Tag: St. Bonaventure University

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Fall on the Allegany


Today was one of those lovely October days that invited me to stop at a public park along the Allegany River in the Village of Allegany, New York. I took the picture with my Blackberry Curve and it captures the beauty of my surroundings. I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts across from St. Bonaventure University and purchased a small cup of coffee and then drove to this park just west of the campus. My head was filled with many thoughts as I walked to this spot. Once I was there I was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace and stability. As I sat here I thought of Thomas Merton who once taught at St. Bonaventure University before he entered the Abbey of Gethsemani in Bardstown, Kentucky in December 1941.

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Transitus at University Chapel


Tonight I joined other Franciscans at St. Bonaventure University Chapel in both remembering our seraphic father St. Francis and in re-committing ourselves to living out his ideals. It was a lovely liturgy and different from what I expected. This was my first time at the Feast of Transitus. St. Francis died just after sunset on October 3, 1226, at the age of 44.

“Be praised, my Lord, for our sister Bodily Death whom no living man can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are those whom she will find doing your holy will, for to them the second death will do no harm”. –St. Francis of Assisi

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3000 feet above SBU


Yesterday I took this picture with my Kodak camera as I was flying over the campus of St. Bonaventure University. St. Bonaventure is situated next to the Allegany River and is adjacent to the Village of Allegany which is also pictured. I was at 4500 feet which is a little over 3000 feet above ground level. It was a beautiful night to be aloft.

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They sure as hell love each other

A tourist says to his guide, “You have a right to be proud of your town I was especially impressed with the number of churches in it. Surely the people here must love the Lord.” “Well,” replied the cynical guide, “”they may love the Lord, but they sure as hell hate each other.”–taken from “Selected Writings of Anthony De Mello.” by William Dych, SJ.

I’ve written before how much De Mello’s words touch me and this short story is a good one. How often do we hear of religious people full of intolerance for each other. This morning at Mass I witnessed an unusual event. Fr. Dan Riley, OFM who was our celebrant began the Eucharist this morning by inviting us to say our names and then told us that at some point during the liturgy we would break so that some late arriving guests could join us and then we’d sing “Happy Birthday” to one of them.

He began with the sign of the cross and then followed the Introit, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the first reading and the psalm, Following the psalm, Fr. Dan heard the guests arrive and then he walked out of the chapel to greet them. As we sat there waiting for the Mass to resume I thought of how much Fr. Dan’s actions were like those of Jesus. He didn’t wait for them to come to him, but went to them, met them when they were still aways off and brought them into our midst and then we sang Happy Birthday to Maurice. Dan’s actions speak louder than any words he could have spoken this morning. He was Christ to us and to the late arriving guests. The love in the chapel was palpable this morning and it touched us all.

The guest was St. Bonaventure University basketball player, Maurice Thomas, and his family. We all got to meet Maurice and his family and we all experienced love first hand. There was much love there this morning and its an event I won’t soon forget.

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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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Chapel Picture

SBU chapel

This is a picture I took with my Motorola RazR when I was in the St. Bonaventure University Chapel last night for the Feast of St. Bonaventure. Although a picture can’t really capture my own emotions, it can convey a sense of what we experienced last night. I was lovely and a moment that I’ll cherish. I felt so blessed to be in the company of so many other Franciscans.

As we closed the Mass last night all voices were raised singing.

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

Oh Praise Him! Oh Praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

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Feast of St. Bonaventure

This afternoon I had agreed to drive down to St. Bonaventure University and help a Franciscan friend with a computer I had donated to him. I had configured this Dell Inspiron equipped with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic with Star Office. Fr. Bob Struzynski, OFM is a very bright man and a wonderful person, but computers are a little scary for him. I had moved his files to this new machine about three months ago, but he continued to have problems editing his previous Microsoft Word files. It turned out that Microsoft Word Viewer which had come with the computer had been set as the default application for opening word processing documents. I had originally setup the computer to use Star Office Writer as the default. Somehow that changed. I was able to solve his problem rather quickly and to help him set up an Amazon Simple Storage account so that he could work both at the University and at his home at Mt. Irenaeus.

Working together we got the Amazon S3 account setup. I also downloaded and configured Jungledisk which is a great program. He needs a bit more training but this is a great way to work with the same group of files on two separate computers. Toward the end of our time together Fr. Bob mentioned that he had to leave soon for Mass. I asked where the Mass was and he said in the University Chapel. I had forgotten that today was the Feast of St. Bonaventure and since the University is celebrating its sesqui-centennial this is more special than other years.

After a short walk from University Ministries we arrived at the Chapel and it was nearly full of Franciscan friars, nuns, a lovely choir and some townspeople like me. Tears filled my eyes as I listened to the lovely bell choir that invited us at the beginning of the worship. Gratitude to both Fr. Bob and the Franciscan Friars filled my heart as I looked and listened. This was truly something I hadn’t dreamed of earlier in the day. The Mass was lovely but I really enjoyed the choir and musicians. Franciscans are joyful and this is just what I needed today.

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Road to Emmaus

I found myself on the road once again to Mt. Irenaeus. I’ve been a regular at the Mountain for over eight years now. It’s as much my home as the one I live in most of the time and the friars are as much my brothers as anyone in my family. This morning was one of those lovely spring mornings. The sky was a deep blue and not a cloud to be seen. Brother Sun was brilliant and his rays were warming the air temperature to nearly fifty degrees at 10:45 am as I made my way along Route 275 and then onto Allegany County Route 1. There were a couple of drivers behind me who were in a bit more of a hurry than I. I pulled off on the shoulder and let them pass. I continued to poke along at a leisurely 45 mph and then turned onto Hydetown Road where I slowed even further. Continue reading “Road to Emmaus”

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Presence

Holy Thursday is one of my favorite days and nights in the church year. It always has been. It’s kind of celebration at the end of Lent. In the last eight years it’s become tradition for me to be at Mt. Irenaeus for supper with friends and then the Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper in the chapel. Because of my schedule this week I didn’t think I was going to make it but it all worked out. I had to drive 150 miles round trip to meet with representatives of Dell Computer and then climb into my own car to drive the thirty or so miles to the Mountain. Continue reading “Presence”