Jesuits In Their Own Words

Life at the Novitiate

posted by: jcad on Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Put simply, the novitiate is the first step in learning to walk as a “Companion of Jesus.”

Throughout the experience, novices learn what it is to be a member of the Society of Jesus by studying Ignatius’ constitutions, living the vows in community, entering into the Spiritual Exercises and, finally, participating in a number of experiments aimed at applying Ignatian spirituality to our daily actions.

Often the greatest joy and greatest challenge of novitiate life is living in community. We share most of our days with the same people, people as varied as the number of Jesuit ministries. With so many different, intelligent, gifted people, egos often collide. Fortunately, one thing we share in common is our desire to deepen our relationships with Christ through prayer, service and learning in the tradition of Ignatius. As we study the Ignatian way of proceeding, we learn to come together as a community, seeing the best and worst of each other, and ultimately learning to love one another as creations of God walking together as friends and disciples of Jesus.

As we walk together, we learn in simple ways the practical truths of living in obedience, poverty and chastity. Our lives are built around a schedule that is not of our making, and we learn to ask permission for small things, trusting that our superior, novice master and spiritual directors are leading us well. Our budgets are limited and our expenditures accounted for; we learn to do without certain comforts. We develop strong friendships and learn to cultivate loving relationships in creative ways. Thus, as we experience the vows, we learn what it is to give life to one another and, so moving our efforts away from self-directed ends, to direct our energies to the work of God.

During the exercises, we enter into a time of solitude and meditation on the Triune God, the world, and our place in existence. For 30 days, we struggle and rejoice in prayerful silence. Wrestling with the Lord, ourselves and our perceptions, we seek the face of Christ Incarnate. We find the child in the manger and follow him as he grows, through his ministry, his passion and final victory over death. Through the exercises, we come to know Christ better and to recognize his voice in our lives.

In our various experiments, we follow the call of Jesus out into the world, meeting him in the face of his people. We enter into various communities, take on a number or different roles, and learn to love our God by loving creation. We surprise ourselves, confront new fears, wrestle with old temptations and come to know of the Divine Presence in it all.

We come to novitiate life with expectations. These expectations are not met, but exceeded. The experience is, on one hand, nothing special, just a group of men learning to live and love as better Christians. On the other hand, the experience affects each individual at his core. This is not to say we become different people, but rather that we become more fully the individual God created us to be. There is no failed novitiate experience, there is only our response to Christ’s call to come and stay, for however long it may be, with people of prayer, learning and action.

We enter the novitiate because we think we might have a vocation in the Jesuits. Whether we take vows or not, by the time we leave, we have become better “Companions of Jesus."