Sep 20 Thomas Johnson et al.

Thommy and John

good morning
I love you

happy saturday! first up at about six and in slow motion until I headed to Mass. Fr Fideles is a holy man - or I am simply taken by his quiet hispanic demeanor.... the deacon, a transplanted brooklynite who brought his accent with him, is, simply, annoying in manner and voice as well as in substance of his readings and his sermons - too often read from a cookbook.... but, it’s Mass. it’s in a beautiful church. and there’s plenty of room behind the pillars in my ND sweatsuit.... followed by barnes and noble, a venti white chocolate, the times and the new yorker [I was in newark last saturday and got the nyc version of the times and the news and the post plus was taken in by a friend’s new yorker, re-addicted again but it’s much too expensive for the cartoons. want a christmas gift hint? the entire new yorker, from the beginning, on disc for $179....

the first feel of fall. and it got me to notice the leaves are beginning to turn. we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. especially in fall. in about a month, take the drive to Charlotte or roundtrip ashville on the state roads that wind that way - - the zen of the fall drive to inhale the splendor of the leaves...

I’m sorry I didn’t get to see John at Family weekend. I was surprised he wasn’t part of the crew for the show - I left after the Hair number. I saw the original on broadway - and several times since. not only was the performance not talented, the audience did not get it - except, I suppose, those of us who remember the original, have the tied dyed t-shirts, even the album [that’d be plastic then tape, not disc]. the age of Aquarius should still have some philosophical appeal to youth and the young at heart: but talent does matter in keeping a patron in the seats. if John’d been part of the show, I’d have stayed for the duration. .... today I’ll be meandering through the uncg library. and have already bought my ticket for next weekend’s family weekend.... oremus pro nobis....

[catholic angels and saints; catholic encyclopedia on line]

September 20, 2008
Thomas Johnson d. 1537

The Carthusian Charterhouse in London.... the Carthusian Order is a contemplative order [monks and nuns]. Founded in Grenoble France by St Bruno [whose bio takes you on a trip of holiness as well as Church eleventh century history]. The Carthusians assimilated the eastern hermit or eremetical way of life - think St Anthony in the desert, the Carthusians in their monasteries - - years in monastic community then for those truly prepared, a step into the eremetical life.... Bruno began in the desolate valley of the French alps - think now, ski resort and the olymbpics of jean claude kiley!

Thomas Johnson was a priest member of the Carthusians’ London Charterhouse [not a steak house]. Our favorite anti-papist anti-Catholic King, Henry VIII, would not allow the presence of any opposition to his claim of sovereignty: even or especially [think about it] the silent group of eremetical monks in the midst of his capital city. On May 18, 1537, the good english king required the 20 monks and 18 brothers remaining in the Charterhouse to take the oath of supremacy. [you too are expected to take oaths of fealty - such oaths take many forms with myriad consequences should you not comply. you have to know when you are taking such oaths; or acquiescing to them. the cost of the oath may be much greater than the benefits of remaining faithful to your baptism.]

Thomas Johnson, Thomas Green, Thomas Scryven, William Horne, William Greenwood, John Davy were among those sent to Newgate gaol for their abstaining from proclaiming the oath of supremacy.

Thomas Johnson starved to death in Newgate.... by the king’s command. a silent death in the midst of the sustenance of a community of prayer and the grace of God. He died on 9-20-1537.





September 20, 2008
John Charles Cornay d. 1837 c. 1988

Msgr Pallu, Bishop of Heliopolis, Vicar Apostlic of Tongking, and Msgr Lambert de la Motte, bishop of Bertyus, Vicar Apostolic of Conchin-China founded The paris society of foreign missions. These bishops left france in 1660-62 to their respective countries. they crossed persia and india on foot. The purpose of the new society was - and still is - the evangelization of infidel countries [might that include the usa today?] by founding churches and ordaining priests under the leadership of local bishops. Building the church from the bottom up....

