Lengthening God's Arm

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Father Connor teaches that gratitude is the foundation of all else in Christian life. This book is an occasion for gratitude, " Nita Crowley writes in her foreword to this inspiring and readable collection. The book blends reflections on one Jesuit's life-and the life of the Society of Jesus-with lucid commentaries on urgent topics. Part I is a memoir. Among many other remembrances, Father Connor recalls the upheavals of the 1960s that unexpectedly tossed him into the role of Maryland Jesuit provincial, at age 39, along with his dramatic first encounter with the beloved Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe. "I knew at that moment that I would walk on burning coals for that man, " he says of the hopefully future saint. Part II is a broad sampling of Father Connor's homilies. He ushers us through the liturgical year, with down-to-earth reflections that have retained their freshness. They're presented under titles such as "Jesus the Partygoer: At a Wedding, in Cana, " "The Craziness of Pentecost: Giving Away Love, Peace, and Freedom-Free of Charge, " and "When Peter and Jesus Had Words: 'You Satan!'" Parts III and IV focus on "Mission" and "Leadership, " respectively. Father Connor ranges over topics like the nature of a Jesuit liberal arts education, the product of which "is not a degree, but a person." He writes about people including six of his friends-the martyred Jesuits in El Salvador. "What I remember most were the bullet-pocked walls in the living room of their residence. There had been any number of drive-by machine gun shootings, " he recounts. In the end, the reader "comes away encouraged that today's chaos will not prevail, " writes Dolores Leckey.