CategoriesArt Reflection, 100th Anniversary by

Reflections on Art from 100 Years Ago

By Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ

Hubert McGoldrick, (detail) Revelation of The Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1925), stained glass window, St. Brendan’s Cathedral, Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland

We celebrate the feast of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque on October 16 not only because of her holiness of life, but also because of the Lord’s revelations to her of His love for us, illustrated in this stained-glass window.

Those revelations led to our modern devotion to the Sacred Heart and its feast. Pope Pius XI said, “the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was instituted at a time when men were oppressed by the sad and gloomy severity of Jansenism, which had made their hearts grow cold, and shut them out from the love of God and the hope of salvation.” That heresy taught that people were predestined to heaven or hell and could do nothing about it, that most people couldn’t love God enough to be forgiven their sins and were unworthy to receive Communion or its grace.

In apparitions to Margaret Mary between 1673 and 1675 Jesus made clear His love for us and His disappointment—not anger—when we fail to return the love that He so much desires from us. Margaret Mary’s director, St. Claude La Colombière, SJ, and his fellow Jesuits today promote this devotion to the Sacred Heart and oppose any Jansenist denial of it.

stained glass
Categories100th Anniversary by

100th Anniversary Celebration Kick Off

God blessed us with a beautiful day to kick off our year-long celebration of Manresa’s 100th Anniversary. More than 200 people attended the Outdoor Mass on Sunday, Sept. 28. Fr. Fran Daly, SJ, past executive director, and Sr. Linda Sevcik, SM, current executive director, welcomed everyone before the Mass started. Fr. Steve Hurd, SJ served as celebrant, Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ offered the homily, while other Jesuits helped to distribute communion. The Gesu Parish Choir led the singing. Guests received an engraved memorial stone as a reminder that we are “living stones” made alive by God through faith in Christ (I Pet. 2:4-7, Eph. 2:19-22). After the Mass, Ovations Dining Services served a tasty array of refreshments. Students from Brother Rice and Marian High Schools helped with set up and greeting guests, as did members of Manresa’s staff and board. We are grateful to all those who took part in preparing this special event, to those who were able to be with us and for our online community’s good wishes. To God be the glory! (Photos by Paul Seibold)

Jesuits at Mass
Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ and Fr. Steve Hurd, SJ
Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ and Fr. Steve Hurd, SJ
Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ and Fr. Steve Hurd, SJ
buffet line
buffet line
buffet line
CategoriesArt Reflection, 100th Anniversary by

Reflections on Art from 100 Years Ago

By Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ

Ivan Milev, Prayer (1925), Iskra Historical Museum, Kazanlak, Bulgaria.

woman praying

Ivan Milev was said to be the first and only artist to paint Bulgarian rural Christians where we can see their souls, customs and hopes. His attention to the poor villagers led him to appreciate their spirituality and prayer.

In his “Evening Prayer in the Field” (1925) two peasants pause, sickles still in their hands, to bow, bless themselves and pray in the midst of their work. In “Prayer” (also 1925) a peasant woman prays before her home icons.  Her pious features are also iconic—geometric, abstract, intimating her unearthly, eternal and spiritual dimension. She has turned away from her daily labors and also from us to be absorbed in her prayer and intent only on the Lord.

She symbolizes and models for us why Manresa Jesuit Retreat House was founded. It is a holy place to which we withdraw from our usual lives. We enter into its silence and the silence of our hearts, the better to hear God’s words and receive God’s graces. It is holy ground where we refresh ourselves, our spiritual energies and our relationship with the Lord, and from which we return again to our usual lives strengthened in the Spirit and more fully ourselves.

CategoriesTell Your Story, 100th Anniversary by

Sacred Encounter

By Meredith Skowronski

Mother deer and fawn

My father-in-law, Jerry, loved deer.  He would paint them, build them out of clay, carefully molding and coloring them to perfection. When he died suddenly of a massive stroke in 2020, followed closely by the death of my mother-in-law, Joann, in early 2021, deer became a spiritual and mystical creature for our family. Whenever we saw deer, we knew that “Grandma and Grandpa” were close, watching over us, smiling down on us from Heaven.

My husband was diagnosed with bladder cancer two weeks before his mother died. He started weekly treatments that March. Without fail, almost every morning before he would leave for what would be an excruciating round of chemotherapy, we would be visited by deer in our driveway. Grandma and Grandpa–always close.

This past summer, I attended my first individually directed retreat at Manresa. During my time listening to the Spirit in silence, I was led to write letters to my husband and my son, sharing with them how much I value and love them, and expressing my gratitude for the space they gave me to attend the retreat. I found a quiet, contemplative spot by a small stream, surrounded by woods, and began to write to my son.

As I was writing, I noticed movement across the river from me. When I looked up, there were two deer — a mother and a baby. They walked across the path toward me, stopped just on the other side of the stream where I was sitting, perhaps twenty feet away, and gazed at me for the longest time. A mother and a baby, just as I (a mother) was writing a letter to our son (my baby!). The deer stayed for quite some time, watching me, studying me, and simply being present with me. I spoke to them, said hello, and thanked them for visiting. I told them they were beautiful and said a prayer, thanking God (and Grandma and Grandpa) for stopping by to see me. It was a beautiful and unexpected God-wink.

Throughout my five-day retreat, God gifted me with several of these moments, and I am thankful that I had the space, openness, and attentiveness to receive them. They were life-changing for me and reminded me of how deeply beloved I am, how connected I am to God in all things, and how God is always present to me.

For more information on Manresa’s 100th Anniversary, visit manresa-sj.org/100Years.