John Charles Cornay was born in france and joined the foreign missions and was sent to Vietnam. [a place in the news again these days - in the news and in my face for most of my college years].... John Charles Cornay was kept n a cage for months and subjected to hideous cruelties before being beheaded. [each of our countries seem to have a favorite method of denigration. how do those who oppose your catholicism put you in a cage and torture you?



September 20

Sts Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, et al. [1839, 1866, 1867] c. 1984

Priests from the Paris Foreign Mission Society ound a strong Christian community in Korea under lay leadership. Andrew Kim Taegon was among the first priests. Paul Chong Hasang was his lay apostle Tonto.


Martyrs of Korea
JPII also established this more general feast on Sep 20.

e.g., our faith was brought to korea in a unique way. Korean intellectuals who went to China to learn about the world discovered Christian books. Ni-seung-houn studied Catholism in Beijing in 1784 - baptized Peter Ri. He converted many countrymen when he returned home - - see, it may be necessary to move away from the apron strings and repressions of home to rediscover your faith.

In 1791 Christians were declared foreign traitors. and the martyrdom began. you too are and will be seen as traitors when you adhere to your Catholic faith. The faith endured under the persecution in Korea. The Church continued to send missionaries - - and these real foreigners were also martyred. for the next century and more.



I love you
dad

Sep 18 John de Massias b. 1585 d. 9/16/1645 b. 1837 c. 1975

Thommy and John

Good morning
I love you

September 18
John de Massias b. 1585 d. 9/16/1645 b. 1837 c. 1975

Our friends the Dominicans, I’m sure have a greater biography of this Dominican monk than Angels and Saints on line provides – and I didn’t find anything substantially additive on other sites via google.

But, his name does pop up next to
Martin De Porres and Rose of Lima
Although they do not show up in his bios.

Famous people I have known. An entertaining parlor game or social snobbery. And we each have our list – especially with a very broad definition of ‘known’. For example, Micky Stunkard. I read much of this man’s work in my psychology studies. Then, one morning, at the kitchen table in a Jesuit house in Boston, who’s there eating cornflakes and bananas and skim milk? I distinguished gentleman, short cropped grey hair, about six foot something, slender, soft spoken. I didn’t know the guy. I assumed he was a Jesuit, probably a priest teaching at any number of universities in the area. Nope. Not a priest. Not a Jesuit. Another visiting pilgrim just like me. But “Micky”, as he introduced himself, was a “researcher” there in Boston to collaborate with some folks at Harvard. A famous researcher in obesity…. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that this man has no memory of our encounter and wouldn’t know my name even with lots of clues. I’d like to say that I “knew” him – he was there a few days and we had more than a breakfast together. I know his writings. And I know something of the man.

Who in your life would you choose to have said in their bio that they knew you? Are they people of the caliber of Martin de Porres or Rose of Lima? That’s the level of people to aspire to be known by. Who do you put on your list of famous people you know? Met? Shook his hand? Saw live and in person, even if he were on a stage thousands of people away? Each list says a lot about who you are….

But I digress – primarily because I’m got an advanced stage of ADHD or maybe it’s just dementia sinking in or some other psychiatric illness that steers me off course.

John de Massias. Born in Ribera, Spain to a pious and impoverished noble family. You were born in Nashville TN and really born at the baptismal font at St Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in NYC – remember when you go to baptize your children, that font is a family tradition [and it’s a parish led by Jesuits….]. …. And you were born into a not so noble family. At the time, it was a family, we thought. By dollar income, in the top five percent. A mixed marriage – religion, geography, collective unconscious. Maybe it was hubris that made us believe we could fashion a family ourselves from out of our passions and our differences.

John de massias was orphaned at a young age. Your mother and I made plans that she said she agreed to just in case you were orphaned. Fortunately, you weren’t orphaned. Unfortunately, your parents didn’t keep their promises qua spouses nor as parents – maybe worse than being orphaned. But it is what it is. And you have risen so far to this point in your lives – using only one ore in the water but paddling along….

