A House of Prayer for All Peoples

Dear Friend,

I’m writing from Atlanta Georgia, the city where I grew up and where I’m staying for three days at a Jesuit retreat center (Ignatius House) with a group of 40 of my OFM brothers from around the country. We’re mapping the first steps of our journey as a new nation-wide fraternity-in-mission under the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The new province will officially launch in October, with headquarters right here in Atlanta. Our conversations on renewal and change are full of energy and anticipation.

It turns out that my Atlanta homecoming and this very retreat house are connecting me in a personal way to another time of renewal, long before I ever imagined being a Franciscan. Last night in our gathering area I spotted some printed pages entitled “History of Ignatius House” and in the first few pages I came across these words: “In 1966 the Jesuit community [of Ignatius House], including the Director Fr. Hein, volunteered their services to Archbishop Hallinan to set up a course of lectures and discussions on the more pertinent documents of the recent Second Vatican Council.” The memory came clearer to me: 50+ years ago in a time of great anticipation and excitement, my parents participated in those discussions on Vatican II. The Catholic Church was being called to a new road ahead.  

Our scripture readings this week point us to the same expansive hope-filled vision of the future, toward "a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isaiah). Jesus’s own encounter with the Canaanite woman pulls him beyond a mission strictly to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. A certain loyalty to the future calls us throughout our lives as individuals and as Church. The past gives way and the Spirit takes hold.   

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm, Pastor