The Memorial Eucharist, John English, S.J.

Jim Profit, S.J., Jean-Marc LaPorte, SJ, Provincial Superior, J. P. Horrigan, SJ


There Was A Man Whose Name Was John

The Memorial At Guelph
June 19, 2004

He was not there in body
But he was there in spirit
And we were there in his spirit
Sad at his passing,
Joyful in a more enduring presence.

A community of us --
All one hundred and sixty people
Who loved him.
We cried, we sang and we listened to some stories
Of a man, not just any man
But God's man
And our man named John!

The actual funeral was held four days earlier in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Memorial eucharist and service took place on Saturday afternoon, June 19 at Loyola House in Guelph, Ontario. On the cover of the memorial flyer were these lines and this image:

In loving memory of a wonderful person whose passover
was accomplished Wednesday evening June 9, 2004

While contemplating on the parable of the Prodigal Son, my heart stayed at the line "He ran to the boy, clasped him and kissed him tenderly" (Lk 15:20). For some strange reason, Fr. John English, whom I had never met in person, became the boy. He was being held tightly and welcomed affectionately by God. Trying to sketch this image is, in the end, a rewarding experience. Looking at Fr. John English's photograph intensely for a few days, I see the soft lines on his face, his gentleness and a very natural unassuming aura of love. What a beautiful creation of God, must have been like the prism of God's light to others for most of his life. Lines cannot lie. --- by Vicky Chen


In a letter to Vicky about the above sketch Jim Profit wrote: "It was great to meet you (at the memorial service), though so little time to really talk. Hopefully that will come soon. Your sketch of John English was also on the programme of the Winnipeg funeral. Apparently, John had this sketch in his room, and it was by the casket as well during the wake. So, thank-you very much for this. It obviously captured something of John that resonated with many of us.
"'Coincidence' -- well maybe, but probably not! I enjoyed the service, and it was easy to do because so many there just loved John. Bye for now. Jim"

The liturgy opened with a procession of symbols placed in front of the altar. Each symbol was brought up by a different person. Each symbol represented an aspect of John English's life and spirit:

- Spiritual Exercises text
- Constitutions of the Society of Jesus
- A Christian Life Community manual
- Three Scotch pine branches -- John was a forester in his earlier days and loved to plant trees, many large still grace the Ignatius College property at Guelph
- Icon of the of Trinity -- which represented an essential facet of John's spirituality
- Painting of the earth -- in the last fifteen years John furthered his appreciation of the more ecological and communal aspects of Christian Spirituality and, with Lois and Keruvala Zachariah, two colleagues of John's CLC local community, produced a manual which brought together communal spirituality, social and ecological aspects. This work was often referred to as the greening of the Spiritual Exercises
- A container of earth from John's grave in Winnipeg
- A container of earth from the Jesuit Centre in Guelph
- Wild flowers around the grounds of Jesuit Centre in Guelph
- Water
- Paschal Candle -- symbol of the risen Lord in our midst. John was very fond of this quote: "Jesus died an individual, but rose a community." In fact in the original Disposition Days for the Spiritual Exercises Institute John used the following theme: "When God calls us it is with the power of the risen Jesus by the work of the Spirit present now."
- A poster with of John's image at the different stages of his life

.

Accompanied by guitar and flute the community sang with exuberance. The leader of our assembly was Jean-Marc LaPorte, SJ, John's provincial superior, assisted by James Profit, SJ and J P Horrigan, SJ. During the homily Jim Profit SJ, Margaret Kane, CSJ and Peter Peloso shared their memories of their close relationship with John over the years. "Honey" was there -- the IHM sister from 1969 and the first May/June Spiritual Exercises Institute who dubbed John "Iron John," a name that was to stick right to the end. It summarized John's insistent belief in the efficacy of the Exercises text. Valeria Zaduk, the first full time secretary of Loyola House and of the original institute was there. John Haley who worked for years with John English and who softened some of Iron John's rhetoric was there. It was wonderful to see so many people from the past and present CLC members, women, men, priests and religious in one experiential moment of communal remembering.

