Can the Scars Ever Heal? Haiti, Four Years Later

By Artur Suski, S.J.

Credit: http://content.time.com/

Three days ago (January 12th) marked the fourth year anniversary of the massive 7.3 earthquake that shook Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. For “developed” countries of the world, a 7.3 earthquake would not have devastated a country to such a degree as it did Haiti, and most of these would have recovered fairly quickly. Yet Haiti was utterly devastated – one could even say, completely paralyzed. So why did the earthquake manage to take down literally a whole country? And why is so little progress done in the aftermath?

Helping to Germinate the Kingdom of God: Young Adults and the Mystery of the Church

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Photo: http://catholicnews.com

“The Church is not a country club for saints, but a hospital for sinners!” I have pondered this statement many times. I have considered it as I think about what the Church is and is not. The Church is neither a club or a hospital. It is not a sacrament dispenser, a spiritual service provider or a Sunday show. The Church is the Body of Christ, “a people made one with the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:4-5). As the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium (LG) of the Second Vatican Council stated, the mystery of the Church is manifested in its own foundation. The Lord Jesus set the Church to build the kingdom of God, which began with him, and continues to germinate and grow in all nations. The Church is not an end in itself. As our Pope Emeritus has often said, the mission of the Church is to carry on what Jesus started, to act as Jesus would act. As Lumen Gentium expresses, the Church is a sheepfold whose one and indispensable door is Christ (LG 26).

I recently began to ask young adults about how well the Church is living out such a mission: what they perceive as the Church's strengths and limits; the ways they have experienced consolation and desolation through the Church, that is, an increase or decreased in faith, hope and love. This question came as a I prayed with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. In the First Exercise of the First Week, or the first phase of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius invites us to contemplate: “What I have done for Christ, what I am doing for Christ, and what I ought to do for Christ?” This contemplation led me to ask the same of the Church.

The Medium is the Message: Pope Francis and the Poor Church, for the Poor

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Photo: http://holysoulshermitage.com

“The medium is the message.” This famous phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan has been in my mind for the last week. McLuhan meant that the form of the medium embeds itself in the message. The election of Pope Francis has further driven home the meaning of that phrase. For weeks, after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, we prayed for the right person to exercise the Petrine ministry. We spent long hours discussing and reading commentaries on the right person for “the job”. We pondered; we waited; we wondered: What kind of a Pope does the Church need today? What will the election of the new Pope mean for the Church and for the world? And then, we prayed some more.

The road to Social Justice - Part 1

By Brother Daniel Leckman, S. J.

learningcommons.ubc.c

We are only a few weeks into the new academic term, and already, it’s one of the most exciting ones I’ve ever had. All of my classes touch upon themes that could become part of my future vocation: scripture analysis, interfaith dialogue, deepening my knowledge of the Church through Papal documents and through philosophical wrestling matches with Thomas Aquinas, exploring the reality of Catholic educators in the 21st century, etc. At the heart of this journey lies my desire to learn more about the Church’s social justice doctrine, and to understand how the wisdom of this doctrine can come to life in our Catholic communities. An integral part of this firm program of perpetual readings is learning about many outstanding people who live and do justice better than any encyclical or other documents can articulate.

The Gift We Give Each Other

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Imagine streets without traffic lights; cities without bridges or tunnels; communities without clean water, courts or law enforcement. This is not a reference to a post-apocalyptic world, but to a society where nobody pays taxes. Indeed, there are few things as opaque and mysterious as taxes. It is a topic that can be quite divisive. Albert Einstein was baffled by them, and Winston Churchill used to vilify them. We have also heard Benjamin Franklin's sardonic adage, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” In other words, taxes are unavoidable. But why do we need taxes? Why pay them?

A Jesuit Journey: Re-Imagining Our Mission

By Eric Hanna, S.J.

Imagination is a gift from God and a cornerstone of Ignatian Spirituality …

… but at times our imagination needs to be purified.

When the World Feels Heavy: The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

There is a certain anxiety that comes with reading the newspaper and discussing with others the situation of the world. I often experience the angst of knowing that so many are suffering, and there is so little I can do. Many a time, I feel like Atlas, with the weight of the world upon my shoulders. Other times, I feel numb.

This past week has been rather eventful. Every event heightened my sense of responsibility for the well-being of those who are suffering. This heightened responsibility seemed to echo the magis, the more. “What more can I do for my suffering brothers and sisters?” is a reverberation of, “What more can I do for God?” I was seized by the question, but I found no answer. Be it facilitating an event on immigration in Canada; participating in talks with a government official about the relationship between Canada and Colombia; working as a translator for a group of Mexican activists and human right defenders; or attending a International Women’s Day event highlighting the voice of women in Africa. The question only became more urgent; it was impregnated with new meanings and depth. With so many people in need in the world, what can I do? Where should I start?