by Jim Manney

In Spite of Darkness” is an award-winning documentary about an interfaith retreat at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in Poland, where more than 1 million people, nearly all of them European Jews, were exterminated by the Nazis. It was produced by Loyola Productions Munich and directed by Christof Wolf, SJ. You can watch it at this link on the film’s site. This is the trailer.

by Doris Donnelly

This week, Doris Donnelly reviews Vestments, a new novel about a young priest struggling with his vocation. Here she offers a few classic novels featuring a priest protagonist.

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (1940)

An unnamed whiskey priest is on the run from a Mexican state that has outlawed the church. All other priests have fled or been rounded up and shot. Stripped of his life of pampered privilege, and in a haze of alcohol and fear, the priest is unwittingly tugged to minister to needy peasants while eluding an intense lieutenant who is determined to rid his country from all seeds of corruption planted by the church. The paradox of strength in weakness has probably never been novelized better than here by Greene.

The Diary of a Country Priest by George Bernanos
(1936 French; 1937 English)

This touching and uncommonly profound diary is in a class of its own. The journal belongs to a young Catholic priest in an isolated French village who serves misguided, petty, impoverished parishioners with unstinting devotion without a shred of gratitude in return. Engulfed by sadness at his inability to connect with his people, he remains a faithful witness to grace in spite of what seems to be a life of unmitigated failure. As he dies of cancer, grace glows and we recognize the privilege of being in the presence of a saint.

The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton (1911)

OK, maybe not so innocent, at least not in the ways of understanding human nature where he excels and outdoes his almost contemporary, Sherlock Holmes, who relied solely on keen observation and deductive reasoning. Brown does more. He solves impenetrable mysteries always as a means to an end—the firm conviction that even the most hardened criminals are not beyond the possibility of repentance and redemption. Brown’s wit charms still, a hundred years later.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996)

In 2019, Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit linguist, travels with his team on a secret mission to the planet Rakhat, where the first proof of intelligent extraterrestrial life is detected. Forty years later, Sandoz, the sole survivor of the failed mission, is rescued only to face an inquest by the Vatican that probes the heart and soul of this emotionally shattered and physically debilitated priest. We learn of a tragic human error that leads to Sandoz’s disgrace and prompts the perpetual question about how a good God allows excruciating suffering to exist.

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (1977)

A popular potboiler, The Thorn Birds turbocharges the clichéd tale of “dark passion” and “forbidden love” between a beautiful woman and a handsome priest. McCullough needs 700 pages to trace lust, ambition and the inevitable pain that burrows deep in the hearts of Meggie Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart as Meggie remains in the Australian outback and Ralph sets out for the fast lane of ecclesiastical prominence and success in Rome.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927)

This majestic story belongs to Jean-Marie Latour, a French missionary priest dispatched with a companion to New Mexico in the mid-1800s to evangelize its people who are American by law but Mexican and Indian by heritage. Cather captures the dignity of Bishop Latour, whose gift of self to others is unrelenting as he confronts not only the quintessential beauty and unforgiving landscape of the Southwest but also renegade priests, wrenching human suffering and his own loneliness. Hands down, this is an American masterpiece.

Pictured above: Henry Fonda in the film adaptation of The Power and The Glory.

Doris Donnelly is a professor of theology at John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Missionary and ascetical writer, born of noble parentage at Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, between Lyons and Vienne, in 1641; died at Paray-le-Monial, 15 Feb., 1682. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1659. After fifteen years of religious life he made a vow, as a means of attaining the utmost possible perfection, to observe faithfully the rule and constitutions of his order under penalty of sin. Those who lived with him attested that this vow was kept with great exactitude. In 1674 Father de la Colombière was made superior at the Jesuit house at Paray-le-Monial, where he became the spiritual director of Blessed Margaret Mary and was thereafter a zealous apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1676 he was sent to England as preacher to the Duchess of York, afterwards Queen of Great Britain. He lived the life of a religious even in the Court of St. James and was as active a missionary in England as he had been in France. Although encountering many difficulties, he was able to guide Blessed Margaret Mary by letter. His zeal soon weakened his vitality and a throat and lung trouble seemed to threaten his work as a preacher. While awaiting his recall to France he was suddenly arrested and thrown into prison, denounced as a conspirator. Thanks to his title of preacher to the Duchess of York and to the protection of Louis XIV, whose subject he was, he escaped death but was condemned to exile (1679). The last two years of his life were spent at Lyons where he was spiritual director to the young Jesuits, and at Paray-le-Monial, whither he repaired for his health. His principal works, including “Pious Reflections”, “Meditations on the Passion”, “Retreat and Spiritual Letters”, were published under the title, “Oeuvres du R. P. Claude de la Colombière” (Avignon, 1832; Paris, 1864). His relics are preserved in the monastery of the Visitation nuns at Paray-le-Monial.

