Needlepoint Stations of the Cross by Lily Yeats at Jesuit Center Wernersville

GOOD FRIDAY, 2016

TWELFTH STATION; JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

AMONG THE ARTIFACTS AT THE JESUIT CENTER ARE THE FOURTEEN STATIONS OF THE CROSS DONE IN NEEDLEPOINT. 

SWEEPING DESIGNS AND VIVID COLORS!  EACH STATION IS ABOUT 2.5' BY 1.75'.

These stations were acquired sometime before mid-century (Year ?) for the then "Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues" by the benefactors of the Novitiate, Nicholas and Genevieve Brady.

Needlework and embroidery artist Lily Yeats created these pieces.   Lily was the daughter of artist John Butler Yeats, the sister of W. B. Yeats and active in the Arts and Crafts Movement in England and Ireland in the first decades of the twentieth century

Lily Yeats at her needlework in a painting by her father.

Spring at Jesuit Center, Wernersville

WILDFLOWERS CREATE A BLUEGRASS CARPET IN THE DALE BELOW THE GROTTO.

......and add these along another path but watch where you walk!

Palm Sunday Jesus/Pope choose their "mounts".

Palm Sunday    JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM

I am amazed at the simple way that Jesus arranges for his parade into the holy city of Jerusalem.   He enlists two of his disciples to secure the mount on which he is to ride.  They are to go to a certain village and look for a tethered donkey.  The owner will let them take it.   Jesus instructs the two to say, “The Master needs it.”    

These details in the scripture tell us that Jesus is content to take part in a plan for a ceremonial entrance as long as he appears as a servant leader.  With certainty he makes a choice not to enter on horseback like a Roman conquerer.    

POPE FRANCIS IN PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER 2015

Jesus provides a model for our contemporary Pope Francis who chooses the humble Fiat 500L to be his mount during his recent visit to the United States.  The armored secret service vans that surrounded the Pope’s Fiat in Philadelphia only make the symbol of simplicity clearer.    The Pope accepts his role as a servant leader.   He rides simply.   Later this week Pope Francis will be imitating Jesus as this Holy Week proceeds.  He will be washing the feet of the poor.

Spring at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville

Spring arrives today in our cloister garden

March 16, 2016

Dear Friends of the Jesuit Center,

I hear comments from educators, “Easter is far too early this year.”    Some years they welcome a long break in the month of April.  This year they complain that the break occurs in March and the spring months of April and May loom long and demanding.    But here at the Jesuit Center finally the winter has passed.   The birds fill the dawn with their songs.  Yes, the spring and summer months are one long stretch of retreats but these seasons beautify our Jesuit residence and enhance our hospitality while our visitors fill the house with their hopes and dreams.

Our troubled world continues to send out urgent calls for leaders who nourish their talents, learn from their weaknesses, respect others and join others together in noble causes.     As we in our country stumble through another presidential election cycle and as our religious institutions struggle to have our voices heard, spiritual renewal in support of leadership remains an ever-present need.    Programs at the Jesuit Center present Ignatian Spirituality not only as an avenue for individual peace but also as grounding for servant leadership.

The Center offers a variety of programs for spiritual growth and hosts also retreat programs sponsored by high schools, colleges, individual churches and ecumenical groups.  During the month of March, for example, over 400 men and women will be involved in overnight programming here.

We Jesuit residents of the Center and our Spiritual Growth Center staff are especially grateful for our friends who continue to support our mission with their prayers, their financial gifts and their encouragement.   May these seasons of spring and summer enrich us all and keep us alert to God’s work in our lives.

George W. Bur, S.J.

Superior of the Jesuit Center

TWO CHAPELS; TWO ERAS OF THE 2OTH CENTURY

Contrast of two chapels built at residences of religious orders:

Daylesford Abbey Church completed in 1965 (Norbertines,  Paoli, PA)

St Isaac Jogues Novitiate Chapel completed thirty-five years earlier (Jesuits, Wernersville, PA.)

ROSE WINDOW AT DAYLESFORD ABBEY, PENNSYLVANIA

BODY OF  CHURCH AT DAYLESFORD

Choir stalls in foreground; congregation gathers under the entrance area rose window; altar in center.

MOSAIC ABOVE THE ALTAR AT WERNERSVILLE CHAPEL

 

WERNERSVILLE CHAPEL, MEDIEVAL IN STYLE, OF STONE AND MARBLE
MCGINNIS AND WALSH OF BOSTON, ARCHITECTS


TWO DIFFERENT STYLES CONSTRUCTED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 20TH CENTURY!