It was warm for a minute

May 26, 2010

Peace and Good,

I am still in Canterbury. This week I completed one of my courses on the Resurrection Narratives (the stories of the resurrection of Jesus in the four Gospels and 1 Cor 15). I am still teaching the other three plus a once weekly adult ed session.

The weather actually turned quite warm for two days this past week, but as I am sure you can guess from the title of this entry, it is cold again.

A group of people asked me to do a day of reecollection on the Holy Spirit as a preparation for the feast of the Pentecost. There were 28 participants, and I think it went quite well. I spoke especially of how difficult it is to get an accurate picture of the Holy Spirit, but that is OK, because the Spirit is so much more than we can picture or define. I also spoke of discerning what the Spirit wants of us, and also of the gifts of the Spirit and how we are to use them.


Please keep our friars in Kingston, Jamaica in your prayers. Things are always very violent there, and it seems as if the country is finally trying to address (which in the short run means extreme violence). The friars are outside of the city, but there is always a certain amount of danger in situations like this.

We have fixed the glitches with the daily reflections and I hope it will smooth sailing from no on. The next part of the project that I am going to address is to work on getting more spiritual reading reviews. The purpose is to give the friars a chance to give their recommendations on spiritual reading to whomever might read this site.

I finished two works this week. The first is called the Last Empress by Anchee Min. It is about the last empress dowager in the Chinese empire. It takes the story from her point of view. From the western point of view, she is always seen as a dragon lady. Yet, from the inside you see the tensions with which she was contending (family, national, international). It is easy reading and quite a good book to get an insight into that era of Chinese history (from 1860 - 1905).

The second work is a series of courses from the teaching company on the Greek and Persian Wars by John Hale. This covered the period from around 500 B.C. until the death of Alexander the Great. For history buffs, this was pure gold. The teacher has an excelent, exciting presentation style. I was quite impressed.

My schedule is as follows:

until June 11: Canterbury, England - teaching

June 13 - 18, 2010: Provinicial Chapter, Buffalo, NY

June 19 - 30, 2010: St. Victor's Major Seminary, Tamale, Ghana - seminarian retreat

July 4 - 10, 2010: St. Francis Convent, Mishawaka, IN - Retreat for Sisters

July 11 - 18, 2010: Quellen Spiritual Center, Mendham, NJ - Retreat for Sisters

July 19 - 23, 2010: St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN - Novice Retreat

July 24 - 31, 2010: Chatauqua Community, Chatauqua, NY - Priest in Residence

August 5 - 15, 2010: Our Lady of Consolation Shrine, Carey, OH - Parish Novena

August 16 - 20, 2010: Maronite Seminary, Washington, D.C. - Seminarian Retreat

August 21 - 27, 2010: Ocean City, MD - vacation

August 28 - September 3, 2010: St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN - Novitiate Conferences

Shalom,

fr. Jude