by Jim Manney

What are you doing for Lent? Am I the first to ask? Ash Wednesday is only two weeks from today–a date I’ve been keenly aware of because I’ve been very busy lately putting together our Ignatian Prayer Adventure. This is an eight-week online retreat that can be completed during Lent and Easter. It’s a version of the Spiritual Exercises. We’re using materials from The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien, SJ.

The retreat actually begins on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday–February 19. It will continue through Lent, concluding the week after Easter. Eight weeks in all.

We’ve designed a retreat that you can adapt to your needs and circumstances. You can pray it every day–as much as 30-40 minutes if you have the time, or less if need be. The Prayer Adventure is full of scripture readings, meditations, reflections, and prayers that you can use however you wish. It follows the general arc of the Spiritual Exercises. If you stick with it throughout the Lent-Easter season, you will experience many of the graces of Ignatius’s great retreat.

I’ll join fellow Loyola Press bloggers Paul Brian Campbell, SJ, and Vinita Hampton Wright in offering weekly reflections on An Ignatian Prayer Adventure. We’ll be doing this on our blogs, so you should be sure to subscribe to them: dotMagis, Days of Deepening Friendship, and People for Others.

I’ll have more to say about the retreat in the coming weeks.

Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai has issued a pastoral letter for the upcoming Chinese New Year urging his flock to learn from Paul Xu Guangqi, the first local Catholic convert for whom the diocese is promoting his sainthood cause.

The letter Xu Guangqi: A Man for All Seasons was published last weekend, three weeks before the start of the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which begins on January 23.

The letter comes days after the 95-year-old Jesuit prelate was discharged from hospital, having suffered a broken rib after a fall.

Describing himself as “an old fan” of Xu (1562-1633), the prominent Church leader urged Catholics to respect, commemorate and propagate the sage during the 450th anniversary of his birth this year.

Xu, a Chinese scholar-bureaucrat who collaborated with Jesuit Fr Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), had a mild and flexible character but “it does not mean he easily compromised his faith or had no aggressiveness in evangelization,” Bishop Jin noted.

During the difficult early days of the Church in China, Xu insisted on practicing Fr Ricci’s principle of respecting Chinese culture and maintaining a cautious approach in protecting the Church community, he wrote.

Xu suggested that direct confrontation would lead to greater hatred and persecution of Catholics.

“Leave it as it is, and hatred would naturally calm down,” the letter said.

At the same time, Xu tried his best to explain the Catholic faith to the emperor and put himself forward as a role model for being both a Catholic and loyal Chinese citizen. “How can such faith be a compromising faith?” Bishop Jin asked.

According to the prelate, Xujiahui district in downtown Shanghai, which grew around the graveyard where Xu was buried, became a place where modern Chinese culture developed and spread.

Xu was also a founder and pioneer of Catholicism in Shanghai.

Thus Bishop Jin urged Catholics to visit historic monuments associated with Xu and learn from his example during his birth anniversary this year and his 380th death anniversary next year.

He also called on the sick to pray for Xu’s intercession so that any miracle would be contributive to making him the first Chinese confessor-saint.

by James Martin, SJ

Here’s a serious question about levity: The Bible clearly paints a picture of Jesus of Nazareth as a clever guy, but he never seems to laugh, much less crack a smile. Did Jesus really have no sense of humor; didn’t he ever laugh?

Well, one difficulty with finding humor in the New Testament is that what was seen as funny to those living in Jesus’ time may not seem funny to us.

For someone in first-century Palestine, the premise (or “setup” as a comic would say) was probably more amusing than the punch line. “The parables were amusing in their exaggeration or hyperbole,” Amy-Jill Levine, a New Testament scholar at Vanderbilt University, said in an interview. “The idea that a mustard seed would have sprouted into a big bush that birds would build their nests in would be humorous.”