Towards the end of the liturgy we were all invited to express in one word or phrase some one thing about John for which we were most grateful. "The celebration was moving. All the reflections and one-word, one-line gratitude told me about this spiritual giant whom I had never met but had connected mentally through his writings and his influence...."

And then we went outside and planted a tree in John's honour. We poured around its base, the soil from John's resting place in Winnipeg and from the Ignatius College property.



Did you ever know that you're my hero,
and ev'rything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Recorded By Bette Midler
Written By Larry Henley - Jeff Silbar
Album: "Beaches (soundtrack)" - 1988

---------------------------------------------

SINGING AND DANCING
WITH THE
MUSICALE OF CREATION
By
John English, SJ ^{(1)
(1924 - 2004  R.I.P.)}  

The dance or the grand musicale of the universe
expressing the life of the Trinity. 
What a performance for humanity!

click on photo to enlarge

click on photo to enlargeThe Song And Dance Of The Universe
          The above photograph recalls what a magnificent sight are the heavens on a clear night! The myriads of planets, stars, and galaxies, as they move across the heavens before us! Psalmists, troubadours, poets, have all expressed amazement at the sight. The photo is an example of the magnificence, size, etc. of the universe. True scientists (as opposed to technicians) and true theologians (as opposed to catechists) in spite of their differences are united in awe and wonder before this sight as they seek to know and understand the heavens. We read in Psalm 8: "When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you should care for them. You have made them little less than angels, and crowned them with glory and honour." (Ps 8:3-5)⁽²⁾ Psalm139 suggests that God (Trinity) is in a dance with creation: "Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right shall hold me fast." (Ps 139:10) Gerald Manley Hopkins, the Jesuit poet of the 19^thcentury also was captivated by the sight of the heavens as he writes in, That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and the Comfort of the Resurrection, "Cloud-puffball, torn tufts, tossed pillows flaunt for, then chevy on an air-built thoroughfare: heaven-roysterers, in gay-gangs they throng; they glitter in marches."⁽³⁾ Scientists have made it possible for us to view the heavens in a new and fascinating way. Time and time again we are presented with images from telescopes and space stations of the circling of planets and gases in the universe. Astronomers tell us that the circling of gases eventually leads to the creation of new stars and planets. They tell us that the universe is constantly expanding. We think of the scripture text: "I make all things new" (Rev 21:5) This activity is like a choral dance. Scientists (mathematicians) are caught up in this marvel as they study motion, sound and light in the movement of the stars, the variations of light and sound coming from beyond our earth.


          The great spiritual writer, Thomas Merton challenges us: "To hear His call and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic dance ...when we see the migrating birds ... when we see children in a moment when they are really children ... For the world and time are the dance of the Lord in emptiness. The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. ...Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance.⁽⁴⁾


          Theologians speak of a dance in the Trinity. We find the following words in a discussion about love in the New Dictionary of Theology: "...the love which is God emerged more clearly as the trinity of Father, Son and Spirit engaged in Perichoresis, a permanent dance of love into which human beings are invited and empowered to join. The love which is God has been made available to all willing to join the dance, willing to draw others into the dance, willing to make place for others in the dance."⁽⁵⁾ John O'Donnell develops the image of perichoresis in a book on the Trinity: "The concept of the Trinitarian God who is love implies the eternal newness according to which the eternal Lord is always his own future. God and love never grow old. Their being remains that of coming."⁽⁶⁾ Both scientists and theologians would insist that the dance is always new. Theperichoresis in the Trinity is an image of the dynamic activity within the Trinity that overflows into the dance of the heavens, a display that generates wonder and awe.


          The above photograph of the heavens invites scientists and theologians to consider our existence in ever new and expanding ways. The images, sounds and movements of our universe attract us to wonder, amazement, dance and song. These interior and exterior delights are the common ground of scientist and theologians.


          The following article can be used in three ways. The first as stated in Endnote 1; is to help scientists and theologians with a dialogue that will deal with the problem that results from philosophical differences regarding spirit and matter. A second use is to assist the reader to gain a heightened sense of one's own creaturehood and a third, is to govern one's life with this awareness.