Tag: Mt. Irenaeus

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Happy Birthday

Today is the two-hundred and thirty-third birthday of the United States Navy.  Much has changed since the 13th of October in 1775 and much has remained the same. The Continental Congress authorized the outfitting of two naval vessels to search our shores and protect us from British warships supplying their troops.  In the two centuries plus that have followed thousands of young men and women have chosen to serve this country as members of the United States Navy.   Just yesterday at brunch while at Mt. Irenaeus I spoke with a physician who had served as a U.S. Navy Medical Officer for ten years. He was at the Mountain with his young family. He was a graduate of Siena College who spent time as a Franciscan Volunteer before going to medical school and after that the U.S. Navy.  He left the Navy for private practice in Greencastle, PA.  My own family has a record of naval service that spans three generations now.

There is within me a longing for the sea and the surf that has been in me all my life. Perhaps I’ll never know where it came from but it is there nonetheless. Whatever its source I salute the United States Navy today on its birthday.

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La Posada



The resting place at the top of the mountain at Mt. Irenaeus. La Posada is one of my favorite places at Mt. Irenaeus although it has been many months since I hiked here. I decided to walk along the Mountain Road following brunch today. It was a great day to be in the woods. Everything really smells like fall and there were lots of chipmunks scurrying in front of me as I walked along the road. This hermitage is the most rustic at Mt. Irenaeus and the furthest from chapel and House of Peace. It was built in 1993 by Steve Andrews and an Amish fellow named Milt. There is a journal inside the hermitage and guests are invited to write a reflection. Today I read Steve Andrews’ reflection and it was very lovely. I’ve spent several nights here on many different occasions. As I walked along the Mountain Road I came to a fork in the trail. As I stood looking I thought of the words of a prayer that hangs in the House of Peace.

Grant me the ability to be alone.
May it be my custom to go outdoors each day.
Among the trees and grasses, among all growing things
And there may I be alone.
And enter into prayer
To talk with the one I belong to.

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Dan Hurley, OFM

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.

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Garden at Mt. Irenaeus

Garden at Mt. Irenaeus

Tonight after work I drove nearly thirty miles to be part of a gathering of Partners in MInistry at Mt. Irenaeus. The mountain as we call it is one of my favorite spots. I almost blew this meeting off. In fact it was only Monday that I decided to come. I got there about 4:15, which was about forty-five minutes after the meeting had started. Fr. Dan asked me to reflect on a handout that included the Mountain’s mission and some thoughts of about the mission statement. As I sat and listened to the others share what this place and its form of ministry mean to them, I thought of my own path here. What was there about this place that continues to invite me back.

The garden is central to what brings me back here time and again and that is hospitality. At Mt. Irenaeus all are truly welcome. Christians of all stripes, Jews, Muslims, agnostics, atheists, all are welcome here. No one is asked to accept a particular theology. There is no proselytizing. Words and thoughts are shared, but central to it all is an overwhelming feeling of peace and hospitality. I think it’s what Jesus is really about.

The Eucharist followed our time of sharing and then it was down to the House for dinner. Each of us played a part in its preparation and mine was to help Br. Kevin Kriso, OFM collect lettuce, peas and beans from the garden. I joined two other guests and Br. Kevin and we gathered just enough for dinner. Tonight we all enjoyed a simple dinner and the company of many friends. Our meal was completed by a sumptuous blueberry dessert prepared by Fr. Dan Hurley, OFM. Dan Hurley is 88 years young and though he can no longer see well, he is able to contribute insight and culinary delights.

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Holy Peace


I took this picture as I was walking up the trail to Holy Peace Chapel at Mt. Irenaeus this morning. It was a beautiful morning and one of the nicest of the summer. Today’s readings were very meaningful for me. Psalm 63 was read after the first reading and it really embodied how I’ve been feeling lately. I almost walked out of Mass after I got there as I felt a bit low and troubled.

O God, you are my God– for you I long! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, Like a land parched, lifeless, and without water. So I look to you in the sanctuary to see your power and glory.
For your love is better than life; my lips offer you worship! I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands, calling on your name. My soul shall savor the rich banquet of praise, with joyous lips my mouth shall honor you! When I think of you upon my bed, through the night watches I will recall That you indeed are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy. My soul clings fast to you; your right hand upholds me.
But those who seek my life will come to ruin; they shall go down to the depths of the earth! They shall be handed over to the sword and become the prey of jackals! But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by the Lord shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be shut!