John de Massias went to Peru to work on a cattle ranch. Hey, an orphan, no legacy except faith and his talents and almost no resources. So he hired himself out to whomever would give him work and the opportunity for three squares and a roof over his head.

In Lima, John de Massias joined the Dominicans as a lay brother. He is known for his life long dedication to is community and all who came to visit them as their porter – i.e., door keeper. The man between the Dominican monks and the outside world. John de Massias cared for all the poor of Lima

Cattleman. Porter. The dignity of work is inherent in the work and the faith with which you do it. Any work done right, to your best, infused with your gifts of grace – is honorable work.

John de Massias is known for his austerities, miracles, and visions. John de Massias is also known for his constant praying of the rosary, offering his prayers for the repose of the souls in purgatory. And how will you be known? Whom have you served – the poor, the souls in purgatory, …? Imagine how this poor porter, in Lima Peru, became known – to his community, in his city, and now throughout the ages…. How will you make your mark?

Maybe they’ll let me tend the front door….

I love you
Dad

Sep 17 Brogan

John and Thommy

Good morning
I love you

September 17
Brogan 7th c.

One of the beauties of being Irish is that we have a plethora of saints, many of whom may be rolled up into one – story tellers that we are! Another advantage of writing – you get to keep your story straight and not confused with other Johns, Jacks, Thommys or Thoms….

Brogan was the abbot of Ross Tuiric, Ossory.

The community selected him to be abbot. What does that tell you about Brogan? A seventh century Irish Abbot? Without knowing anything particular about the man, this should tell you a lot about him. Just as being a student at Greensboro College or at UNCG tells a lot about you. It is how your deport yourself in this role that will determine how you specifically will be remembered - - will it be saintly as Brogan is? I pray so….

We also give Brogan credit for authoring a hymn to St Brigid.

What does that tell you about Brogan? For whom will you write poetry? Hymns? [songs] Stories? Comics? Writing is an expression of Love – even letters or postcards, even to your grandfather and father. An expression of God’s love is the best poetry [Gerard Manly Hopkins maybe?] What songs will we remember you by?

I love you,
Dad

Sep 17 Robert Bellarmine

Thommy and John

Good morning
I love you

Going a day ahead to the seventeenth because no biggies on the sixteenth – plus, it’s always an uplifting fantasy to think ahead, to bring the future into the now while drawing from our past…. Going beyond ourselves. Being more than who we are by assimilating the best of whom we’ve come from and of whom we aspire to be….



September 17

Robert Bellarmine, S.J. b. 1542 d. 1621
Entered the Society of Jesus in 1560
(Ignatius of Loyola died 1556)

catholic online and catholic encyclopedia on line

Dr. Frist Sr. et al. started HCA in 1968. At the time, I had no idea that a pioneering healthcare company was started at Parkview Hospital in Nashville Tennessee. 1968 was a big year in my life. The second year in the novitiate. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy both assassinated {April and June}. I got to spend time at Bishop Connolly H.S., Fairfield University, St. Mary’s parish in Bridgeport, and Boston City Hospital. My formation in Ignatian spirituality was intense…. Somewhere around 1983 I became aware of the existence of HCA. I was looking for my next opportunity beyond UAB and discovered that my Ph.D. and MBA and my psychology and leadership experience and my aspiration to lead hospitals in service of the mentally ill were a great fit for the burgeoning psychiatric hospital industry – of which HCA was a main player….. I joined HCA in 1985. And got to meet Dr. Frist Sr. (and Jr. and the other pioneers of the company as well as the men and women who were shaping the best of the for profit healthcare industry. My years with HCA were the best of my career so far – being with the best and the brightest with the most resources – we (I) had to work at screwing it up

