Jesuit Center in Wernersville

Looking across the valley from the Jesuit Center in Wernersville

            Looking toward the retreat house at Loyola in Spain                                                   with the mountains in the  background that Ignatius                                                     could see from his sick bed.







Advent and Christmas, 2015 and the New Year of 2016

Dear Friend of the Jesuit Center,

I write at the beginning of this winter season consoled by the first born of all creation, the Lord Jesus who shares the dignity of humanity with all of us.    This season offers us challenges to health and to travel but also the pleasure of holiday gatherings of family and friends.   Here at the Jesuit Center we traditionally honor the Advent season with a staff party and with a music celebration organized by a member of our Spiritual Center staff, David Gross.   There are sacred music events also in the local churches of our ecumenical organization.

Through Advent our Jesuit Center meeting rooms host men and women of all ages from high school to senior citizen practically every day, some for overnight retreats and training programs, some for single-day events.    I often hear general reports from retreat leaders about the meaningful quality of prayer and private conversations.    This fills me with confidence that God’s Spirit is leading our visitors to growth in peace, joy, justice and the works of charity.    We might be isolated from some of the chaos in this world.  But the quiet here prepares us for the commitment that we need to reach out to the stranger and to search with the stranger for the common source of our different beliefs.     

We eighteen Jesuits on site fulfill sacramental duties here and also in nearby parishes and institutions.    Early in December, as part of his one-on-one Advent conversation, one young and joyful fourth grader told me, in response to a question about his prayer, that he prays on Sunday.    “What about the other days of the week?” I asked.    “On Sunday,” he told me, “I thank God for the whole week.”   I encouraged him to a daily practice of prayer well aware that God was watching over him every hour.   This innocent boy might be able to get through a week without prayer; for most of us elders such a practice would make us hard to live with!

Another good daily practice for many of us here at the Center: an outdoor walk or light jog.   The outdoor setting here reminds me of the setting of St. Ignatius’s birthplace at Loyola in Spain.   As a youth he enjoyed the fresh mountain air of the Basque country, its hills and streams and foot paths, in the present day all very much like those in and around Wernersville.   Later in this environment Ignatius recovered from his battle wound and came to know God’s call.   He was during this time unable to hike through the nearby hills or along the stream that flowed by his home but he prayed by looking out the window of his sick room and across the valley to the site of a Marian shrine, Our Lady of Olatz.   Our own Jesuit Center windows open to similar views of a valley and hills and even a Marian grotto.    Come and see.  Take a walk or simply look out a window.

Happy Leap Year, 2016!    An extra day, February 29, 2016, a Monday, too!   A perfect day for us to join in a weekday prayer with that lad mentioned above!

AMDG,

George W. Bur, S.J.

Superior

Our Lady of Olatz, overlooking the Valley where Ignatius grew up.