Martin Scorsese recently spoke to the Jesuits of the Northeast and Maryland Provinces about his upcoming film "Silence," based on Shusako Endo's novel about 17th-century Jesuit missionaries in Japan.

Great interview with my friend Father Brian, the postulator of Mother Teresa's cause. In a few weeks America will publish our interview with him on Mother Teresa's "dark night."

Please pray for all the young Jesuits who pronounced their First Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience yesterday across the country.

Dear friends: Please pray for the nine young Jesuits of the Maryland and Northeast Provinces who just pronounced their First Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in Syracuse. Here they are being greeted by their Jesuit brothers after the Vow Mass. They are walking out of the church and into a small chapel, carrying the Vow crosses, where they will sign their handwritten Vow formulas. AMDG

Hope you enjoy listening to this podcast as much as I enjoyed recording it with these two fun guys. We ended up talking about how we in the church talk, or don't talk, or have trouble talking, with one another.

Dear friends: If you read "Jesus: A Pilgrimage," you might remember my talking about a noisy sailing school in Cohasset harbor, south of Boston, and how it led to an insight about why Jesus preached from a boat. It's the story of the "Bay of Parables," in the chapter entitled "Parables." One morning, years ago, as I was sitting on the lawn of the Jesuit vacation house in Cohasset, I heard the sounds of kids' voices from a great distance, and remarked to a Jesuit how odd that was. They sounded as if they were just a few feet away. "Of course," he said, "sound travels easily over water. That's probably one reason Jesus preached from a boat." Well, from that same lawn, many years later, is that same school this morning. Can you hear them?

Lovely reflection by Cardinal Wuerl on the Feast of St. Lawrence.

"Lawrence was a deacon in the Church of Rome who was entrusted with the oversight of the material assets of the Church, in particular the distribution of money and goods to the poor and needy. However, shortly after Pope Sixtus was arrested in the Catacombs of Saint Callixtus and summarily executed under the edict of Emperor Valerian, the Roman prefect demanded that the goods of the Church be given over by him to the state.

....Lawrence then gathered the poor, blind, lame, orphaned and widows. When the official asked where all of the promised riches were, Lawrence responded, 'These are the treasures of the Church'."

Dear friends: I will be away for a few days, in Boston and then to Syracuse for the First Vows of the Jesuits in the Northeast Province. So I may not be posting as much. But here's what (and who) I'll be celebrating with on Saturday. Please pray for these nine young Jesuits, who are pronouncing their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. AMDG.

This is a great program: retreats for men and women experiencing homelessness. The brainchild of Bill Creed, SJ, the Ignatian Spirituality Project is bringing the Spiritual Exercises to some wonderful people.

On our mini pilgrimage through the Hudson Valley, both my friend Kevin Ahern and I were especially keen to visit the Bruderhof community. Their community stems from the Anabaptist tradition, and is made up of families and single people living together in community. They are well known for their peacemaking tradition and, here in the United States, for Plough Publishing. Their community in Esopus, NY, the "Mount Community," is in the old Redemptorist Monastery, later the Mount Alphonsus Retreat House. Here's more about their way of life: http://www.bruderhof.com/en

Thanks to my friends at Loyola Press for publishing a 10th anniversary issue of "My Life with the Saints," which just arrived today! Thanks for ten years of friendship and support. I hope everyone enjoys the new epilogue (written by me) and the new foreword (written by John L. Allen Jr.). You can order it anywhere but more info is here: http://www.loyolapress.com/…/my-life-with-the-saints-10th-a…

What happened at Magis 2016? How did the Ignatian spirit enliven and inspire young people before World Youth Day? Find out!

Have you signed up for the SOAR dinner in New York City yet? One of the greatest causes around--supporting our aging women and men in religious orders. What could be better? Hope you can make it!

Check out this new Examen app, created by my friend Mark Thibodeaux, SJ, novice director for the USA Central and Southern Provinces in Grand Coteau, LA. Mark is also the author of "Reimagining the Ignatian Examen."

In the town of Sparkill, NY, right up (or down) the street from the Blauvelt Dominican Sisters, are the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill. (There are plenty of funny stories of novice candidates turning up on entrance day on the wrong doorstep, and one story, too long to repeat here, about what happened when Cardinal Spellman ordered them to merge.) My friend Kevin Ahern and I visited their amazing chapel(s) and spent time with two of our friends on the day before their feast day, which is today: Happy Feast of St. Dominic!

NB: Two post limit, for Pete's sake.

Having grown up with 1960s and 1970s Catholicism, I have a soft spot in my heart for these kinds of parishes, and the particular kind of post-Vatican II spirituality that so many make light of. Well, it worked for me. It was a great bridge to God, which is what spirituality should be. It wasn't for everyone, but no spirituality is. Read this piece and see what you think.

How to make room in your parish for people with disabilities (or differently abled parishioners). An essential piece by Kevin Clarke in America. What's been your experience?