The Musical Priest

I think I found my new goal: to teach at this school! There is a TON of tin whistle playing, further testimony to the way traditional music can speak across borders and generations.

Let me begin by wishing everyone a Happy Easter. I meant to post an Easter message but I found myself swamped with the tasks accompanying putting together a dinner for 40 people. These last two weeks have been my Spring Break but, sadly, it wasn't much of a break. I did manage to write one paper but an injury kept our cook from working and it fell to me to make sure people ate each evening. I'm glad that we're back to a regular schedule tomorrow: I'm actually getting tired of cooking! I'm also at that point in the semester when my attention turns to term papers. I'm about to commence writing "Baruch Spinoza and the Order of the Phoenix" which will be an attempt to show how the fifth Harry Potter book is a great resource for understanding Spinoza's metaphysical psychology. I reckon that if I can use Harry Potter in a scholarly paper, I may as well do so.  I'll make no promises about posts. I'm an occasional writer in that something has to oc...

I just wanted to wish my readers  A Very Happy and Blessed Saint Patrick's Day From my niece Emma

So what does a Jesuit scholastic do on the first day of Spring Break? Go to the beach Make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land Write a proof for the existence of God Fly a Kite Thanks to my mom, several of us enjoyed a day of kite flying. Using an inflatable Spider Man kite that came in the mail yesterday (my Easter gift) we spent a good part of the morning on Fordham's campus flying kites. Since the students are mostly gone, we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Drew is kneeling because he can't make it work. Erica is picking it up because Drew can't make it fly. You'll note that I realized tremendous success in getting it aloft!! Actually, I don't know why Drew is kneeling at this moment. Perhaps he saw a vision.

I'd like to begin this post with two quotes: From The Spiritual Exercises In order that both he who is giving the Spiritual Exercises, and he who is receiving them, may more help and benefit themselves, let it be presupposed that every good Christian is to be more ready to save his neighbor's proposition than to condemn it. If he cannot save it, let him correct him with charity. If that is not enough, let him sek all the suitable means to bring him to mean it well, and save himself. [22] From the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas Charity I call a movement of the soul towards enjoying God for his own sake. [ST 2a2ae 23.2] Let me pull these two thoughts together. Charity is that by which the human heart moves toward unity with God. The dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises is the same: the person making the retreat is discerning how to align her heart with God's heart, to make God's will her will. One of the assumptions of the Spiritual Exercises is that the Creator and...

I forgot to post this last month.