{"id":1629,"date":"2015-11-30T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1629"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:06","slug":"nov-30-turning-toward-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/11\/30\/nov-30-turning-toward-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"Nov 30 – Turning Toward Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

First Monday of Advent November 30 – \u00a0“Companion is the one who eats the same bread.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday\u00a0morning\u00a0when I opened the blinds in my room, snow traceries on the courtyard cloister walk roofs took my breath away. \u00a0 A few minutes later I remembered that Advent begins today. \u00a0 Because of Advent, and the move from Advent into Christmas and the turning of the year, and because of the coming of winter, these days begin my favorite of the 12 months.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look out my window over the courtyard a week ago after our 1st notable snow. \u00a0The window looks West so the rising sun is just peeking over the roof of our 3 story Jesuit house. \u00a0 I leaned out my window to breathe and taste the air and my iPhone\u00a0caught bands of light:\u00a0high up = clean early dawn sun on the trees carrying the day-before\u2019s snow; \u00a0 middle = pale light on the lower branches and the roof of the community courtyard (which was built in 1926) and the courtyard itself is almost invisible because very little light was reaching it yet. \u00a0 Sometimes Detroit is tough; sometimes it\u2019s beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a><\/p>\n

Have a blest work week.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

p.s.\u00a0Advent often reminds me of one of the saints in my life. \u00a0Here\u2019s a meditation about Dom Helder Camera I wrote early in Advent two years ago.<\/p>\n

Dom Helder Camera\u00a0February 7, 1909,\u00a0Fortaleza<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Brazil<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 August 27, 1999. \u00a0He was archbishop of Recife and Olinda from 1964 to 1985 during military dictatorship in Brazil. \u00a0He\u00a0interpreted Catholic teaching with a consistent, fierce attention to the violence of systems maintaining brutal poverty. \u00a0He made serious enemies. \u00a0 It is said that some of them hired a hit man to remove him. \u00a0Like the professional he was, the hit man stalked Dom Helder for some time, learning his habits, seeking a place and time apt for killing. \u00a0 In the process, he listened to him speak a number of times until, one day, he fell at Dom Helder\u2019s feet, weeping, and begged for the grace to change his profession and his life. \u00a0 When he walked this earth,\u00a0Dom Helder\u2019s presence\u00a0engaged the world\u2019s wounds.<\/p>\n

This unblinking attention to the violence of poverty was matched by legendary playfulness. \u00a0Here is one story among many, this one I witnessed. \u00a0Once Dom Helder was speaking to about 1500 people who sat on the St. Louis levee overlooking the Mississippi River (by the Arch); in the middle of the talk, a helicopter took off right behind him filled with tourists taking a ride with a bird\u2019s eye view of the river and the city. \u00a0 It made enough of a racket that it was impossible to hear what the Dom Helder was saying. \u00a0He paused, turned around to the\u00a0helicopter, and gave the tourists a puckish little wave. \u00a0When the helicopter got a little farther out on its trip, he turned back to us.<\/p>\n

Here is one of his sayings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Read it like a poem, out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post – Dom Helder Camera<\/strong><\/p>\n

“It is possible to travel alone, but we know the journey is human life
\nand life needs company.
\nCompanion is the one who eats the same bread.<\/p>\n

The good traveler cares for weary companions, grieves when we lose heart,
\ntakes us where she finds us,\u00a0 listens to us.
\nIntelligently, gently, above all lovingly, we encourage each other to go on
\nand recover our joy
\nOn the\u00a0 journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Monday of Advent November 30 – \u00a0“Companion is the one who eats the same bread.\u201d Yesterday\u00a0morning\u00a0when I opened the blinds in my room, snow traceries on the courtyard cloister walk roofs took my breath away. \u00a0 A few minutes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1629"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1631,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions\/1631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}