Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Last Day in Loyola

Conference ended yesterday.  Free time today.  To airport early tomorrow AM.  After a few short hops will arrive in Ljubljana.  More photos. 

An abandoned house that has fascinated me since I passed it a few days ago.  

Climbing roses choking a window. 

The character of this window changed with a change in the light. 

The window on the other side of the door.  First floor. 

The gate and mausoleum for the Jesuit cemetery.  The two are quite a distance apart. 

The cross on the gate with the over on the mausoleum.  Had to get into a particularly awkward position to superimpose the two.  

A Marian shrine near the mausoleum.

Was drawn by the repetitive nature of the scene.  Very much enjoy this kind of photo.

The grounds just outside my room.  Shot this AM.  Very lush. 

Light creeping through the chapel door and pushing its way up the wall.  

One of the stations of the cross.  Fourteen matching crosses that are non-figurative.

The chandelier in the Sanctuary of Loyola.  Something about crystal beckons me to shoot it. 

Great sun this AM at a time when I normally couldn't get over there.  
+Fr Jack, SJ, MD

Sunday, June 23, 2019

More photos from Spain

Won't be doing much preaching until after 8 July.  Today, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is an anniversary.  My first Mass the day after being ordained on 9 June 2007 was on this feast.   Photos are from Loyola. Finished giving lectures last night.  Now a bit of relaxation. 

Bronze of St. Ignatius above the main altar.  I used the equivalent of a 600 mm lens, rather like a telescope (yo ho ho and a  bottle of single malt).  The gems are not visible to the naked eye when standing on the floor.  The bronze is about three stories above the viewer.  

The tabernacle on the main altar.  The color comes from the red sanctuary lamp and reflections of the ceiling.

The chandelier.  I've been playing around with moving the camera during a long exposure.  This was 1.3 seconds while moving the camera sharply downwards.  Used computer to enhance the color a bit. 
  
A stroller parked in front of the entrance to the basilica. 
  Chapel on the second floor of the retreat house.  

View from behind the altar.  The stained glass is superb. 
 A stone mosaic of the crucifixion.  

A close-up of the stones.  Appears to be a mix of granite and marble. 

This combination of purple and blue is very attractive and soothing.
 An abandoned house along a path behind the basilica.

The door and window in color . . . 
 . . . . and in black and white. 

Climbing roses. Stucco adds an interesting texture.

The color of this rose was not manipulated.  Very deep red. 

The green here is lush.

Steps to the basilica.  

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Photos and Commentary

No homily at the moment.  Arrived in Loyola, Spain two days ago to present two talks at a international symposium on psychology and the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola.  One of the talks is this evening (am wide awake at 4 AM) and the other tomorrow.  Obviously sleep has been a problem.  I don't expect it will improve.   Will give a talk on "Ignatius' Experience in Manresa: A Psychiatric Perspective" later today (may skip the morning conferences in favor of some sleep or have a gallon of coffee).  Tomorrow's talk is on "Desolation and Depression in the Spiritual Exercises." 

This is my first time in Spain.  Loyola is in Basque country.  It is picturesque and very hilly.  No plans tto hike anywhere.  It is also prone to rain and overcast--kind of like Pennsylvania these past weeks.  The Basilica of St. Ignatius was built in 1738 which explains the ornateness.  The baroque had no understanding of the concept of excess.  I can understand Spanish via Portuguese but can't speak it too easily.  Basque, on the other hand, is a language that is not at all recognizable.  Apparently like Finnish and Hungarian, there is no certainty as to its origin.  It looks like nothing I've ever seen.  

On 26 June I head over to Slovenia until 8 July  It will be an opportunity to catch up with friends, take as many photos as possible,  eat klobasa, chomp on potica, and relax.  

View from my room.  The dome behind the building is the basilica.  It is about three minutes to walk from here to there without a camera and about an hour and a half with. 

Plaza in front of the basilica.   Arrival day was pleasant but today was typically gray and cloudy.  Am grateful for the lack of humidity. 

One of the paths in front of the basilica.

A bas relief near the desk at the retreat house in which the conference presenters are staying.  There are over 200 registered.  

A mosaic near the photo above.

Lunch tables set.  Wine with lunch and dinner.  Dinner not until 9 PM.  I will not get used to that part.  In LJ our main meal is at 1 PM.

