Overview

"""Father Connor teaches that gratitude is the foundation of all else in Christian life. This book is an occasion for gratitude,"" Nita Crowley writes in her foreword to this inspiring and readable collection. The book blends reflections on one Jesuit's life--and the life of the Society of Jesus--with lucid commentaries on urgent topics. Part I is a memoir. Among many other remembrances, Father Connor recalls the upheavals of the 1960s that unexpectedly tossed him into the role of Maryland Jesuit provincial, at age 39, along with his dramatic first encounter with the beloved Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe. ""I knew at that moment that I would walk on burning coals for that man,"" he says of the hopefully future saint. Part II is a broad sampling of Father Connor's homilies. He ushers us through the liturgical year, with down-to-earth reflections that have retained their freshness. They're presented under titles such as ""Jesus the Partygoer: At a Wedding, in Cana,"" ""The Craziness of Pentecost: Giving Away Love, Peace, and Freedom--Free of Charge,"" and ""When Peter and Jesus Had Words: 'You Satan!'"" Parts III and IV focus on ""Mission"" and ""Leadership,"" respectively. Father Connor ranges over topics like the nature of a Jesuit liberal arts education, the product of which ""is not a degree, but a person."" He writes about people including six of his friends--the martyred Jesuits in El Salvador. ""What I remember most were the bullet-pocked walls in the living room of their residence. There had been any number of drive-by machine gun shootings,"" he recounts. In the end, the reader ""comes away encouraged that today's chaos will not prevail,"" writes Dolores Leckey."

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9781627203074

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"""To read this book is to enter into the mind, heart, and spirit of a contemporary Vatican II Jesuit. Father Connor's intelligence, wit, and pastoral adeptness are evident throughout. The reader comes away encouraged that today's chaos will not prevail."" --Dolores Leckey, founding director of the Secretariat for the Laity at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and author of 12 books focused on the laity and spirituality. ""Throughout the book, Father Connor discusses the process of Ignatian discernment, which underlies these reflections. We will have missed one of the book's greatest lessons and gifts if we don't use these reflections to serve as the catalyst for our own reflections on how to discern and respond to God's call in a troubled world."" --Nita Crowley, from the Foreword ""... We lift our glasses high, lift our hearts even higher, in tribute to James L. Connor ... for 50 years rich with grace from God and grace to us: the grace of a friendship that has quietly, softly persuaded each of us to be better than we were likely to be."" --Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., from the Afterword"

To read this book is to enter into the mind, heart, and spirit of a contemporary Vatican II Jesuit. Father Connor's intelligence, wit, and pastoral adeptness are evident throughout. The reader comes away encouraged that today's chaos will not prevail. --Dolores Leckey, founding director of the Secretariat for the Laity at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and author of 12 books focused on the laity and spirituality. Throughout the book, Father Connor discusses the process of Ignatian discernment, which underlies these reflections. We will have missed one of the book's greatest lessons and gifts if we don't use these reflections to serve as the catalyst for our own reflections on how to discern and respond to God's call in a troubled world. --Nita Crowley, from the Foreword ... We lift our glasses high, lift our hearts even higher, in tribute to James L. Connor ... for 50 years rich with grace from God and grace to us: the grace of a friendship that has quietly, softly persuaded each of us to be better than we were likely to be. --Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., from the Afterword

Author Information

James L. Connor, S.J., previously served as provincial of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, president of the National Jesuit Conference, pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C., director of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, Provincial Assistant for Mission and Renewal, and Jesuit-in-Residence at the Sellinger School of Business, Loyola University Maryland. He currently resides at the Claude La Colombiere Jesuit Community in Baltimore, Maryland. There, his pastoral ministry assignment-given to him in June 2019, the month after he celebrated his 90th birthday-is to pray for the Church and the Society of Jesus.

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