I, of course, did not meet Ignatius. In my two years at Cheverus High School and then the two years in the novitiate, I got to meet some of the holiest and smartest men God put on this earth. In addition to the men assigned to Cheverus and Shadowbrook aka St Stanilaus Koska Novitiate, I got to meet some of the men who shaped Vatican II and a few who were at the point of the anti-war efforts in our country – because they stopped by where I happened to be living. It wasn’t’ so much the great ones who helped me grow the vocational seed planted in Portland. It was the holy ones who generously showed me and taught me how to imbibe the Ignatian spirituality on my journey to be closer to Jesus: to become a better person. [to pray as if everything depended on God: to work as if everything depended on me….] I still do appreciate how these men, four hundred years after Ignatius – and on the other side of several suppressions of the order – passed on to me Ignatius, the founding fathers of the order, and the wealth of accumulated holiness and wisdom…

I did get to meet Dr. Frist Sr. And Frist Jr. and Jack Massey and Henry Hooker and David Williams and and and. And I was around enough times when Jack Bovannder, today’s chairman and ceo, to know that he has assimilated the lessons of the founders, enriched them with his persona and experiences, and continues to develop HCA as The healthcare company. I believe I learned enough from my leaders and colleagues and cohorts during my brief time at HCA to not only pass on and enrich HCA’s culture at HCA but to also carry those lessons with me wherever I’ve been since then.

What does this have to do with Robert Bellarmine and you? From whence you come, from who you come, whom you choose, whom you choose to emulate - - it all matters. Some of it is circumstantial and not your choice – e.g., your parents, your family, most of the first 19 or 21 years of your life as you evolve your own persona within the context of your birthright. Some of it you get to choose – especially the people you bring into your life; the people you seek out; the examples you pursue….


Robert Bellarmine’s mother, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and mortifications of the body. Imagine how different your lives would have been if you were related to the Pope – any one of the popes so far in your life time. Unfortunately that’d mean you wouldn’t be Irish – so, it’s a good thing you’re not related to a pope. I’m guessing we have some priests and bishops in our lineage somewhere back across the sea…. Imagine how very different your life would be if your mother were Catholic, especially if she’d been born and raised Catholic and had her own familial traditions of almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting et al., especially basing her holiness and spirituality in the Eucharist with scripture and tradition.

Robert Bellarmine joined the Society of Jesus, a radically different and brand new [1540] religious order – one of whose uniquenesses is its fourth vow of obedience to the Pope. How Robert Bellarmine chose this route to fulfill his vocation to the priesthood and service to God’s people is worthy of your study. For me it was an opportunity to join the Pope’s marines…. Robert Bellarmine went to the Jesuit school in his home town. In a similar way as I was introduced to the Jesuits at Cheverus. Well, our principal and rector and provincial didn’t make an extra effort to recruit me – like they would have the son of the sister of a local powerful cardinal and future pope.

Robert Bellarmine was blessed with extraordinary talent as well as holiness. He taught at Louvain – not only advancing our theological knowledge but also an ardent defender of our faith and the pope. In 1576, merely 34 years old, Robert Bellarmine became the chair of theology at the Roman College [newly founded as The Chair of Controversies! Wouldn’t it be cool to be identified as the defender of the faith in the midst of all controversies?! Maybe not in theology but say in set design or in mathematics?! Robert Bellarmine’s "De Controversiis" systematically identify and refute the controversies of his day.], becoming Rector in 1592, Provincial of Naples in 1594, Cardinal in 1598. - - talk about a skyrocketed career!

In 1599, the Pope called on Robert Bellarmine to authoritatively settle the dispute between Thomists and Molinists about the relationship of efficacious grace and human liberty. The Pope was looking for an authoritative, definitive answer. Robert Bellarmine, both scholar and churchman persuade the pontiff to leave the debate over for further discussion in the schools, the disputants on either side being strictly forbidden to indulge in censures or condemnations of their adversaries.

Robert Bellarmine became renowned – and got into the canonization tract – because his scholarship and his preaching on behalf of the Apostolic See were successful against the anti-clerics in Venice and the politics of James I of England. Robert Bellarmine was prolific in his writings, his preachings, and his personal efforts to defend our faith in such a way as protect the faithful from heretical influence and even convert those who would attack the Church. …. How will you become renowned? As you pursue your vocation, do you strive for the perfection to which Jesus and our faith and religion call you? In addition to your personal development, how do you strive to enhance the faith and development of others? How do you take your talents and resources to maximize God’s will in your life and in the lives for whom you are responsible?

