Blogging Brother Brian

I have been thinking a lot about the importance of celebrating life and building relationships recently. On March the 6th my grandmother, Catherine Bush, celebrated 100 years of life. Born in 1909 she has seen a lot in her life. She was a young women during the Great Depression of the 1930s and certainly knows what it means to life a simpler life. I use to get annoyed when she would take sugars off the table or the dinner rolls when we went out to eat, but she would remind me that I never lived through such a tough economic time. Perhaps now, I will come to know a bit more of her experience as we face a poor economic situation in our country.

I was happy to see that many of grandma’s nieces and nephews came in from out of town to be with her on Sunday at her big party. We had a special blessing for her at the 12:15 pm Mass at St. Thomas Parish, followed by a reception at my brothers house. Grandma really enjoyed the festivities and seeing all of her realitives. She has lemented often how all of her friends have passed on, but it amazes me how she remains hope-filled to share her remaining days with the family and new friends that she continues to make at St. Charles Lodge, where she lives.

We don’t know how much time grandma has left with us, only our good God knows. However I feel blessed that we can mark such a milestone in my grandmother’s life. What a joy it is to celebrate a beautiful life who continues to bring joy and light to others. Thank God for her continued good health and mind. She is mean bridge player and enjoys many of the activities at St. Charles Lodge. Did I mention the beads on her rosary are getting wore down she prays it so often. She takes her faith seriously and is a true woman of prayer.

Thank you Grandma for your support and prayers over the years and how blessed we are to celebrate your life and love among us these past 100 years!

So we have begun the urban plunge retreat. I am leading a group of eight students this weekend into the urban realities of the city of San Antonio. Tonight our first stop was the homeless shelter where we helped a church lead a prayer service and serve the guests pizza. The students had the opportunity to interact with the guests and to hear some of their stories. It was a very good start to our weekend. When we returned from the shelter we had excellent conversation about what they were thinking and feeling after the experience. We then did an exercise on prejudice to highlight that we all maintain some form of prejudice in our lives. I have been impressed with the quality of the conversation among the students. Tomorrow morning we will head to a Crosspoint, an organization that runs re-entry programs for folks recently released from prision. The students will have the opportunity to interact with some of their clients and hear their stories. The plunge weekend is really about having an open heart and mind and to hear he stories of those we encounter. It brings to live for us the Mystical Body of Christ, that is the Christ who dwells among us! Blessings to you.

Today we celebrate with the Church the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It is the Blessed Mother that led me to religious life as a Marianist. Her title of Our Lady of Lourdes has special significance for me. In my home parish, St. Thomas in Fort Thomas we have a grotto behind the Church dedicated to Lourdes. When I was a sophomore in high school I noticed it was in need of a face lift and very few people visited it. So I encouraged the parish through a letter in the bulletin to donate funds for its renovation. We did it! We re-lanscaped, put in a new walk way, had the statue repainted, etc. It became a communal work of love. Several months later on this date, her feast, we re-dedicated the grotto with a rosary and crowning of the statue. I always think of this moment on this feast, it has become a “faith moment” in my life. I look back and see how God began to work, how God began to stur my own call to make Mary more known, loved and served. In turn this mission to promote Mary brings us closer to her Son, Christ. Through the Mother to the Son (was printed on the holy cards for the rededication of the grotto). So pray with me today that Our Lady of Lourdes will work miracles in our lives (large and small) to not only heal the sick among us, but to heal the hard of heart…those who lack faith in the power of her Son Jesus Christ.

Click here to learn more about the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the apparition of our Lady to St. Bernadette.

So myself and this blog were recently featured in the San Antonio Archdiocesan newspaper Today’s Catholic. They did a special issue on vocations this month to coincide with National Vocations Awareness Week. So a warm welcome to those of you visiting my blog as a result of this article. You will find that I have been a bit lax in posting in recent months, mostly because of my new position here at St. Mary’s University has been keeping me very busy. I like to think that this is a forum to not only keep folks updated on my day-to-day comings and goings, but also a place to share musings, personal reflections and spiritual insights. If you browse back in some of my entries, especially those from my past year in Peru you will find more of these type of entries.

The major grace in my life in recent months has been the profession of my perpetual vows which occured on October 4, 2008 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to my profession I made a 30 day directed retreat to prepare for this life commitment. During the retreat I wrote a personal magnificat and shared this with those who attended my profession celebration. I would like to share this magnificat with the readers of this blog.

A Personal Magnificat

My soul reverberates in the affirmation of Mary
My spirit is strengthened by her courage
Open to the plan of God, I carve out a space deep within.

Yes, from this day on all will see I too bear God, I too birth
a dream, a dance, a delicate, yet bold new promise.
This promise has done great things for me and holy its name.

Mercy, compassion, justice takes root in my community and will last from generation to generation. I delight in the gifts of this new dawn, I rejoice in all that God has delivered. I feel the gentle reach of God upon me; I feel the power of God’s embrace.

God releases me from all worry and fear. The towers of wealth and consumerism collapse and houses of equity arise. Quenched with life flowing streams, full is the emptiness of my soul. The self-righteous are left wondering, while the meek and humble of heart circle around.

Holy is this space deep within, holy is the promise implanted.
I take courage and bear the pains of my labor for I know the risks, the repercussions.
Awaiting rejection I am reassured by a soft whisper, “Nothing is impossible with God.”

May you to experience the manifestation of God’s love in your life as I have and share it with all you encounter!!! Blessings of the new year!

It’s Christmas Eve! It is really hard to believe but it has arrived. I am left wondering what happen to this past semester? The month of December has gone by fast as well. I spent a week in New York City coordinating our vocation contact retreat. It went very well. We had a nice mix of guys on the weekend whom I think all of the potential to be great Marianists. So we will continue to support their discernment and hope that they join us. Our theme was social justice and the Marianist tradition. The weekend included presentations by two of our brothers on their social justice related ministries, visiting  the Marianist NGO at the United Nations and getting a tour of the UN, serving in a soup kitchen and visiting a recycling project coordinated by New York City’s homeless community. It was a really interesting mix of events, that introduced the guys to both direct service and the need to promote social change in policy making (at the UN).

There is more that could be written, along with some spiritual reflections of mine. I am going to try to be better at posting in the new year, this is my new year’s resolution. Today I will be cleaning and packing, getting ready for my trip to Mexico to help our brothers with their vocation website. I am looking forward to the trip.  I will attend Midnight Mass here on campus tonight after a nice dinner with the community.