People in Jesus’ day would probably have laughed at many of his intentionally funny illustrations: for example, the idea that someone would have lit a lamp and put it under a basket, or that a person would have built a house on sand or that a father would give a child stones instead of bread.

But contemporary Christians may be missing the humor that Jesus intended and that his audience understood.

Father Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, professor of New Testament at Boston College, agrees. “Humor is very culture bound,” he told me. “The Gospels have a lot of controversy stories and honor-shame situations. I suspect that the early readers found these stories hilarious, whereas we in a very different social setting miss the point entirely.”

Let’s repeat that: hilarious.

Or maybe we just know the stories too well. Too many Gospel stories have become stale, like overly repeated jokes. “The words seem to us like old coins,” wrote Elton Trueblood, a 20th-century Quaker scholar, “in which the edges have been worn smooth and the engravings have become almost indistinguishable.”

In his book “The Humor of Christ,” Trueblood recounts the tale of his 4-year-old son hearing the Gospel story of seeing the speck of dust in your neighbor’s eye and ignoring the log in your own and laughing uproariously. His son recognized the humor that someone else, who might have heard the story dozens of times, might miss.

There are other indications in the Gospels that Jesus of Nazareth had a lively sense of humor. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is castigated for not being as serious as John the Baptist. “The Son of Man came eating and drinking,” Jesus said, “and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard.’ ” In other words, the Gospels record criticism of Jesus for being too high-spirited.

“Jesus and his disciples,” said the Rev. Richard J. Clifford, SJ, a biblical scholar at Boston College, “are criticized for living it up!”

After his time on Earth, some of this playfulness may have been downplayed by the Gospel writers, who, scholars say, may have felt pressured by the standards of their day to present a more serious Jesus.

“There were probably things that were compressed and shortened, and some of the humor may have been leached out,” Clifford said. “But I see Jesus as a witty fellow, someone who is serious without being grim. When the disciples argue among themselves, Jesus brings wit into the discussion.”

Jesus also embraces others with a sense of humor. In the beginning of the Gospel of John comes the remarkable story of Nathanael, who has been told by his friends that the Messiah is from Nazareth. Nathanael responds, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

This is an obvious joke about how backwards the town was; Nazareth was seen as a backwater with only a few hundred people.

And what did Jesus say in response? Does he castigate Nathanael for mocking his hometown?

Jesus says nothing of the sort! Nathanael’s humor seems to delight him.

“Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit,” Jesus said. In other words, here’s someone I can trust.

Nathanael then became one of the apostles. Jesus’ welcoming of Nathanael into his inner circle may be the clearest indication that Jesus had a sense of humor.

Besides, what kind of a person has zero sense of humor? I asked Eileen Russell, a clinical psychologist based in New York who specializes in the role of resilience, how she would describe the psychological makeup of a person without a sense of humor.

“A person without a sense of humor would lead to that person having significant social problems,” she said. “He would most likely have difficulty making social connections, because he wouldn’t be able to read signals from other people, and would be missing cues.”

That’s the opposite of what we know about Jesus from the Gospels. Yet that’s just the kind of one-sided image that many Christians have of Jesus. It shows up in Christian books, sermons and in artwork. It influences the way that Christians think about Jesus, and therefore influences their lives as Christians.

If part of being human includes having a sense of humor, and if Jesus was “fully human,” as Christians believe, he must have had a fully developed sense of humor. Indeed, his sense of humor may be one unexamined reason for his ability to draw so many disciples around him with ease.

It’s time to set aside the notion that Jesus was a humorless, grim-faced, dour, unsmiling prude. Let’s begin to recover his humor and, in the process, his humanity.

by Kathy Henry

The Lenten devotionals started arriving in my mailbox before Advent was over. We keep a box in the office. On one side it says “Lent/Easter,” on the other, “Advent/ Christmas.” The box fills quickly.

Churchy people like me delight in the selection and struggle to make just the right choice for helping families celebrate Lent with this year’s meditation and prayer. We think everyone should be as excited about this season as we are. We spend hours planning activities and celebrations that we hope will impact the families we serve. The reality may be sobering. Sometimes we plan too much. Do families really care about the season of Lent, and all of its signs and symbols, all of its opportunity and potential? What can we do help the families in our charge get the most out of this sacred time without overwhelming them with the choices?

