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Showing posts from March, 2017

Going Against My Will

"Pick up your clothes!" "Come and eat!"  "Clean the dishes!" "Hang up the phone!" My mother was a taskmaster. Living with her as a teenager was not easy. I know that she loved me. She did her best and I am eternally grateful for eveything she taught me. By the time I went to college, I knew how to cook, clean, do my laundry, iron, and care for myself.  Although there were many times I chose not to do what she instructed, I felt the reprimand verbally or physically. I never knew that when I acted against my will and did my mother's, I was acting on "agere contra."  Agere contra is Latin which means "to go against." I learned it as a Jesuit novice in 1998. Seeking to find God in all things, I entered the Society of Jesus religious community to find my vocation (calling). One of my most memorable experiences was when I was assigned to an apostolate in Syracuse, NY called Loretto Home.  At first,...