Fr Jim's Blog

In the Book of Genesis Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt for looking back as she fled the imploding city of Sodom. I'm not quite sure why this particular punishment was inflicted, but it seems to be punishment for not wholeheartedly turning her back on the wicked city. But Omaha is not Sodom, so I've spent some time these last couple of days looking back at the places which have been significant for me this summer, and indeed the last three times  I've studied at  Creighton.Somebody told me to do this when I was finishing high school, telling me to look back as I walked out for the last time after my last exam, because although I might go back to visit one day, it would never be the same. I've adopted this practice every time I've left somewhere significant (Cooma, Chicago, Kincumber), and now it's time to do it in Omaha. So I spent time at the little chapel where I first began my practice sessions of spiritual direction last year. At St John&#

On March 24th 1980 Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador was assassinated while he  was celebrating Mass. This was the culmination of years of violence and intimidation by the government and military of El Salvador against the majority of poor peasant farmers who were attempting to stand up for themselves. Thousands of people had been killed in the 1970s, then priests too were murdered. For three years Romero stood for and with his people. On the day before his death Romero gave an impassioned radio broadcast calling on the military to disobey orders when they were unjust, including the order to shoot unarmed civilians. There was a massacre even at his funeral. When he was shot, the nuns in attendance at the Mass grabbed cloths to staunch his wound and mop up his blood, including the altar linen. These nuns then saved these cloths, knowing then what the whole Church now recognises; Oscar Romero is a saint, a man of heroic holiness and virtue, even before he was killed. He will be c

My whole course here has been structured around St Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises . This is a progressive, cumulative program which can be done as a 30 day silent retreat, or as I did it, by spending an hour a day in prayer for 35+ weeks. The structure and method is quite ingenious and has stood the test of time (nearly 500 years). It begins with a statement called the Principle and Foundation, which states quite simply that human beings are created to know, love and serve God. Therefore we should use all created things in whatever way they help us to achieve our purpose of loving and serving God, and refrain from them whenever they hinder us. This might seem rather obvious, but it is in fact a wonderful starting point and an anchor  for how we make decisions. In a completely secular worldview  there is no starting point for how to make decisions about my life. "Maximise happiness" seems to be the general goal, but what about when the short term happiness of spending m