And I Love Her

November 17 has always had a special place in my heart since it was on November 17, 1987 when I first heard the call to religious life ... Jesuit life. The call itself was clear enough, but it was all the more amplified by the fact that November 17 is also my mom's feast day. My mom was named Elizabeth, likely after her own mother, so maybe we could call her Elizabeth II. I just called her "Mom."

She's not too big on feast days, unless it was my own. (She used to pin little shamrocks on all us kids before we'd head off to school on March 17). But I took it as a special honor to hear the call to the Society on November 17, the Feast of St. Elizabeth.

Sometimes the Lord will use small and seemingly insignificant events of our lives to communicate to us His will for us. Ignatius Loyola knew well that through feelings and motions of the soul, God was likely to communicate directly to the individual of His own love and grace. Through reflection and periodic review of our day-to-day experiences, we can come into closer communion with the Lord. Our desires more closely align themselves with His desire for us.

My mom was not too big on feast days, but she is a great one for reflection. She made a prayer space for herself next to her room, and she reads spiritual material when she can. In her own way, she likely does a brief Examen from time to time. Her mother was a great fan of the Jesuits, and my mom swears that it was only by her intercession that I too was led to follow the Lord along the path of Ignatius. AMDG.

The Saints

Today the Society of Jesus celebrates the Feast of All Jesuit Saints and Blessed, a day when we remember well-known and not-so-well-known Jesuits who lived out their Christian lives heroically. I would like to pass on the words of a good friend, Fr. Brian Lehane, S.J., who reflects upon these names of holy men who have gone before us in the Society of Jesus.

Acknowledging this feast day to the young men at his Jesuit high school, Fr. Lehane writes, "We may believe that the saints and blessed belong to a former age, but at the end of the millennium, Pope John Paul II commissioned a Martyrology for the 20th century, so that we might not forget the exemplary love of God and neighbor shown by so many 20th century Christian men and women. Jesuit provinces from around the world contributed the names of members who suffered and, in many cases, died for the faith during various persecutions.

"Over three hundred names were gathered, including familiar names like Blessed Miguel Pro of Mexico, Fr. Alfred Delp of Nazi Germany, and Fr. Ignacio Ellacuria of El Salvador. Thirty Jesuits died in Nazi concentration camps, and almost fifty died at the hands of various Communist governments. In 1997 former Detroit Province Jesuit Thomas Gafney was murdered in India because of his stance against drug lords, and in 2001 Canadian Jesuit Martin Royackers was murdered in Jamaica, defending his parishioners from gang violence and political corruption.

"The two Jesuits murdered in Moscow last week join a long list of Jesuits who, when they were novices, prayed to Christ this prayer from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: "I deeply desire to be with You in accepting all wrongs and all rejections and all poverty, both actual and spiritual--and I deliberately choose this, if it is for your greater service and praise" [98]. Today we remember especially all those Jesuits persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and we pray that many more men will step forward and answer Christ's call to serve Our Lord in the Company of Ignatius Loyola."

Click here for a complete list of Jesuit Saints and Martyrs.

On a lighter note, I close with this link from another good friend, Fr. James Martin, S.J. who writes for America Magazine. Fr. Jim stars in this brief video which gives a quick look at a few of his favorite saints. To read more about the saints from the experience of Fr. Jim Martin, click here to see a copy of his popular book, My Life With the Saints.

Words of Love

On this date, Jesuits mark many sorts of beginnings. For many Jesuits, August 15 was the date on which they pronounced first vows. For some, it was the day they entered the Society. For others, this date serves as the start of the work year, when matters “gear up” for another year. So it is for me. We all look to this date not only as a watershed during the year, but most importantly as a major feast for the Church and for the Society of Jesus: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. It is the beginning of her life eternal, a gift which foreshadows the life we will all possess. It is in the context of this life eternal that I share with you the news of my father’s passing last month. In fact, on the morning of my own birthday, July 17, my dad – Joseph P. Fairbanks, III – was received by the Lord into his loving arms, receiving his greatest reward. In faith, I know that his soul dwells in the presence of God; his body, as yet, remains in the ground in St. Stephen’s Cemetery in Hamilton, but the truth of Mary’s Assumption teaches us that the Lord will bring all things to Himself, including all bodies, all souls, all worlds. Through Him, it was all created, and so in Him he will receive and renew it forever. We await that day when we will all share eternal life – body and soul – with the Father, Son, and Spirit, a time at which I am sure my dad will lose no more hands of bridge, no more games of backgammon, and no rounds of golf to anyone, neither son nor doctor nor lawyer. The picture below shows how it might be when I arrive at the heavenly gates with my dad to show me the way. Oh, and the picture above comes from the Jesuit church in downtown Philadelphia, “Old St. Joseph.” Check out the site here: http://www.oldstjoseph.org/ I drove through Philadelphia today on my way to Connecticut. I will say more about that pilgrimage in coming blogs. Meanwhile, may we all continue on our own pilgrimages, making the best of body and soul, until we hand it right back to Him who loves us.
God bless you, Dad.
Love, Pat

Chains

Today happens to be the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul – two great Christian leaders. One served in Rome as a symbol of Church unity, the other was sent to the ends of the earth as a symbol of Church missionary activity. For me, this feast is significant mostly on the account of St. Peter in Chains, which was today’s first reading (Acts 12:1-11). Indeed I felt a connection here because I was raised a Catholic in the parish of St. Peter in Chains, and my home diocese (Cincinnati) is headed at the cathedral of St. Peter in Chains. I was also baptized on the Feast of St. Peter in Chains (Aug 1, 1954) and I selected for my Confirmation name … St. Peter.

