Being a Jesuit
What it is to be a Jesuit? That is to be brothers and friends in the Lord.
Frs. Dermot (Ireland) and Ziad (Syria) together with regent Blazej (Poland) in Clogowes Wood College.
Fr. Jan’s 40th Sacerdotal Anniversary
Fr. Jan van de Poll, SJ our tertian instructor, celebrated his 40th Sacerdotal Anniversary at Clongowes Wood College. He presided the mass and was con-celebrated by 2 priests from the school and 5 tertians (Gregoire, Angelo, Ziad, Zeljko, Clement)
Fr. Jan gave a striking sermon on John the Baptist and he used the anology of trees and leadership to illustrate the mission and person of John the Baptist. His edifying antics and dramatic use of voice and expressions glued the attention of the kids to his sermon.
After the mass, they had a sumptuous lunch with the Jesuit community in Clongowes. Truly Jesuits in Ireland are warm and hospitable.
The celebration continued during dinner, the sister of Marco (tertian from Italy) and her husband, are here in Dublin for a short vacation and they prepared Italian dishes to the heart’s content of the tertians.
It was a fine and wonderful day!
Happy Anniversary Jan !!!
Fr. Jan’s 40th Sacerdotal Anniversary-Italian Dinner
Feast of the Epiphany
On the Feast of the Epiphany, we reflect:
When we do not see Jesus, fear comes in because we see our own ghosts instead, especially the one that wants to control things.
Today, January 6, 2016, we had a conference on how to give the Spiritual Exercises and it was facilitated by our tertian instructors: Jan and Paul. It was not a walk in the park experience even though most of us have countless of experiences in giving the Exercises and we ourselves, just had our 2nd 30-day retreat last December. We slowly discuss point by point on the salient parts of Exercises, listen to one another’s experiences, observations, consolations and desolations, to deepen more our understanding of the Exercises.
“Only those who have seen the Lord can open their real treasures. And one offers them beyond one’s self. Treasures without the Lord are vices meant to be consumed selfishly.” We savoured this personally during the “second week” of our 30-day retreat.
The Exercises indeed, calls each Jesuit to gaze upon Jesus and to grow in His love so as we can be more free to say “yes” to His loving invitation.
“Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.”
Crib at the Tertianship Chapel during the Feast of the Epiphany. Jeff, SJ
Galway Experience
After the 30-day retreat and the joyful celebration of Christmas, On Deceomber 26, 2015, four Tertians went to Galway for a mini villa. Marco, Zeljko, Ziad and Jeff travelled by Car to Galway and on their way to their destination, they had to stop in Athlone for a sumptuous Italian lunch of pizza and pasta.
They stayed with the Jesuit community of St. Ignatius Residence in 27 Raleigh Row, Galway. There are 5 Jesuits in the community and they are all very accommodating and warm. Fr. Minister is Fr. Enda O’ Callaghan, and he attended well all our needs. He also loves to play table tennis and he invited Jeff and Ziad to play table tennis at night time. He’s one of the senior members of the community but mind you, he is still strong and athletic. He even beat Ziad at times, in spite of him being young and a table tennis varsity when he was in secondary school. The games added a flavor to their trip and much needed physical exercise for the tertians.
The next day they visited Kylemore Castle and got themselves immersed in the local history and heritage of the place.
On their third day, they visited the majestic Cliffs of Moher. There is really something about that brought them to awe and wonder. This is a very conducive place to contemplate the wonder of God and nature. On their way to the place, they met heavy rain and strong wind but thanks be to God, the moment they reached the place, the rain and the wind stopped. Giving the happy tertians ample time to explore and enjoy the place.
They need to leave Galway on the 29th of December, 2015 late in the morning because Storm Frank would have its landfall in the afternoon on that day. They were one in prayer with those people who were affected by the storm.
Ziad stayed in Galway to accompany Clement for the 2nd batch of the mini-villa. I heard, they spent most of their time in the residence due to the storm. It gave them opportunity to bond one another and to get to know the Galway Jesuit community better.
Overall, it was fun, worthwhile and consoling villa for the tertians.
Jeff, Marco and Zeljko in Cliffs of Moher
Jeff, Ziad and Marco at Kylemore Abbey
Sunrise in Galway near the Jesuit Residence
Galway Cathedral
Kylemore Abbey
Ancient Clonmacnoise Irish Monastery
At the Galway City Center