This summer has been the first summer after the public presentation of the Ignatian Way in March, and the Jesuit Province of Loyola is enthusiastically taking part in this project. Early in the summer, the Jesuit schools of San Sebastian and Bilbao organized pilgrimage experiences over several days for dozens of students along different parts of the Ignatian Way. The Jesuit Novices of the Novitiate located in San Sebastian also walked the first steps of the Ignatian Way; and so did a group of the “Centro Loyola Joven” of San Sebastian, the youngsters group of the Urban Spirituality Center (you can see them in the photo, in the Sanctuary of Aránzazu) On August, a group of Jesuits and Lay collaborators of the Curia and other Jesuit institutions walked the first part of the pilgrimage.

The Ignatian Way re-creates a pilgrim route commemorating the famous 1522 journey made by Ignatius of Loyola from his home in Loyola to Montserrat and Manresa. Pilgrims along the Camino Ignaciano walk virtually the same route that Ignatius did, pass through many towns that he did, pray at churches where he worshipped, and marvel at the same natural wonders that he saw. More information

Francis Garate was born in Recarte, a village not far from Loyola, in the Basque region of northern Spain in 1857. At the age of 14, after a few years of elementary education, he began work as a domestic servant at the Jesuit college in Orduna before entering the Society of Jesus as a Brother. From 1877-1888 he served as infirmarian and sacristan at the Jesuit college in La Guardia. For the next 40 years he was doorkeeper at the University of Deusto in Bilbao. As doorkeeper. As the first person most people would see on entering the university building he became also effectively receptionist, public relations officer, student counsellor and benefactor of the poor. He was noted by all for his innate goodness, humility, and prayerfulness. He has been called a “modern Alphonsus” because his Jesuit life reflected that of another doorkeeper, St Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ.

He died on 9 September 1929 (the feast of fellow Jesuit, Peter Claver) and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1985.
Blessed Francis is remembered for his outstanding charity, courtesy, and dedication to work.

• PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH
• The Road to Daybreak – A Spiritual Journey

21st Week in Ordinary Time

• 1 Sep

22nd Week in Ordinary Time

• 2 Sep  Sunday
• 3 Sep  St Gregory the Great, Pope & doctor
• 4 Sep
• 5 Sep
• 6 Sep
• 7 Sep
• 8 Sep  Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

23rd Week in Ordinary Time

• 9 Sep  Sunday
• 10 Sep
• 11 Sep
• 12 Sep  The Most Holy Name of Mary
• 13 Sep  St John Chrysostom, bishop & doctor
• 14 Sep  Exaltation of the Holy Cross
• 15 Sep  Our Lady of Sorrows

SS Laurent Imbert, Jacques Chastan, (Penang College General Fathers), & SS Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, & Comps, Martyrs 

24th Week in Ordinary Time

• 16 Sep  Sunday
• 17 Sep  St Robert Bellarmine, Bishop & doctor
• 18 Sep
• 19 Sep
• 20 Sep  SS Laurent Imbert, Jacques Chastan, (Penang College General Fathers), & SS Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, & Comps, Martyrs
• 21 Sep  St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
• 22 Sep

25th Week in Ordinary Time

• 23 Sep  Sunday
• 24 Sep
• 25 Sep
• 26 Sep  Ss Cosmas and Damian
• 27 Sep  St Vincent de Paul, priest
• 28 Sep  St Wenceslaus, martyr, SS Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs
• 29 Sep  Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

26th Week in Ordinary Time

• 30 Sep

by Michael Peppard

The Trinity has never been easy to explain in plain speech. From the first gestures toward Trinitarian theology in the early Church, this Christian doctrine has been mysterious and figural. Already in the first century, the Trinity was expressed ritually in baptism – indeed, I think that’s probably where the doctrine emerged – but performing a ritual and explaining a concept are entirely different tasks.