I recommend Robert Bellarmine’s writings to you, especially in our era of debate about Church-State relations. This sixteenth century theologian, church father, and statesman laid the foundation for democratic principles of church-state relations. Authority comes from God. This authority is vested in the people who then entrust it in their rulers.

We are known for our heritage and our legacy. Our writings bring us forward in time. Moreso, our influence on students and colleagues. [and, for those of us blessed with children, through our families.] Robert Bellarmine was Aloysius Gonzaga’s spiritual director. If there is a youth among the saints with whom to become intimately familiar, Aloysius Gonzaga is he For influencing whom will you be known? Robert Bellarmine helped Francis de Sales obtain approval of the Visitation Order. We accrue friends by being friends to others. We receive help by helping others. Pass it forward! And it comes back a hundred fold. Who will you be known for helping? Our church didn’t treat Galileo very well – the ole Church-Science evolution! [punny, yes?] Robert Bellarmine was an extraordinary scholar and a distinguished churchman. He stepped in to alleviate or ameliorate our Church’s actions against Galileo. He didn’t have to. He had his own position to be concerned about. And yet, Robert Bellarmine stuck his neck out for him. For whom will you earn the turtle award? For whom will you stick your neck out – because it is right!?

In the case of Galileo, Robert Bellarmine had always shown great interest in the discoveries of that investigator, and was on terms of friendly correspondence with him. Robert Bellarmine’s attitude towards scientific theories in seeming contradiction with Scripture sets the foundation for our modern approach - - If, as was undoubtedly the case then with Galileo's heliocentric theory, a scientific theory is insufficiently proved, it should be advanced only as an hypothesis; but if, as is the case with this theory now, it is solidly demonstrated, care must be taken to interpret Scripture only in accordance with it. Church and science are not mutually exclusive. They must inform one another.


We readily devour his biography. But the facts of history are not the essence of the man. As the Catholic Encyclopedia on line tells us: “His spirit of prayer, his singular delicacy of conscience and freedom from sin, his spirit of humility and poverty, together with the disinterestedness which he displayed as much under the cardinal's robes as under the Jesuit's gown, his lavish charity to the poor, and his devotedness to work, had combined to impress those who knew him intimately with the feeling that he was of the number of the saints.” Robert Bellarmine was infused with his closeness with Jesus. He could not have, would not have done much of what he achieved if he hadn’t responded to that love with all that he had….

Robert Bellarmine was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930, and declared a Doctor of the Universal Church in 1931. He is the patron saint of catechists.



Robert Bellarmine is a favorite saint of mine.

I love you
Dad

September 9 mother's birthday, Peter Claver, and Kieran

John and Thommy

Good morning
I love you

September 9
Your mother’s birthday – 1950

What can your father tell you about your mother? What should he? And for whose/what benefit? Maybe at 19 and 21, it’s time to read/hear more about your mother – you should get primary source information from your aunts [though I’d take whatever Natalie said with a large grain of salt; Ginger on the other hand, I would accept as from a source of authentic love and honesty] and uncle [a brother’s point of view, a much younger brother’s point of view, may be of better relevance for a son.?] There are certainly people in the Jones family as well as Robert E. Lee and neighborhood folks who can give you more about her…. It is important to know from whom you come…. You are your mother’s son – seemingly not unlike I am my mother’s son - - since each of our mothers have many of the same traits [few of which I’d recommend assimilating….]. [yes, it is likely that a boy marries his mother…. That’s why the rites and rituals of courtship – get a complete social history of your intended, long before she is an intended anything. Get to know her mother – she is likely to become very much like her mother….. but I digress.]

