Monday February 17<\/p>\n
Eight people from UDM got in the Engineering & Science 15 passenger van on Friday and drove through some wet and windy weather \u00a0270 miles to Cincinnati and Xavier University.\u00a0\u00a0We were the ninth cohort from Detroit to participate in these annual weekend gatherings. \u00a0Each year I find a similar magic. \u00a0We engage in the conference theme with faculty from other mid-west Jesuit universities. \u00a0 When\u00a0UDM hosted in 2011 our theme was, no surprise, “Urban Commitments.” \u00a0 This year focussed on the 200th anniversary of the Restoration of the Jesuits. \u00a0Jesuits had been suppressed by the pope in 1773 and restored by another pope in 1814. \u00a0 No matter the theme, when\u00a0\u00a0faculty \u00a0meet as peers from a network of schools we hear about one another’s university troubles & successes and trade stories about how we do things in our home places. \u00a0 That’s part of the magic. \u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps the longer term effect on the 8 of us will be the birth of friendships among ourselves. \u00a0 When we climbed aboard at the Livernois entrance Friday morning none of us knew all of us and most of us only knew one or two of us. \u00a0When we climbed off Sunday afternoon, we had the makings of friendships across campuses and colleges and intellectual commitments. \u00a0Lots of story telling about our work, \u00a0and why we decided to take the path we chose. \u00a0Lots of stories about our marriages and children and siblings and where we grew up. \u00a0 Magic.<\/p>\n
We also talked about the challenges facing universities in the U.S. today. \u00a0 Along with awareness of tough times, I heard kinship and courage and \u00a0pride at what we stand for in Detroit<\/p>\n
Magic. \u00a0Of course it was snowing when we unloaded our suitcases.<\/p>\n
Today’s post, a reprise from September 27, celebrates the sacredness of how human beings live & work; here at UDM and everywhere in the world;\u00a0all of us\u00a0— faculty, facilities, offices, residence life, the registrar and admissions. \u00a0In Poem # 1 Rabindranath Tagore writes of sacred beauty woven through ordinary humanity.<\/p>\n
Happy new work week.<\/p>\n
john st sj<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rabindranath Tagore \u00a0Poem # 1 Gitanjali<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tagore died in the city of his birth, Calcutta, in 1941. \u00a0He vastly influenced poetry, sacred and secular, not only in India but around the world. \u00a0He is the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.<\/p>\n Thou hast made me endless,\u00a0 such is thy pleasure.<\/p>\n This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again,<\/p>\n and fillest it ever with fresh life.<\/p>\n This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales,<\/p>\n and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.<\/p>\n At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart<\/p>\n loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine.<\/p>\n Ages pass, and still thou pourest,<\/p>\n and still there is room to fill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Monday February 17 Eight people from UDM got in the Engineering & Science 15 passenger van on Friday and drove through some wet and windy weather \u00a0270 miles to Cincinnati and Xavier University.\u00a0\u00a0We were the ninth cohort from Detroit to … Continue reading