The main entrance to the Basilica of St. Ignatius.  It was built in the mid-18th century.

Main altar.  Nothing spared was the motto of the baroque. 

Am developing this thing for crystal chandeliers.  Would love to see this on lighted.  

Altar dedicated to Mary.  The basilica is huge. 

One of two pulpits. The lighting in the basilica is a challenge.  A lot of work in processing to tame things down and adjust color.  There is a very oddly placed spotlight that illuminates an IHS but makes no sense. 

Main altar.

The choir loft and organ.  There will be a closing Mass here on Monday.

Tabernacle door on main altar. I hoped to get another look at this today to figure out where the color originates on the host.  It is too uniform and outlined to be reflection.  The basilica is closed from 1 to 3.  By the time I was ready to return it was too close to the opening of the conference to have the time. 

+ Fr.Jack, SJ, MD

Sunday, June 9, 2019

To the twenty-two Jesuit priests ordained yesterday . . . and the newly ordained of other orders and dioceses.

This morning you awoke to your first full day as priests.  The memory of the past few days and of today, the day of your first Masses, must mark every day for the rest of your lives.  Arriving at this morning, particularly as a Jesuit, was a long process involving many steps, with the last two being ordination to the diaconate followed by yesterday's ordination to the presbyterate.  

Both ordination rites charged you with what you are to be, who you are to be, how you are to be, and why you are to be.  Both charges illuminated a dimension of the vocation to which you were called and which you accepted. Both are crucial to your vocations. 

During your ordination to the diaconate you knelt in front of the bishop.  He proffered one end of the Book of Gospels for you to grasp while he held the other.  And he charged you using the following formula:  

"Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are.  Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach."

Yesterday at your ordination to the presbyterate you again knelt in front of the bishop.  He held the chalice containing wine and water with the host resting on the paten covering it. You held the chalice with him with one hand as the fingers of your other hand rested on the paten touching the host. Once again you were given a charge: 
“Receive from the Holy People of God the gifts to be offered to God. Know what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord’s cross.” 
If you keep both of these charges inscribed on your hearts and in your consciousness at all times the rest--be it teaching, social justice, practicing one of the professions, serving the missions, or even relaxing--will flow effortlessly.  

The charges you (and we older priests) received at ordination unite us in a common bond; from the hidden Carthusian celebrating his daily Mass in solitude, to the Holy Father celebrating in a stadium, to most of us offering Mass at a nursing home chapel, or parish, in the community, or the multitude of other settings in which we exercise our priesthood. 

Both charges began with the word 'receive.' We receive gifts, we receive news, we receive orders, mandates, and missions, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  The meaning of receive is multifarious.  Both of the charges began with the mandate, the order, the challenge, the demand, and the responsibility implied by the word receive.  Each involved a giver and a gift, each involves a recipient and a response.    
It seems fashionable to scoff at the idea of the ontological change, the fundamental change, in a man that is effected with ordination.  I suspect it still is among some.  But, appreciating and understanding that essential change that includes how you are perceived by others, (including close friends and family), as well as how you perceive yourself, is crucial to your priesthood. Each of you will have to figure out your relationship to that change for yourselves, just as every other priest has had to figure it out.  It is real. It is, like most dimensions of the spiritual life, difficult if not impossible to articulate and describe. Thus, you will struggle with this part alone.
There is a saying attributed to various sources that hangs in some sacristies. It should hang in every sacristy: "Priest of God, celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass, your only Mass."  It is good advice.  It covers everything you received yesterday.  Welcome.
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I was ordained twelve years ago today.  Yesterday in several locations in the U.S.and Canada, twenty-two Jesuits were ordained priests.  I wrote the above while recalling our ordination twelve years ago.  

The first set of photos are screen captures from the live stream of the ordination at Fordham.

The laying on of hands.  A deeply moving moment for all concerned. 

One of the newly ordained praying part of the Eucharistic Prayer for the first time.
Blessing the ordaining bishop, in this case Carinal Tobin.  
The cardinal kissing the hands he anointed only a little while earlier.   I almost became unglued when Cardinal O'Malley did this.  

Preparing to exit the church as priests. 

 Prostration twelve years ago.  St. Ignatius Church at the edge of the Boston College campus. 


Very near the end of Mass.  The reality was just making itself felt. 

 +Fr. Jack, SJ, MD