What can I tell you about your mother? I know some of her history – especially from 1980 to now. She told me about before 1980 – and there are pieces of paper floating amidst the four and a half tons of stuff. The sources I recommended to you have been sources for me. As were her father and her mother. As was her husband [i.e., Rick Redmon – google-able, Montgomery, AL].

Facts and figures are the least likely to be mispresented through my prism of feeloughts about your mother. But even those, like her medical history [of high importance to each of you], would be selective based on what she revealed. And any of my telling you about them might be misinterpreted as to motivation. E.g., why would a father be sure that his sons knew that their mother has genital herpes or is manic depressive?

Her academic history and her professional history, i.e., facts, are public record enough for you to cipher. High School in late 1060’s Robert E. Lee High School, Montgomery, AL. imagine what kind of school that was…. College then grad schools on to her Ph.D. in Marketing from UA – where she and I met.

The history of your mother’s and my relationship(s) with one another [plural is probably the correct noun] is thoroughly documented in the papers et al. of her divorce [a good portion of which make up much of the four and a half tons of stuff at my place in GSO]. One man’s point of view – intense feeloughts, maybe even some useful insights. Maybe the insights into your father are better reasons for reading that stuff.


What should I tell you? All the stuff I have saved is yours to do with as you please. (It may all get scanned and blogged for all posterity.) You have your experience of your mother. Valuable knowledge and lessons. And insufficient. You should seek others’, especially my, experience with your mother so that you can not only have information and analysis et al. that will serve you in your relationship with her, it will also be crucial in your relationships with all females of our species…. So, I should tell you about what you ask. And I should tell you what I believe is useful to you… that’s why all the writings have been saved – so you have my feeloughts in the moment; plus a few reflections….. good luck….



On your mother’s birthday,
September 9
we celebrate

Peter Claver, SJ
and
Kieran [Kevin] the younger.


Peter Claver b. 1580 d. 1654 beat. 1850 c. 1888

St. Peter Claver was born at Verdu, Catalonia, Spain, of impoverished parents. He studied at the Jesuit college of Barcelona, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona in 1602 and took his final vows on August 8th, 1604. While studying philosophy at Majorca, the young religious was influenced by St. Alphonsus Rodriguez to go to the Indies and save "millions of perishing souls."

The relationship between Peter Claver and Alphonsus Rodriquez is worth imbibing. Two saintly men from very different families meet in the Society of Jesus…. You, too, will meet men [and I hope lots of them] with whom you will have the opportunity to become friends – choose wisely, I pray…. And, through whom you may cipher your vocation…. And from whom you may draw the strength to fulfill your vocation.

In 1610, Peter Claver landed at Cartagena (modern Colombia), the principle slave market of the New World, where a thousand slaves were landed every month. After his ordination in 1616, he dedicated himself by special vow to the service of the Negro slaves-a work that was to last for thirty-three years.

When you find your vocation – make a vow to fulfill it! When you find the journey on which you will pursue your vocation, like Peter Claver’s serving the slaves, dedicate yourself to it! [fulfilling vows is not something you inherited from your mother; nor learned from her. Promise. Vow. Commit. Forever, no matter what. That is something more Catholic that she has to offer you. However, since Vows are fundamentally Love, reach into God’s Love of you and express that in your vocation; you’ll get it eventually….]


Through Peter Claver’s efforts three hundred thousand souls entered the Church.

Know the metrics of your vocation. How do you know you’re actually achieving what you’ve been called to do? Or at work [or any other commitment you make], be able to demonstrate [with numbers!] how well you are doing so….






Kieran the Younger
One of the twelve apostles of Ireland

Born in Connacht, the son of a carpenter. [the song… if I were a carpenter, would you marry me anyway?.... something John, our carpenter, might have to rephrase….]

Keiran studied at St Finnian’s school at Clonard. Kieran was reputedly the most learned monks at this center for the best and the brightest Ireland had to offer. [I’d say the Harvard of its time except it was a school of faith as well as learning.] Dare I say again, it does matter where you get your education. E.g., the public schools of Montgomery AL or the Catholic schools of Portland and NYC --- could be that such education does not make for good bedfellows. [I’m guessing that it had to do with more fundamentals than schools but the schools do make the person, too.]

