A sun and sky photo shoot at the Jesuit Center

Sunlight and Clouds: 1 at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville PA by Wayne Stratz

On a splendid spring day I took my Earth and Space students outside and told them to look up at the clouds. Fifteen minutes later the class period was over. It meant something to some of them who told me they were now checking out clouds.

When I am on Silent retreats I allow myself more time to look up and use my camera to try to preserve that moment in time. These were my favorite three from one particular photo shoot.

look up.

Sunlight and Clouds: 2 at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville PA by Wayne Stratz

Sunlight and Clouds: 3 at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville PA by Wayne Stratz

Blue Skies turn Hans Van De Bovenkamp Sagg's Portal blue

Hans Van De Bovenkamp "Sagg Portal" 2004 stainless steel  at The Grounds for Sculpture. Photo by Wayne Stratz

The Sculpure caught Margaret's eye as it resembled a sculpture here in Lansdale (a search of his name and Lansdale led to nothing).

The clouds caught my eye.

Combining them led to a real combination that I did not notice at the time.

That is the unexpected joys that can come with photos. In this case the blue sky reflection in the stainless steel sculpture was not my goal, my goal was to get the two separate, not the two interconnected.

Van de Bovenkamp states, “…it is all about time, change, and interconnectedness." The sky changes and the sculpture connects to it. See the entire sculpture and more about the piece here

Glass is so much the same. A photo of a suncatcher in a window is a moment in time, as time unfolds the glass changes interconnected to the moment at hand.

Wayne Stratz: Stained glass designed to the music of Vijay Iyer

See three other moments of this suncatcher.

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being a sponge... more thoughts on Wernersville

I am telling my spiritual director about my time in the cemetery, and she feels I had a sponge moment.

Ignatius said that when we are with God, we are a sponge catching a drop of water. Other times we are a rock. She believes that what I experienced is the joy of the resurrected Christ, and even mentions the phrase, communion of saints. We talk more and then we offer to pray for each other, a deal sealed with a hug. 24 hours ago we had been strangers.

Mass is about to begin when a Jesuit sits down next to me. He was to lead the mass the day before, but is suffering from shingles. One of my favorite memories is this quiet man giving a homily as a boisterous group of women shouted out AMENS. Another Jesuit stepped in for him on Saturday and preached on how difficult it can be to feel the joy of Easter, especially if we expect the wrong response. I guess it can be more like the appreciation of hundreds of years of men choosing to be Jesuits than like a big rolling laugh emerging from one's gut.

Two hours after being told about sponges and rocks, I am once again told about sponges and rocks in the homily. As I leave the sanctuary, I am next to my director who agrees with me that God just may have wanted me to get the sponge message down before I left the retreat.

Joy came in many ways ... Before I headed to breakfast while the only blue sky on Sunday glowed outside my window, I turned on my I-Pod to find Ella Fitzgerald singing Blue Skies .

Later in mass, the Gloria was just a hoot to sing...

who out there is shocked I found joy in music?

OK, so there was also the woman from South Carolina, who says to me on Friday when we are yet to be silent... "I loved the pile of sticks you made in August... you are always here when I am here... what did you write on the path?".... IGGY WAS HERE

The white-breasted nuthatch that stopped by when I paused on a walk.

The tree that caught my attention as I sat looking down at the Jesuit cemetery.

Sunday night the last thing I hear before I fall asleep ... Mosaic woman says... "I am glad you are back home." and my stoic self melts into a sponge that soaks in that drop.