Nevertheless, the great theologians of the first four centuries each tried out different analogies, metaphors, and images to aid understanding. Some of these attempts did not catch on and have been forgotten. Others have stood the test of time, such that they ceased to be regarded as figural. In addition to Father-Son-Spirit, the other famous Trinitarian expressions drew from examples either natural or scriptural – or preferably both. At their best, they can express the mysteries of distinction-in-unity and dynamic unchangeability. The imagery of firelight (radiance, refulgence, sun-light-warmth) and water (fountain-stream) were popular, as were the concepts of procession or emanation (which captures the essence of both light and water imagery).

On today’s feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, let us recall the Trinitarian figure that enraptured him, recorded in the Reminiscences (section 28). Ignatius was pondering his own practice of praying to the three persons of the Trinity separately and wondering whether this was proper, until one day…

… while praying the office of Our Lady on the steps of [a] monastery, his understanding began to be raised up, in that he was seeing the Most Holy Trinity in the form of three musical keys (en figura de tres teclas), and this with so many tears and so many sobs that he could not control himself. And on walking that morning in a procession which was leaving from there, at no point could he restrain his tears until the mealtime, nor after the meal could he stop talking, only about the Most Holy Trinity … (trans. Munitiz and Endean, modified)

For Ignatius, the Trinity was captured best in the figure of a musical triad, the most common type of chord in Western music. But what was so arresting about this image? Why did it work better than others he had learned? Some reflection on 16^th-century sacred music can help us to approach answers to those questions.

In 1522, when Ignatius had this insight, sacred music was primarily sung a cappella or played on an organ with just intonation. The use of equal temperament in keyboard tuning was not popularized until Bach’s “well-tempered Klavier” much later, and so Ignatius would have heard musical intervals at their naturally occurring wavelengths. When we combine the practice of just intonation with the fact that most sacred choral singing was done by men, we get a much clearer sense of Ignatius’s musical experience. In short, Ignatius was used to hearing overtones.

The resonances of human vocal cords produce waves besides the fundamental pitch being sung. A well-trained singer can produce higher-frequency upper partials or harmonics, which sound like quiet, ethereal whistles or flutes that alight above the fundamental pitches. These overtones are difficult or impossible for us to hear when the fundamentals are produced by women’s voices, since they are beyond the upper range of our auditory spectrum. But men’s voices, especially when singing justly intoned fifths or triads, can and should produce overtones as often they sing. (In American usage, overtones are thus often associated with men’s “glee clubs” or “barbershop” groups.)

I recall many times in my life as a choral singer when a few of us would practice intonation by trying to produce overtones. Resonant spaces, such as stairwells and stone cathedrals, afford ample opportunities for experimenting with the overtone sequence. I would say that I had not experienced the full beauty of choral music – and the mysteriousness of audible waves – until the first time I stood rapt by the faint sounds that floated above a perfectly tuned triad of men’s voices. High flute-like tones were undeniably audible, although none of us were (intentionally) singing them. I knew that the overtones were resonating back to me off the high walls, but it seemed also as if they were immediately present or even inside of my head. Overtones sound as if they happen in the midst of the group; they are often felt more than they are heard.

The musical triad, then, is a fitting figure for the Trinity. It embodies distinction-in-unity and dynamic unchangeability. What is more, a triad is a trinity that emanates more being. In the second and third centuries, the “light from light” figure – enshrined in the fourth-century creeds – captured the concept of undiminished giving, how a flame could give rise to another flame without itself being diminished. But the musical triad might capture that concept even more aptly: it is the triad’s very self-relationality which generates the overtone sequence. In other words, a musical trinity is a creator, or a begetter.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was a mystic and could justifiably be said to have been “hearing things” that others did not. In the case of the tres teclas, though, he was hearing things that were really there for every well-attuned ear. He heard the Trinity as a justly intoned musical triad, a relationship which through its harmony emanated other notes in a procession of audible light.

by AsiaNews

Taipei (AsiaNews) – Since yesterday evening all news programs have spoken of little else, other than the Cardinal of Taiwan, Paul Shan Kuo-Hsi (單國壐樞機主教) who died yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, August 22, 2012. Today, his photo appeared on the front page of all the major newspapers of the island, with many feature articles on the inside pages. President Ma Ying-jiou (馬英九總統) and many people of politics, culture and education have provided abundant and touching interviews about him.