Start with the basics. Encourage families to focus on the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in their homes.

• Prayer—Provide simple, age-appropriate devotions for both children and adults. Parents need to nourish their own spirituality in order to nourish that of their children. Children like interactive devotions. Teens are not too old or too young for either.
• Fasting—Encourage not only “giving up” but “adding to.” In addition to giving up a favorite food or activity, invite families to consider adding an activity or habit. Practice complimenting others, expressing gratitude, and being helpful. Fast from bad habits; practice good habits.
• Almsgiving—Give families a reason for gathering those loose coins. Yes, we may have a rice bowl, but why? Make it tangible and visible.

Make it communal. Assure families that other families are also struggling to make Catholic practices happen in their homes. Give them a venue for sharing their experiences.

• Begin the season with a communal Lent gathering that includes activities designed to encourage family faith formation. Last year we reflected on Matthew 6:1–18, handed out purple prayer cloths, decorated glass jars for alms, and created personal family plans for celebrating Lent in our homes.
• Invite families to participate in (not just attend) a family Stations of the Cross service. Include a potluck meal.
• Promote a communal almsgiving project, such as Catholic Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl, collections for Heifer International, or supporting a local charity. Create a visual display in church. In one parish, we kept a large wooden salad bowl full of rice in front of the altar throughout Lent. (The servers loved to run their fingers through it after Mass!)

Keep it simple. We know how busy family life can be any time of the year. Make sure families know our efforts respect their lifestyles without lowering the bar for faith formation.

• Teach families how to create a Lenten focus in their homes. Send visuals home.
• Give examples of ways to carve out small moments of grace in the middle of a busy day. Daily devotions don’t need to last a half of an hour. Take a 3-Minute Retreat together.
• Remind parents to select activities that fit their household. Lenten spirituality should never feel forced or imposed. At the same time, don’t be afraid to try something new.

Our task is to convince families that it can be fun and enriching to celebrate Catholic Lenten traditions at home. What else can we do to nurture family faith formation this Lent?

by Daniel Haugh

Perhaps by now, two weeks into the new year, the resolutions made on January 1 have come and gone. As mentioned in previous posts, for many years I was troubled at my lack of resolve and will power. The “check list” kind of resolutions never really worked for me.

For me, rather than attempting a new list (perhaps one more manageable), I am beginning to use this time of year to reflect and meditate upon where and how God is at work.

As I look back on 2011 and ahead to 2012, many questions arise, that I believe may be more important than whether or not my check list of do’s and don’ts is complete.

Have I grown in maturity, wisdom, understanding?

Has Faith, Hope, and Love increased in my life?

Am I willing to ask others to speak into my life and be honest with me.

Did I become more irritable? Less giving? Has compassion given way to apathy?

I realize the difficulty in trying to discern, but I have discovered that if I take time to sit and ponder (with openness and honesty) I am able to look back on this past year and see ways in which I have grown (hopefully) and other areas that I have not.

This past week I spent a few hours in various cathedrals in Paris. I love the atmosphere of transcendence and mystery as I embrace the Spirit of Peace. I gaze at the stained glass, dip my fingers into the baptism fonts to remember my own, and sit looking, praying, and reflecting. Often I will light a cancel and ask for illumination.

These moments brought me back to an earlier time in my journey when I practiced an ancient spiritual tradition called the “Examen Prayer” or “The Daily Examen”

A practice that I was first introduced to during a course on Spiritual Direction in college referred to then as The Ignatius Examen of Consciousness.

This is a wonderful spiritual discipline from the early church, practiced and made popular by the Jesuit priest St. Ignatius.The prayers and methods of praying suggested here are based on nearly five-hundred years of Jesuit spiritual tradition. They could help you grow in intimacy with God and experience Jesuit spirituality first-hand. St. Ignatius believed that he received a gift from God that not only enriched his own Christian life but was meant to be shared with others. The gift was a “method,” a way to seek and find God in all things and to gain the freedom to let God’s will be done on earth. This way of praying allowed Ignatius to discover the voice of God within his own heart and to experience a growth in familiarity with God’s will. Jesuits call this prayer their daily examen of consciousness.

