Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Keeing Things Working

Our human species answers to many descriptive names — homo sapiens when we are intelligent, homo ludens when we play and homo faber when we make things. Last week I was driving through town and all the digging, street widening, and filling of potholes suggested to me another descriptor: homo maintainer, which describes us when we attend to things we’ve made or built so that they don’t break down, freeze up, rust out, or stop working.

The same applies to relationships. It takes time and effort to keep relationships in good condition, and if we stop tending to them — whether they be with God, others, or oneself — they will start to break down. Ignore them long enough and they won’t work at all. Then we’ll be the ones who need repair because  relationships are crucial for us as people.

So this summer, while road crews are fixing potholes and resurfacing streets, I think I’ll take my own inventory of needed repairs to see if some of my relationships could use my attention.

Jim the Traveler

Getting out of the country paid off for this young professional.

Campus Quiets Down

Trinity — a mystery worth thinking about

On Trinity Sundays, most priests avoid preaching about the Trinity, presuming that there’s no hope in trying to get people to think about the inner life of God, Who is Three-in-One and One-in-Three. But it’s not impossible to talk about the Trinity, and the ancient Christian writers give us some help.

They used a word to describe the inner life of God: perichoresis, a Greek word that means dance. The Trinity is always engaged in a great and wonderful, creative, unique, and ever-changing dance of life and love. When the Trinity dances, worlds come into being, love pours out into the universe and undreamed of things become possible between people.

By staying connected to and engaged with creation, other people, and God, we join in the dance, however haltingly, and show that we are creatures made in the image and likeness of God and destined to dance with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit not just now but for all eternity.

Picturing eternal life as a never-ending, never-tiring dance of love, now that’s something to think about.

Retirement

Listen to Ed talk about his experience of retirement. Click on the picture below.