Kieran spent seven years at Inishmore with St Enda [not with in the ‘modern’ sense ow ‘with’. Coincident presence. Shared vocations and faith. Enriching one another.] Then, Kieran went to Isel monastery and some time on Inis Aingin. It does matter, the course of your education, your training, the depth of your immersion into your vocation, the honing of your skills as well as y our vows. The place. The people who teach there. The people with whom you learn. All help our become a hindrance. But, ultimately, you decide how well you will use God’s gifts and the resources He’s given you.

Auburn-troy, Montgomery, Alabama, GW, and back home Alabama. Or, Jesuit novitiate [with side trips to Berkshire Community College, Fairfield U, and Boston College], Bama, an excursion to U Oregon; the back home Alabama.. And the trajectories crossed in an office in Bidgood ….

Kieran and eight companions built a monastery in Offaly – the reknowned Clonmacnois Monastery, The greatest Irish center of learning for centuries. Kieran was chosen Abbot.


Happy mother’s birthday
I love you

Dad

September 14 John's Birthday, Exaltation of the Cross

John

Happy Birthday – 2008
Good morning 9-15-08
I love you

This morning I talked with Grandpa – 83 today [like Kelly is 19 today]. He said that he had already heard from Uncle Ken and Kelly and that Uncle Ken was flying in to visit for the day. [certain advantages to free flying tickets] Grandpa sounded not as up as I’ve heard him lately. 83 could be his last year [like 59 mine, 21 yours…. Not so much a downer on things – more Ignatian as well as a reminder not to wake up one day regretting that you hadn’t called or written - made contact with, especially those to whom you have filial duties….]

I was there for you yesterday. Mass at SPX. A scoot to campus. And home until about ten o’clock when I left for my current jobsite.

Msgr. gave his usually fine sermon – this one with the history lesson: Helen and Constantine. The story of pilgrimage. The transition from cross as a symbol of degradation to one of salvation – read Paul to the Philippians [he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.] or more directly John’s quoting Jesus: “so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Infathomable!

I hope your birthday was a wonderful celebration of who you are – God’s gift to all of us and us to you – and what you have received [‘thank you’ to the people who have given you is a human as well as filial responsibility] and what opportunities your gifts and resources offer you. I’m sorry you chose to celebrate without including all those/us people. I hope you have also already given Grandpa the thanks for this year’s present and also for all that he’s given you, for simply being your Grandpa – not to mention the happy birthday call today.



September 14
Exaltation of the Holy Cross

[catholic encyclopedia on line]

Coincident – your birthday and this feast day. And no other biggie – I’m guessing that’s by someone’s plan. It’s such an important feast, it overrides the Sunday calendar.

Paul – and in this year of Jubilee for St Paul he should be a daily read – has a splattering of references to the Cross as a source of focus, a way to remember Jesus, and a symbol associated with Jesus’ sacrifice, his Passion. That’s why we wear a crucifix; or carry a rosary with a crucifix; or have a crucifix in our room/home. To remember who we are and how we are connected to Jesus and the Cross…. “With Christ, I am nailed to the Cross” [Gal 2;19] “The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” [Gal 6:14]. Paul’s pronouns speak for us, too.

It took a little while for the cult of the Cross to evolve in our Tradition – a veneration of the Cross: think Good Friday’s liturgy!

The story of the discovery of the Cross – or as Msgr said, if we put the all the shards of the one true cross together we’d be able to build an ark! So, as important as the true pieces are – it’s the veneration of the purpose via the thing that brings us [to our priority goal] closer to Jesus Himself.

About 327 the bishop of Jerusalem probably uncovered the site of the Sepulcher and of Calvary – with the stumps of the cross in the ground excavated, identified as authentic wood of The Cross. The bishop had a chapel built there. The full story of St Helena’s legend is a worthy read – the mother of the Emperor, on a pilgrimage [a quest?] to discover the original sites. Go to the Source for the fullness of explication – as well as whenever you want to get closer to the original event, intent….

