In a recent article in America, Adam Hincks, SJ, says that cosmologists don’t have definitive answers to the two questions most people have about the universe: when did it begin? and how big is it?  Scientists don’t even know what most of the universe is made of.  Hincks has a doctorate in cosmology from Princeton, and he’ll likely carry on the great tradition of Jesuit science.

Astronomers all over the world, professional and amateur alike, are getting ready to observe the rare transit of Venus on June 6.  They’ll see the planet of Venus cross the face of the sun, something that won’t happen again until 2117.  It turns out that the Jesuits have a long history of observing these transits.

Mark your calendars for what looks like an excellent conference: Finding God in Unsettled Times, June 29 to July 1, on the campus of Loyola University Maryland.  The conference is sponsored by the Jesuit Collaborative, a consortium of the Jesuit provinces on the East Coast.  Browse a list of 33 workshops here.

If you have an interest in young adult work, take a look at this video about Charis, an Ignatian ministry that is expanding rapidly.  Becky Eldredge, a dotMagis blogger and a leader of Charis, appears on it. (Click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Pilgrims are now walking and biking the new Ignatian Way pilgrimage route in northern Spain, which follows the route Ignatius walked in 1522 after his conversion.  (Go here to read what I wrote about it last year.)   After watching this video about it, I was ready to stuff my backpack, lace up my hiking boots, and book my flight.   (Click here to see the video on Vimeo.)

Thane Kreiner of Santa Clara University makes connections between Ignatian traditions and the work he does to train social entrepreneurs to build businesses that serve the poor.

So we are left with love. “Love ought to manifest itself more by deeds than by words,” said St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, in 1540. In the Spring, 2007 Stanford Social Innovation Review Roger Martin and Sally Osberg define entrepreneurs by their direct action, in addition to attributes such as courage, fortitude, and creativity. Social entrepreneurs are distinguished by the “primacy of social benefit,” or the value proposition: large-scale, transformational change. The social entrepreneur “releases trapped potential or alleviates the suffering” of fellow humans.

The world needs more social entrepreneurs, Kreiner says, quoting Ignatius’s close friend Juan Polanco: “quamplurimi et quam aptissimi (as many as possible of the very best).

During Holy Week I’ve encountered two very different and yet equally profound meanings in the act of a kiss.  The first, of course, is the act by which Judas symbolized his betrayal of Christ: a tender, intimate act which was a lie and a travesty.  The other was the act by which we show reverence for the cross of Christ in the liturgy of Good Friday.

I celebrated Good Friday liturgy with my family at Campion Center in Weston, Massachusetts, home to a community of retired Jesuits.  There is a beautiful chapel there somewhat reminiscent of the baroque style of the Jesuit church in Rome, the Gesù, and being there calls to mind the grand sweep of Jesuit history symbolized by that church.  As I looked around the congregation, I saw men who have spent decades in service to Christ.  They have been professors, pastors, presidents.  They have served in Beirut, Beijing, Boston, and Botswana.  They have baptized, taught, built, preached, and given spiritual direction to thousands.  Now, here they live out what is likely their final assignment: they move slowly with walkers, or are pushed about in wheelchairs, and spend much time in silence.

The celebrant raised the cross as he and two other priests approached the altar: “behold the cross of Christ, on which was hung the salvation of the world.”  The three of them processed around the large chapel, pausing for those who were non-ambulatory, so that they might kiss the cross.  The rest of us later processed up the center aisle in order to similarly revere the cross.

It was the faces of those old Jesuits who inspired me.  For a moment, I saw not an old man in a wheelchair, but a missionary still responding to the Call of Christ the King.  They would raise their arms and lovingly bring the wood of the cross to their lips and kiss the feet of the One for whom they had toiled their whole lives.  There was something in their eyes. I could see it.  They are still in love.

Ignatius writes in the Spiritual Exercises, “love shows itself more in deeds than in words.”  A kiss is a small gesture, but it is a symbol, a manifestation of something deeper that stretches across years, lifetimes, and generations.  It is a deed by which a person can render back to God the love that God has given.  Once again the Jesuits have taught me something: the meaning of a kiss.

While we’re on the subject of social media, I thought I’d point to a couple of notable digital projects by Loyola Press, the sponsor of this website.

The Press’s 3-Minute Retreat has just won the 2012 Wilbur award for web-based communications in multimedia or online video from the Religion Communications Council.  This is a pretty big deal.   The Council is also giving awards this year to CBS News, Entertainment Weekly, and the Oscar-nominated film The Help.  The 3-Minute Retreat combines music, scripture, and reflective questions.  A new one is posted every morning.

The other project is a contest for students and teachers to produce the best short video that answers the question “Where do you find God?”  Entries are posted here, and if you look at a couple of them, you’ll see that this contest is incredibly cute and thoroughly charming.

The Lent-Easter Ignatian Prayer Adventure online retreat started yesterday, but you can join in any time.  Take a look.

I thought I’d mention a couple of other Lenten resources.  A couple are out of the ordinary.

Other6 Prays Lent is an online community that helps you find God in the ordinary course of daily life.

You might take some time to listen to the Lunchtime Examen, six guided Examens that lead you through my favorite way of praying.  (I narrated these.)

Creighton University invites you to join a Lenten online reading group.  The book is Thrift Stores Saints, by Jane Knuth.  This is one of my favorite books of recent years, and it’s not just because Loyola Press published it.  It’s about Jane’s experiences working with the poor as a St. Vincent de Paul volunteer.  To call it inspiring is an understatement.

Finally, for something completely different, check out the downloadable video series 40, an allegory about Lent and its meaning from Loyola Productions.  This isn’t for everyone.  Go to 40theseries for more information.

A bunch of young Jesuits launched a new website yesterday called The Jesuit Post.  Content will range very widely indeed.  The first batch of articles  include pieces on David Foster Wallace, parish masses, Tim Tebow, yoga, Paula Deen, the folk-rock band Hem, and health care reform.  Editor Paddy Gilger, SJ says “this site is about Jesus, politics, and pop-culture, it’s about the Catholic Church, sports, and Socrates.  It’s about making the case for God (better: letting God make the case for Himself) in our secular age.”

Go take a look.

The Ignatian Pro-Life Network was among the many groups that took part in the annual March for Life in Washington yesterday, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision.  It’s an occasion to remember the fine document Standing for the Unborn issued by the Jesuit Conference.

It says, “Jesuits ought to find their place among those who demonstrate the obvious confluence of women’s rights and respect for life in all its forms.”

To be pro-life is to be pro-woman. Because we support women, we oppose abortion. We realize that the prevalence of abortion on demand is a clear indication that women are not receiving the types of societal and personal support necessary to bring their pregnancies to term.