Showing posts with label Thomas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas. Show all posts

Monday, 22 April 2013

Papa Paco Preaching Patience

By Edmund Lo, S.J.


During the past academic semester at Campion College in Regina, I gave a course on Jesuit history. When Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis last month, I knew that I needed to make some modifications to my course. History was being made; a Jesuit was made a Pope. Given that he spent much of his life in Argentina, his works and thoughts are not well known to the English-speaking world. In fact, books about him are just being translated and put on the the shelves of bookstores. I, however, had neither the time nor patience for this, as my course was ending in early –in April; so I changed directions and looked for his books in Spanish.

Eventually, I got my hands on a book called El Papa Francisco: Conversaciones con Jorge Bergoglio, which is based on interviews that he gave to journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti. It is not my intention to give a review of this book, and I invite you to read it yourself when its English translation comes out. Here, I would like to simply talk about a concept that he frequently mentions, called transitar la paciencia, or transitar en paciencia.

Friday, 14 September 2012

Till Death Do Us Part?

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

(photo: http://saintpetersbasilica.org)

The life of a Jesuit is heavily immersed into doing different kinds of ministries, and it is of no surprise that these often become conversation topics. A few nights ago, the topic of funerals came up in our dinner conversation. We talked about how people have preferences for their funeral plans: some cultures have public viewings like wakes, some even having them in their own homes. Others opt to have a public prayer service. A fellow Jesuit remarked that it is becoming more and more common for some to decide on foregoing a funeral altogether. At times, it is due to financial issues; but other times, it seems as if people do not want others to see how awful they look after they die. It is as if they prefer to visually remain in others' memories the best way possible.