Eve of Ascension

Sojourning at San Lorenzo Friary, Jamaica Plain in Boston. Arose at six; morning prayer, meditation, and Eucharist in the friars' chapel with the post-novices. Picked up breakfast in the kitchen and took it into the dining room to chat with one of the brothers. Left the friary at ten to nine and took a ride on the Orange Line to Downtown Crossing in the company of another friar on his way to pastoral visits.

More moving with the movement. Mid-morning, joined a picket of the annual shareholders' meeting of State Street over its avoidance of corporate taxes, investment in for-profit prisons, and destruction of jobs and pensions. Viewed some street theater, which was more like a sidewalk sideshow. A shame it was not more visible to motorists and pedestrians. Later in the morning, at the front steps of the Massachusetts State House, attended the kickoff of a statewide grassroots campaign to rescue public transit in the Commonwealth from the clutches of austerity.

Being present at such actions is how I profess my faith in public. It is how I seek and show the face of Jesus. It is where I find the Spirit who formed my being, who forms me for discipleship, and who also gathers the Church for worship and service.

Lunch at noon at the Black Seed Grill on Tremont Street with two good friends involved closely with Interfaith Worker Justice. I rejoiced over the conjoining of past, present, and future in the present moment.

Returned around two to San Lorenzo; computing and correspondence since then. Evening prayer is at 5:15, followed by a vigil Mass at five-thirty for the solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus. The fraternity is observing the solemnity tonight because several of the brothers are leaving tomorrow for vacation or to begin their summer assignments: clinical pastoral education, Spanish language immersion, and so forth. Might walk across the corner after dinner to hang out at St. Francis of Assisi Friary, where the new perpetually professed friars live while preparing for priestly ordination.

It is the eve of Ascension. With ten days until Pentecost and Kansas, I can feel my soul ascending.