In addition to the “people of importance,” even the “simple people” have a great memory of him. JI had only left the house when an elderly lady, seeing his photo on the newspaper that I was carrying under my arm said, “the cardinal did so much for Taiwan.” A Monk from a local Buddhist temple adds more details: “He always cared for and was involved in the cause of interreligious dialogue, becoming a constant reference point in Taiwan, and the Chinese world in general. Here in Taiwan his work with Buddhist Masters Xingyun (佛教星雲法師) and Sheng-yen (佛教聖嚴法師) was appreciated by all, it helped us a lot and he in turn received a lot of help, for example in the construction of the Mount of Beatitudes (真福山) in Kaohsiung. “

In fact through his work with lay Christians and with many friends belonging to different religions, he vigorously fought in defense of the weakest in society, starting with the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan and the poorest workers. “I remember when he was bishop of Hualian and Kaohsiung then, he offered many scholarships to young Aboriginal priests to encourage them to deepen their formation in Europe,” says, father Rao, pastor of Holy Family in Taipei, still deeply moved.

He was very active in the media and at the end of the seventies he was president of Kuangchi Program Service (光啟社) Taipei’s television production service, which boosted educational programs for children and young people, characterized by a strong commitment to make visible the poverty and social injustices of the time. Mr. Chen, now retired, was the artistic director of two major programs when then Fr. Shan began as a television director. “Poor him, he came straight from school, he was director of St. Ignatius High School here in Taipei, and knew nothing about television!” moved Mr. Chen said. “The same day he arrived I went into his office with a brick, a simple brick like the ones we use to build walls, and I put it on his desk asking, ‘What is this?’ and he said, ‘a brick’. ‘Only a brick?’ I asked him, and he said: ‘I understand, you need a new TV studio!’, ‘No!’ I almost yelled at him, poor man, ‘this brick can inspire thousand stories here in TV what you need most is creativity!.’ And what struck me then was his humility, in fact, the following year, he agreed to go to England for a specialization course on television production. Plus we built the new television studio, travelling all over Europe to gather the necessary funds. He also learned to use simple language, accessible to the people, abandoning the exclusively cultural terminologies that he had acquired working in schools. “

Father Jerry (丁松筠神父) well known in Taiwan and China through his television programs, confirms as much: “I think those years here with us had a huge influence on him, since then he has always been very friendly with the media in general and urged other bishops to do the same! I remember for example that on the occasion of the death of Mother Teresa we were the only two from the Catholic world, to offer testimonials and comments to the Chinese-language media about the life and mission of this great woman. He was a bit ‘disappointed by the lack of participation of his colleagues:’ I encourage them to be more constructive ‘ he repeated that to me often at the time”.

Fr. Jerry points out “the extraordinary visibility among the common people that the Cardinal reached after hearing about being sick.” Five years ago he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Rather than allowing this to get him down or morally defeat him it was the beginning of another fruitful part of his life. Recently, in a conversation between friends, he recognized that the disease had allowed him in the past five years, to meet people of different religious beliefs and from many different backgrounds, even more than in the previous 50 years.

The book entitled “huo chu ai (活出愛)” was published in 2009 and is an encouragement to readers “to give life and love.” In it he talks about his experience as a cancer patient, which made him even more known and loved. Since then he has given many workshops and conferences to bring his witness. In another book called “gao bie sheng ming zhi lu” (告別生命之旅) in which he speaks about his “path of farewell to life” after learning the diagnosis from doctors, and his returning to the conditionof a child. First on a physical level, then in his having to depend on others for everything.

In his reflections he overturns the question: “Why is this happening to me?” to “Why should not it happen to me?” in seeing his disease as an opportunity and a gift from God, which allowed him to open up to others feeling himself as “a friend to all” as a result of his own physical weakness. This is undoubtedly the most precious spiritual heritage that Cardinal Shan Kuo-Hsi leaves the young people of Taiwan.