Today I drove to Mt. Irenaeus for Mass as I usually do on Sunday mornings. The day was especially bright and really invited me to think about other possibilities after Mass and Brunch. Attendance at today’s Eucharist was less than I expected. There were again three students from Houghton College and a couple of St. Bonaventure University young men who were part of a vocations retreat held at the Mountain on Saturday. There were four Secular Franciscans at Mass today and one of them is an old friend who was influential in my decision to join the Secular Franciscan Order when I first came to Mt. Irenaeus nearly ten years ago. It was great to see Rich again. He owns a local hostelry and frequently bring his guests to Mass. Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM was the celebrant.
Following Mass and Brunch I drove north and east to Letchworth Park. I entered at the Parade Ground entrance and found a place to park for a short nap and then I left my car, brought a book I was reading and sat under a tree in the bright afternoon sun and soaked up its rays as I read my book. What a great opportunity to enjoy the October weather this afternoon. After finishing my required reading, I drove to the Portageville entrance to the park and made my way to the Upper Falls of the Genesee River. The park was full of like minded folks out to enjoy what we could of this fine day. I took some pictures and wandered the river trail all the way to the Glen Iris Inn. It was a beautiful day and made me glad to be alive. Letchworth Park is one of my favorite haunts and I’ve been there a lot this year.
Last night I was walking back to my car from Friedsam Library at St. Bonaventure University and I as I looked into the night I could barely make out the familiar lines of Merton’s Heart. It’s a clearing on the mountainside just south of the campus of St. Bonaventure University. As I looked up and thought of Merton, my life and St. Bonaventure University I was filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude that my life has taken this new turn. Just four months ago I had contemplated retirement and now I’m very much in the thick of academic rigor again. I’m learning a great deal and I’m enjoying the discourse, much of it “online” in our Moodle format for the course in Educational Leadership and School Law.
In retrospect I wish I’d have done this earlier, but where and how that would have been possible I really don’t know. Just Saturday night at the Mt. Irenaeus 25 year celebration I had dinner with Sr. Eleanor and she related how she returned to graduate school at 57. At every turn I’m greeted by people who encourage me. I like my classes to at Franklinville Central School. I’ve been blessed with great students who challenge me at every turn and force me to learn software and programming that I wouldn’t otherwise.
Last night as I walked up the steps and into Friedsam Library at St. Bonaventure I thought again of Tom Merton and how I’m following his footsteps once again. It’s almost mid-night here at home and I’m just finishing my homework seated next to our pellet stove which radiates a good bit of heat. Deo Gratias!
Yesterday, I drove over to Mt. Irenaeus for the celebration of the Mountain’s 25th Anniversary. I’ve been a part of the last ten of those years and also as Minister of the St. Irenaeus Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order I was to be part of a ceremony marking the profession of two of our candidates. Originally all of the festivities were to occur outside and under some tents on the retreat centers spacious grounds. Mother nature had other plans as snow began falling Thursday night and by midday on Saturday there was 7 inches on the ground at Mt. Irenaeus.
Outside activities were not to be yesterday. So, everything moved inside. By the time the Cyprian Consiglio concert with John Pennington began about 4 pm there were almost 200 people crowded into the House of Peace. I’ve never seen so many people in the house and was amazed that the structure sustained it. I have heard Cyprian and John before and there music is great. Cyprian had much to say about St. Francis and one of the songs he and John performed really touched my heart and those who were at the concert yesterday. St. Francis of Assisi’s “Praises of God” are said to be influenced by the 99 beautiful names of God that he learned from his encounter with the Sultan.
Bismilah, Bismilah. ArRahman, ArRahim, bismilah
That translates, “In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful.” We were blessed by Cyprian’s music and ministry. Mass followed the concert and then the profession of two of our newest Secular Franciscans. It was a great day.
Yesterday, I spent part of the day driving to Abbey of the Geneseee. It’s one of my favorite haunts and I hadn’t been there in at least a month. Since today was a holiday there were a few more people than are normally there on a Monday. The store was busy and now the monks have a cashier who is there to take the money or in my case credit card. I picked up four Monks Brownies for friends. That all came after I spent perhaps 45 minutes in the chapel sitting quietly in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I love to come to that chapel and just sit and sometimes to nap a bit as I did today. I don’t go there to nap, but when I’m rested as I am in the presence of God it just comes naturally. I love the quiet and the mystical presence of the Eucharist in that spot. I know that God is everywhere but he seems more present there for some reason and I enjoy visiting him there. I usually sit as I did today just quietly listening for the still small voice. I think it was Herman Melville who said, “silence is the only voice of God.” I wholeheartedly agree.
Congratulations to President Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. This puts him in heady company and I hope that he can live up to the billing. More important than Barack Obama is the fact that Americans went to the polls last November and elected a leader who has put our country back on the track of international diplomacy and away from international lawlessness. We have gone from pariah to promise in just shy of nine months. President Obama gets a prestigious award, which he was quick to say he was unworthy of. Worthy people always say things like that, that’s what makes them worthy. I congratulate the President, but also I congratulate the American people who put a man in office that once again makes most of us proud to be Americans.
I feel sorry for some of his opposition which include virulent members of the right wing of American politics, the Taliban and leaders of Hamas who fail to see anything positive. One of our greatest presidents and a man also hailing from the State of Illinois, once said, “You can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot please all the people, all the time.”
