This morning as I walked from my car toward the House of Peace at Mt. Irenaeus I spotted my friend, Dan Hurley, OFM sitting in the warm morning sun on the sun deck of the house. Dan Hurley is one of the nicest older gentlemen I’ve ever met in my life. He’s iconic at both St. Bonaventure University and at Mt. Irenaeus. His silver gray hair always looks like it isn’t quite combed and he is the personification of all that is Franciscan. At 88 years young he represents a generation of Franciscan men and women who educated me in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Fr. Dan also looks a bit like George Burns in the movie, “Oh,God.”
His gentle presence was just what I needed to see this morning as I arrived at Mt. Irenaeus. I often think of the Mountain as my idea of what heaven ought to be. I thank God for people like Dan Hurley. Deo Gratias.