The longest day of the year.

In the Northern Hemisphere, today is the summer solstice, the year's longest day as measured by the time between the rising and the setting of the sun. By a coincidence of the calendar which I had never thought about until this year, today also happens to be the Feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, one of the greatest Jesuit saints. I don't have anything more to say about the shared date of today's feast and the summer solstice, but I will say that the longest day of the year has always held a special attraction for me. This is a day that I always take note of and often try to observe in a special way by doing something summery around the time of sunset; with that in mind, once I've posted this I intend to get some ice cream.

At the moment, I'm briefly back in Philadelphia after nearly a month away. I spent all of last week and the weekend of Father's Day in New Orleans attending a conference on management and leadership in Jesuit institutions; this conference marked my first-ever visit to Louisiana, a state which made a very positive first impression. I hope to write a bit more about my time there, but for now I'll at least share the above photo taken Saturday evening of Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.

My summer travels continue apace: next week, I fly to Vienna to resume the study of German that I began last summer in Innsbruck. I hope that my time in Austria will allow me to consolidate what I learned last year and gain greater facility in speaking and reading German. Though I'll be busy for the next few days preparing for the trip, I hope to have time to compose at least a couple posts for this blog. Good wishes and prayers for all. AMDG.