I stayed at Mass and this Psalm along with the blog about Paradox of Peace that came from the Merton Institute a couple of weeks ago stayed with me. After Mass and brunch I stopped and visited some Franciscan friends and then I drove north to Abbey of the Genesee. I spent Vespers and Compline with the community. I visited the store and bought Thomas Merton’s, “The Way of Chuang Tzu,” along with fruit cake and some Monks brownies for my friends. Between Vespers and Compline I went to the chapel and sat in silence inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit and seeking answers. Just before Compline while looking at one of Merton’s books in the store Brother Jerome approached and asked if I’d like to talk. I came here seeking answers today and the improbable coincidence of an invitation to talk by a monk I’d never visited with before floored me. I’m going back tomorrow and sit with Brother Jerome. Maybe his counsel is that voice of God that I’ve been seeking.

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Lady of the Genesee

I began my day driving to nearby Olean to the Verizon Wireless store. I was returning one phone and exchanging it for another. When I finished it was 10:40 am and I thought with luck I can get to Mt. Irenaeus at least in time for communion.  I did better than that, I got there in time for the Gospel. The chapel was packed today with nearly 60 people, many who had come to celebrate a wedding, some to visit Fr. Dan Hurley, OFM who is aging and ageless. Hurles as he is affectionately known is 88 years old and still going strong. His eyesight is failing but not his vision, his heart nor his appeal to family and friends. Following Mass and a sumptuous bruch I made my way up through the Genesee River Valley to one of my other favorite spots in Western New York. I got to the Abbey of the Genesee in time for Vespers and Benediction. I love the adoration of the Eucharist, it is one of my favorite liturgical ceremonies and combined with vespers it was a beautiful way to spend part of my afternoon.  I used the camera of my new Blackberry Curve to take this lovely picture of Our Lady of the Genesee. I often stop to pray near this statue and today’s weather combined to make a beautiful picture. As I sat near the statue I thought of the Magnificat we’d just prayed as Vespers ended.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed;
the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm
and has scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones
and lifting up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good thing
and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
to remember his promise of mercy,
The promise made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

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Merton and me

Last night I attended a talk given by Walt Chura, SFO at Mount Irenaeus. Walt’s topic was the “Transformations of Thomas Merton.” Walt talked about the similarities between the transformations of Francis of Assisi and Thomas Merton and helped me to more clearly see each man and their journey to God and my own journey too. Both Merton and Francis were profligate sinners. They knew excess and it is or was their excess that eventually drew them close to God.

I was thinking as I ran this morning and contemplating what it means to me and it occurred to me that it’s possible to know God without theology. In fact theology might actually come between us and God. In the west and particularly in Western Christianity we are totally absorbed in describing God and what God is and isn’t. It’s that obsession with description that actually stands in the way of our knowing God. In twelve step programs, old timers frequently say that if you can describe the higher power, you’ve just lost him or her. If that’s true, and I believe it is, then theology or theologies could actually be standing in the way of knowing God or following God. I think both Merton and Francis knew this. I was thinking too of the popular Christian view of a sin centered universe and how that shapes Western Civilization. The less popular theology is of Duns Scotus and the Theology of the Incarnation that says that Christ came not to save the world from its sins but to show how much God loved the world.

If you tell that to your average American Christian you’ll be in for the fight of your life, but it makes sense to me. I read a book a few years ago by an Irish theologian who said that spirituality had been around for 10,000 years and that religion for only the last four or five thousand of those years. Karl Rahner once said, “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.” The Buddhists speak of the various paths of truth as being fingers pointing to the moon. Drawing from all of this and Walt’s talk last night I believe its possible to get so caught up in the fingers as to miss the moon. Its possible that a profligate life is really the path of the true seeker and that it’s not a sin centered universe but a sartori centered universe in which each man and women is moving slowly, very slowly towards enlightenment which Christians in the west would call redemption.

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Bunny fluff

Today I awoke to a covering of white stuff that Fr. Bob at the Mountain called “bunny fluff.” Bob said that any snow that falls after April 1st is referred to as bunny fluff. It works for me. My ride over to Mass this morning was typical as I made my way down the Ischua Valley towards Olean, New York and then east on Route 446 to the Village of Cuba and then on Interstate 86 to Friendship, New York and then to Nile and Route 1 to Mt. Irenaeus. It’s a route I know well. The further south and east I got the less of the bunny fluff I saw. Continue reading “Bunny fluff”

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Learning something new

I just learned how to use Animoto to create a video. This short video came from some pictures I’ve taken recently at Mt. Irenaeus. I hope you like them and that you’ll give Animoto a try. It’s a very neat Web 2.x application. Follow this link to the video. Animoto.com

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The Passover of the Lord

I was running a bit late last night as I drove to Mt. Irenaeus for the Easter Vigil. We had company and one of them needed maps for a trip back to Rochester. Several maps from Google were needed before I could leave home for the trip to the Mountain. As I drove down Route 16 and later Interstate 86 I thought that I might arrive in time for at least part of the service. Continue reading “The Passover of the Lord”