But the reading this morning captured me (in chains) because of the telling of the angel. Lately I have been drawn in prayer to consider the role of the Lord’s angel in my life. Our faith teaches that we are committed to an angel throughout the course of our earthly life, and I believe that is true. St. Anselm, for instance, believed that “every soul is committed to an angel when it is united with the body.” St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that not only do baptized Christians receive an angel, but so does every member of the human race. These guardians never leave us, even when we sin, and will accompany us to our eternal reward. The most appealing part of the reading from Acts is that St. Peter thought the guardian who released him was a dream, and that it just couldn’t be real. In fact, Peter learned a bit more clearly what “real” means. He was really freed and really given grace from God. Created spirits, to whom we bodily humans have been assigned, really love and care for us on behalf of the One who created us. Thank God!

Nunc scio vere quia misit Dominus angelum suum (Acts 12:11)

Got To Get You Into My Life

Each day, I receive a regular e-mailing from a very wise Jesuit in Detroit. Fr. Brian Lehane S.J. writes a daily column for the students at the Jesuit high school there, and then he e-mails them to many of us around the province. This article moved me so much that I thought I’d share it with you:

“Visit any Jesuit institution, and you will inevitably see the letters "IHS" depicted somewhere. On churches and inside on the decorations, the "IHS" is featured prominently in stone, paintings, or even in stained glass as in the picture here. The letters, known as the "sacred monogram," are the first three letters of Jesus' name in Greek, transliterated into English as IHSOUS.

Ignatius Loyola and his First Companions adopted the sacred monogram, adding rays of light, three nails, and a crossbeam through the "h," as the official emblem or seal of the Society of Jesus. When Jesuits built their schools and churches throughout the world, they would be sure to feature prominently the distinctive sacred monogram. The mother church of the Jesuits, the Church of the Gesu in Rome, features a majestic "IHS" in its dome. Travel today to old city centers in Eastern Europe or to the jungle missions of Paraguay and you will see "IHS" on the front of buildings, usually indicating the institution was once a thriving Jesuit institution. But where did the Jesuits get the monogram?

The Franciscan St. Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) is largely responsible for developing and promoting devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus by popularizing the sacred monogram. Bernardine was so devoted to the name of Jesus that he is largely responsible for having the name "Jesus" added to the "Hail Mary." Bernardine lived at a time when superstition and factionalism were especially problematic. Christians were relying on superstitious symbols to combat evils, and warring clans were identifying themselves (and their homes) with shields and political insignia designed to incite their enemies. Bernardine developed a new insignia on a wooden plank – we still have the plank he used – that contained the sacred monogram "IHS" surrounded by rays of the sun. He exhorted Christians in the Italian cities to replace family crests with a sacred image above their doors, indicating their allegiance to one Lord alone. When he would conclude his preaching against superstition and gang violence, Bernardine would invite his hearers to venerate the sacred monogram as a sign of their fidelity first and foremost to Christ and His way. The devotion took off.

When St. Ignatius and his early companions were looking for an insignia for their new Religious Order in 1540, they could do no better than choose a variation of Bernardine's creation. The SPIRITUAL EXERCISES has a famous prayer experience called a "Meditation on Two Standards," where `standard' refers to something like a flag. Under whose flag will you serve, the flag of Christ? or that of Lucifer? Will you give your allegiance to the true Lord and His way? Or will you settle for a different way that is ultimately self-destructive? Ignatius is not talking here about sinning due to human weakness; that happens to us all. He is talking about the fundamental orientation we choose for our lives. Yourself? Or others? Jesuit institutions bear the insignia of the name of Jesus to show where their loyalties lie. Despite our failures and limitations, we return over and over again to that fundamental choice to follow the Lord's way – in service to those in need. We lift up the name of Jesus and acclaim Him as our Way, our Truth, our Life. We renounce false ways of living – the greed, the dishonesty, the violence – and recommit to the Gospel values the Lord has taught us. Let us remember, every time we see the IHS displayed, that there's power for a better world in His name."

