had time to visit and consider the renovations/restoration.

At 53 East 83rd Street is a Jesuit residence for Jesuits working in these two ministries, several others in the city (Regis School, a fully-endowed school for exceptional students, Nativity School to give minority students help to succeed in their educational endeavours; the Xavier Society for the Blind now directed by long-time friend John Sheehan, who is an accomplished singer, etc) and at the nearby Jesuit Provincial Offices (Jesuit Brother John Campbell told me he recently retired after close to fifty years in the Treasurer's office).

St. Ignatius Church is on the right of the block that begins at the left with Loyola School

The residence is close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park (a five minute walk). Today, I will spend the morning at the museum and there is a slight possibility of taking in Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera.

Yesterday, I walked from 83rd Street down to 50th and Radio City Music Hall to attend the 11AM Matinee of the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular (which was all of that).



As often happens when travelling, I met friends. Both are Jesuits from the New Orleans Province: Fr. Bentley Anderson, a scholastic years back when I was dean at Regis, whom I ordained as a deacon after my nomination as a bishop; he is teaching history at Fordham U. this year. Bentley was showing the sights to a fellow "Southerner", Fr. Jesus Rodriguez from Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL.

After the show, we lunched together at the Edison Hotel Cafe, then did touristy stops of Times Square, Rockefeller Centre, adding a spiritual touch with a visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Leaving them, I wandered down to Grand Central Terminal to catch the Metroliner to Fordham University, which deserves a blog entry of its own, which I will file tomorrow along with the photos I have not yet had time to download from yesterday.

Christmas trees for sale on Third Avenue

On 83rd Street, opposite Saint Ignatius Jesuit Residence, the Christmas decorations are tastefully understated