The Examen of Consciousness

This is a prayer where we try to find the movement of the Spirit in our daily lives as we reflect on our day. This prayer can be made anywhere: on the beach, in a car, on the bus or metro, at home, in the library. Many people make the Examen twice daily: once around lunchtime and again before going to bed. There are five simple steps to the Examen, and what follows is just one interpretation of these five steps in discerning the movement of God’s Spirit in your day. Through this method of praying you can grow in a sense of self and the Source of self; you can become more sensitive to your own spirit with its longings, its powers, its Source; you will develop an openness to receive the supports that God offers.

1. Thanksgiving

Lord, I realize that all, even myself, is a gift from you.

– Today, for what things am I most grateful?

2. Intention

Lord, open my eyes and ears to be more honest with myself.

– Today, what do I really want for myself?

3. Examination

Lord, show me what has been happening to me and in me this day.

– Today, in what ways have I experienced your love?

4. Contrition

Lord, I am still learning to grow in your love.

– Today, what choices have been inadequate responses to your love?

5. Hope

Lord, let me look with longing toward the future.

– Today, how will I let you lead me to a brighter tomorrow?

I have found that depending on the season of life, or simply depending on the mood I am in that day, some themes are more difficult than others. Some years, Contrition is at the heart of what I need, Others times it is thanksgiving. Hope is always there.

My professor of Spiritual Formation taught us a simplified version of The Examen, which focusses on the #3 Examination

As a prayer:

1) How have I experienced your love today?

2) How have I loved you well?

3) How have I not loved you well? (this implies loving others as well. Love God = Love Others.)

This resolution and daily practice is worthwhile and certainly has the potential to transform this new year, for ourselves and those around us. May we begin this year looking back in reflection to see Go’s love and provision and grace protecting and guiding us. May we look ahead with anticipation and excitement and pray for God’s spirit to guide us in the upcoming year.

We have begun encouraging our youth and young adults to start this new year, new week, and each new day with these prayers. During one of our weekly gatherings, we look at the life of Saint Ignatius and set aside time individually to do the Examen.

My prayer is for a renewal desire to be saturated in God’s Word each day and to have fresh eyes and ears to witness His grace all around us.

Take, Lord, and Receive Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory,

my understanding, and my entire will.

All I have and call my own.

Whatever I have or hold, you have given me.

I return it all to you and surrender it wholly to be governed by your will.

Give me only your love and your grace and I am rich enough and ask for nothing more.

-St. Ignatius, from the end of the Spiritual Exercises

by Charles Jackson, SJ

Discernment presupposes an ability to reflect on the ordinary events of one’s life, a habit of personal prayer, self-knowledge, knowledge of one’s deepest desires and openness to God’s direction and guidance. Discernment is a prayerful “pondering” or “mulling over” the choices a person wishes to consider. In his discernment, the person’s focus should be on a quiet attentiveness to God and sensing rather than thinking. His goal is to understand the choices in his heart: to see them, as it were, as God might see them. In one sense, there is no limit to how long he might wish to continue in this. Discernment is a repetitive process, yet as the person continues, some choices should of their own accord fall by the wayside while others should gain clarity and focus. It is a process that should move inexorably toward a decision.

by Becky Eldredge

One of my greatest joys in life is journeying with those in their 20s and 30s in my work with Charis Ministries, and even more specifically, sharing with them the gifts and joys of Ignatian spirituality. At the beginning of every Charis retreat, we take the time to share St. Ignatius’s story. I am always amazed at how much his story speaks to the young adults and how much they find encouragement and inspiration in Ignatius’s story.

To begin with, Ignatius’s conversion happened when he was a young adult and a layman. Instantly, this opens up the reality that we are invited, as Ignatius was, into a relationship with God right now as we are in our 20s and 30s. His conversion story did not happen after years of theological training or years of religious education; rather, it happened in the prime of his military career. What does that say to young adults? God wants us now, and if Ignatius could make the radical change as a young adult to follow Christ, then we can also right now. Caitlin, a 22-year-old college student, captures this reality when she says:

What inspires me the most about Ignatius is the humanness of his story. The humanness and the humility that his conversion story ends with are inspiring. It seems that if he can overcome the life he was living to find Christ, our journey can’t be that far.

The question that Ignatius’s story invites all of us, not just young adults, to consider is, “Am I aware of the depth of God’s desire for a relationship with me right now?”