Around 360, Julian the Apostate emperor at Constantine, made it a crime to trace the cross on one’s forehead or to engrave it on the door frame to one’s home…. Recognizing in an imperial suppressory [neologism] way, the venerated cross. When the ruler of your kingdom suppresses an act, a belief, an expression of feeloughts, question with God what is the Truth and what you should do that is Right

It was a boon for tourism to have the excavated original sites of the launching of Christianity. Pilgrimages – I suggest you take yours regularly as well. To the Holy Land fersure; back to Rome but this time qua pilgrim; to the shrines here in USA, Notre Dame or even those nearer by…. Following the example of St Helena, a woman who had everything – ev ry thing! And still sought Jesus and his incomprehensible gateway to God and eternity. Venerate the Cross in your own way, possibly imagining as though Jesus is still hanging there for you/us [which He is, metapophorically….]

In the vocabulary of the Church, in our veneration of the Holy Cross, Second council of Nicea: ‘the honor paid to the image passes to the prototype; and he who adores the image, adores the person whom it represents….’ ‘while it is of faith that this cult is useful, lawful, even pious and worthy of praise and of encouragement, and while we are not permitted to speak against it as something pernicious, still it is one of those devotional practices which the church can encourage, or restrain, or stop, according to circumstances.’

The Feast of the Cross like so many other liturgical feasts, had its origin at Jerusalem, and is connected with the commemoration of the Finding of the Cross and the building, by Constantine, of churches upon the sites of the Holy Sepulcher and Calvary.

Like your birthday is connected to the commemoration of your conception; birth during that Monday night football game between Giants and Bears; a celebration of love….

Liturgical Readings:


Nm 21:4b-9

With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,….

How has your journey worn you out? How is it that you came to complain against God, Moses, and moi? And how is it that you sustain your complaint. Do you not yet understand the journey from marriage [of the wedding believed to be marriage] to conception, to birth, to the raising of our son in faith – because we are all created in the image of God, to knowloveandserveHimhere and bewithHimforeverinheaven. The journey from Nashville to GSO. The journey from infant to child to adolescent, on the threshold of adulthood [the five indicators of adult are…. ].

How is it that you have defined your place – then or now – as a desert? How have you come to complain about your going to die? Except to die with Jesus on the Cross, no other dying is relevant; and of no real concern, just a fact jack.

the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live….”

The symbol has been kidnapped by the medical profession. It was, we’ve discovered, a precursor of Jesus Cross. It was not the kissing of the pole. It is the faith that brings to kisser to believe, to be cured….


Phil 2:6-11

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross….

Each one of us, though we think of ourselves as Ego [gods], we are not equal with God, though created in His image and likeness. It is for us to empty ourselves, give ourselves to God as “His slave” worthy to be His because He says so. The kicker is our humbling ourselves – becoming obedient to His Love, being in love with Him, giving Him love, i.e., our obedience; until death do us rejoin him much more closely than now….

Sure there’s an aside here on obedience: obedience qua love. As Augustine said [or was it Aquinas, I never remember], love God and do whatever you want. And that cascades down: love self, and do whatever you want. Love [honor too] father and mother, and do whatever you want. Love brother and do whatever you want…. To love is to obey, fealty, to live for the other…..


Jn 3:13-17

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life….

As the guy on csi ny says, it’s all connected. And it’s refreshing to see he readings so tightly connected….

Maybe we can modify Augustine: Believe in God and do whatever you want. Do not hesitate to free yourself to that believe; to receive His Love – the secret of a father’s love, The Father’s Love – it’s forever, no matter what….



Not particularly refined offering for your birthday. The two boxes and card and letters I’ll write about sometime soon. You are welcome. And my grandchildren, I hope, will enjoy and appreciate the giving as well as the gifts, too.

I love you
Dad