Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

A Remarkable Washington Sunset Sky

Old? Not Really

I’ve got a year left until I reach the magic age of 65, when many of the perks of being a senior citizen kick in. It seems like passing that age means passing into the land of the old.

But last week I was in Washington, D.C., and visited the Air and Space museum at the Smithsonian. There I touched a sliver of stone from one of the moon rocks brought back by the crew of Apollo 17 — a rock estimated to be four billion years old! I guess 65 isn’t that old after all.

I also realized that though we human beings have been around for a long time, we’re really just newcomers to the universe so that, from the cosmic perspective, the Incarnation really happened quite recently and the Resurrection occurred only a few seconds ago. Instead of being a tired, old, run-down species, then, our human story and the story of our race’s relationship with God are just beginning.

It’s nice to feel young again.

Words of Wisdom

I celebrated my birthday last week and providentially found the following reflection while cleaning out a drawer.  I knew that  my mother had cut it out from a newspaper or magazine and laminated it, but  I didn’t know the author. I realized she must have found it a source of comfort and inspiration, though, and  I’m very glad to have found it. I’d like to share it with you:

Individuals who remain vital have learned not to be imprisoned by fixed habits, attitudes and routines. We build our own prisons and serve as our own jailers. But if we build the prisons ourselves, we can tear them down ourselves. If we are willing to learn, the opportunities are everywhere. We learn from our work and from our friends and families. We learn by accepting the obligations of life, by suffering, by taking risks, by loving, by bearing life’s indignities with dignity.

The things you learn in maturity seldom involve information and skills. You learn to bear with the things you can’t change. You learn to avoid self-pity. You learn not to burn up energy in anxiety. You learn that most people are neither for you or against you but rather are thinking about themselves. You learn that no matter how hard you try to please, some people are never going to love you — a notion that troubles at first but is eventually relaxing.

I’ve got a hunch I’ll be keeping this memento  for a long time and reading it often.

Happy Fourth of July!

July 4th is here with its fireworks, parades, and picnics. It’s a day to celebrate our freedom as individuals and as a nation. Along with the oratory and patriotic words, our celebration of the day ought to also occasion a renewed commitment to recognize our connection with others.

On the Fourth of July we should let our faith remind us that each of us is connected to every other person in the world, and independence doesn’t mean isolation. On the contrary, just as the diminishing of freedom anywhere lessens freedom everywhere, it’s also true that freedom anywhere offers hope for freedom for people everywhere.

Our personal and national freedom, then, should be a blessing for others not just for us. Whether or not that is the case will depend on whether our connectedness with others can overcome our tendency sometimes to think only of ourselves.

Prayer for the New Season

Many people try to pray often; most of the people I know try to pray every day.  But though prayer may be constant, the way one prays can change.

Take the big picture, for example. An adult will pray differently than a child, a parent will pray differently than someone without children, someone who’s sick will pray differently than someone who’s healthy, and so on.

And on a more mundane level, people can pray differently at different times of the year. In the winter I usually pray inside, often with a lit candle by my chair, a cup of coffee, and a Bible. In the summer I often pray outside saying a rosary while I walk or campus smoking my pipe, sitting on a bench near the library.

We need some constancy in our prayer and we also need adaptability and flexibility. In prayer, as in life, flexibility is a must. As summer officially begins, ask yourself how you might want to adapt the way you pray to match the new season.