Some of my friends have suggested that the Nobel Prize Committee did this as way to shape America’s policy. That might be. Rewarding good behavior with compliments is an accepted practice in the world. Shunning bad behavior is also an acceptable practice. I hope the President lives up to the award and ends both the Iraq and Afghan wars, rids the world of nuclear weapons and also bring healing to the strident racism that affects our own country. The United States of America is a multi-cultural, pluralistic society and we need to foster that at every opportunity. May peace and good fortune continue to bless our leader. Shalom, Peace, Pace, Pax, Amani, Paix, Salaam, Shanti, Mire, Heddwich and on and on.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. — St. Francis of Assisi
This week I actually attended more liturgical services at St. Bonaventure University than at any other time in my life. Since I’m now a graduate student there that is probably not too surprising, but it was a personal first. Last week I attended Sunday Mass and again this evening I joined the university community for a lovely Eucharist in the university chapel. When I first moved to the area in 1979 I used to come and sit in this chapel. I always liked it’s architecture and the peace that surrounded it. Tonight during the service I could hear a flock of geese as they were honking their way overhead. That seemed quite Franciscan as tonight we were marking the Feast of St. Francis. Last night I joined the university and local community along with Friars, Sister and Seculars as we marked the Transitus of St. Francis and renewed our commitment to follow the Gospel way of life in the manner of our seraphic father St. Francis. I felt honored and humbled to be in the presence of so many holy men and women. I’m grateful to be a Franciscan. I’m definitely one of the lesser brothers of the Secular Franciscan Order, but I am nonetheless a brother and follower of our Christ and St. Francis. Pace e Bene!
Word on the web is that the public option in health care is dead. That’s really too bad because not getting the cost of medical care under control will eventually be the undoing of the United States of America. Corporate news sources which include all the major news outlets were complicit in this debacle as were the insurance companies who own Congress. There used to be a difference between Republicans and Democrats but it’s all one big oligarchic party now and the American people are the losers. Most Americans were actually in favor of a public option, but just like the Iraq War, congress failed to do the will of the people and so bent to their corporate masters. I’m disappointed to say the least. Obama is proving to be no substantive difference from Bush. We heard a lot of talk right after the election, the inauguration and maybe into March, but then it’s been business as usual with the oligarchs running the country. How much longer the middle class can support the wealthy in this country remains to be seen, but my bet is that it won’t be much longer before we crumble from within. We have become exactly like ancient Rome and all the other man-made empires before and since. “We the people, by the people and for the people,” has perished from the earth. Alas, one nation under God is no more, we worship the golden calf.
Today I went to Mass at Mt. Irenaeus and it was a lovely day to be sure. Blue skies with temperatures hovering around 65F at 11:00am when Mass started. The chapel was full of young men from St. Bonaventure University. The celebrant today was, Fr. Dan Riley, OFM. There were a number of young folks and a theology professor and his family from nearby Houghton College too. Several Secular Franciscans were there and then some other visitors. Fr. Dan’s homily challenged us all to lead but at the same time to keep our ego out of it and instead to follow what Christ said in today’s Gospel, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
I liked that verse and the theme of Dan’s homily because it seemed to resonate with what I’ve been reading in the Educational Leadership course I’ve been taking at St. Bonaventure University this semester. Leaders who aren’t servants aren’t usually very effective leaders or their power is only contained in their ability to force or control what a person does. Real leadership that really changes people and paradigms comes from servant leadership like that practiced by Jesus in the Gospel.
After Mass and Brunch I took a walk up to the top of the land at Mt. Irenaeus. I was going to walk the labyrinth, but since there already some people doing that I thought I’d walk up to Naomi’s knoll, from there I walked along the “Hope” trail until it intersected the “Peace” trail. Eventually my walk led me to one of my favorite places at Mt. Irenaeus and that is La Posada. La Posada is the most primitive hermitage at Mt. Irenaeus and it’s about a ten minute walk from nearly all the other buildings. I like to visit there. It’s like visiting God’s own house. I went inside, read the reflection book which contains the thoughts of the dozens of people who have written reflections of their stay at Mt. Irenaeus. Then I sat in a soft chair near the center of the cabin and in no time I was asleep. I slept in this place for almost forty minutes. It must have been what I needed. I’ll be back to La Posada but I carry her in my heart wherever I go.
La Posada is symbolic of the place where Jesus was born. It seems fitting that this small hermitage named for the birthplace of Christ would be one of my favorite haunts.
Tonight is feeling a bit more like fall. It’s down in the high forties. It’s almost midnight as I sit here blogging about my day. Although it’s a bit cool, I’m at peace in this hermitage I enjoy in our home. There is nothing like silence and solitude and I experience much of that each day. I enjoy my time at work and socializing with many friends, but I enjoy my time alone. Though I have a 26″ LCD monitor I cannot remember the last time I used it. It’s been at least a month. What began as a Lenten activity almost ten years ago has become a way of life. A life that includes less and less of what is commonly called the news. A life that includes less and less of what might be called entertainment. When I do watch television, it is only for a brief period and usually without sound. Sporting events without commentary are almost like going to games at the stadium. I do enjoy reading Huffington a bit on the internet, but even my consumption of Huffington is way down. I find all the bickering debilitating and the less I have of it in my life, the happier I am.
This fall I’m in graduate school at St. Bonaventure University, teaching a couple of classes in our school system, working as the technology director and working at my small business. I even found time to exercise on the elliptical a couple of times this week. Soon I’ll be sleeping and then another day will present itself. Actually the new day has begun already and I’m almost ready to sleep. I love the quiet and stillness here on the edge of the woods.
I got some friends on Facebook and elsewhere who’ve taken umbrage with Mr. Obama refer to Kanye West as a “jackass.” I don’t follow Kanye West at all and I didn’t see the video music awards, but if the President of the United States of America refers to an individual with that epithet, I say “so what?” Get a life!
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” — John 8:7
Is there anyone here without sin? Have I judged folks unfairly from time to time. You bet. No one is perfect.
VHP Spotlights Service of Native American Vets: The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress Americ... http://bit.ly/2toZ9s-----10 hours ago