-- Fr. Brian Lehane, S.J.

click picture to enlarge

That Means A Lot

I want to wish a happy birthday to Fr. Eric Knapp, the pastor at St. Xavier Church here in Cincinnati. I say “here” because as I write this, I am in Cincinnati filling in for Fr. Eric who took the week off to get away. I am happy to take his morning Mass and the round of Confessions afterwards. In fact, this morning was a rather light flow of penitents, so there were a few minutes when I sat in the confession box waiting for the next person to enter. As I did so, I was listening to the noon Mass going on out in the church, and I could hear Fr. Joe (a Jesuit friend of mine) as he preached his homily. He said a few words that stuck with me, and I wrote them down because they meant a lot to me. He said, “I have always liked the saying ‘progress over perfection.’ In fact, I think the word ‘perfection’ is the worst word in the English language. None of us is perfect.” Joe’s words rang true. God does not see us as perfect, in fact he sees us with all our our weaknesses, and He graces us with strength to move ahead (progress) however we can each day. Progress means a lot more than perfection. It means we are still on the journey, still in need of God’s help, and still hope-filled for that perfect destiny (Heaven) which is God-given, not something we gain for ourselves.

Please Mr. Postman

It has come to my attention that "my interested publics" would like to see more posted entries on this blog space. Always ready to rise to the challenge, I try to accommodate when possible. However, a higher frequency of blog entries comes with a cost ... more banal subject matter. Do people want to know that I rescheduled a dentist appointment today, or that the province office ran out of large hosts, or that I ended up choosing photo proof #18 for my formal portrait? If so, then on we go. Get ready also for more shoddy grammar, more trite sentence structure, and shorter paragraphs ... sometimes with no pictures. But never fear, we shall always try to supply an appropriate Beatles title to the post. So, in response to all the pleas for more ... I am happy to post what I can when the moment should happen. pf

I Call Your Name

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

If you click on the web link below, you'll be taken to a site called "Orthodox Wiki" it's sort of a Wikipedia for the Eastern Orthodox Church (as distinct from the Roman Catholic Church):

http://orthodoxwiki.org/March_17

When you click here, you'll see an entry explaining the various saints whose feast are celebrated March 17. Only two are pictured in icon portraits. Apparently two famous saints -- at least they are famous for me. You might find it as curious as I do that March 17 happens to be the feast day of these two prominent saints: one for the West (Roman) and one for the East (Orthodox) -- namely: Patrick and Alexis. I tried to ask my parents why they named me Patrick Alexis and they can't seem to come up with a good explanation, except that I was born on the Feast of St. Alexis, July 17 (7/17), which used to be his feast on the Roman Catholic calendar before Vatican II. I think the name Patrick was just a favorite, and my grandmother was of Irish descent. But get this, today Alexis has no Roman feast, but they still observe Alexis in the Eastern Church ... on March 17. What does this mean for me? Scit Solus Deus. I am not a big fan of coincidence: that "it just so happens." I am more likely to believe ... to have faith that "something else" is happening. I'd rather remain open to see what that "else" has to show. So far it's been kind of cool. Since I was little, I loved toying with the occurrences of the number seven in my life experience (some of you know many of them), and this is just another twist -- only a little more scary. Mysterious! We all know that March 17 is St. Patrick's Feast, but it is still quite the conundrum as to what meaning this day (the 77th day of this year) carries for me, the 7th child of two mysterious parents. Happy Feast of St. Alexis.

I, the LORD, have called you ... (Isaiah 42)



PS: I was really tempted to use as the title for this entry, the famous Beatles song: "You Know My Name, Look Up the Number."

Return to me with all your heart

Joel 2:12
The Lord invites us to rend our hearts, not our garments. What's all that about? Rending or breaking something is a sign of one's sacrifice unto a higher power. In ritual, people do that to animals, skin, and bread. God showed us such a loving sacrifice in the breaking of the body of his Son. During this Lenten time of sacrifice -- when we give back to God that which we enjoy (our lives) -- we are encouraged to sacrifice of ourselves in a more interior way (your heart) than just a symbolic or external sacrifice (the color of your sweater). Before you are marked with ashes, bring your heart back where it belongs.
On this Ash Wednesday, Chicago is waiting for this highly anticipated "snowstorm." So far, nothing yet. Birthday blessings on my nephew Michael and on all those who begin this holy season of prayer.

There's A Place

I drove from Chicago to Detroit last night, New Year's Eve. Tomorrow starts an 8-day retreat for our candidates, and so I wanted to make it here before the 9 inch snowfall. I was successful. It started to snow as the clock struck midnight and 2008 began. This morning, I went outside to take a walk and noticed a pile of fresh snow near a small evergreen bush. It looked like baking power: pure white and a very fine, dry powder. I scooped up a handful and took a bite. Woah! OK, if you live in an area where snow falls fresh, try this little experiment to see what a number it does on your memory. Bite into some fresh snow and see if you aren't transported back to your life at age 6. Suddenly, as I bit the handful of snow this morning, I saw our front living room at Christmas and some of the presents I got around the year 1960. It was only an instant, but it was sure and somehow a-physical. The memory was not stored in my head or chemistry, but above me ... "up there" someplace where my life waits for the last judgment. Hopefully that little memory of grace will get me through Purgatory a little more quickly. Happy New Year.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Ps 51:9