To Fling Out His Broad Name

  • Poem: Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
  • Introduction
  • The Consecrated Life
  • The Sacrament of Holy Orders from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • Formula of the Institute of the Society of Jesus - Ignatius Loyola
  • General Examen - Ignatius Loyola
  • Jesuits Today - General Congregation 32
  • Committed to the Present, Witnessing to the Future: Peter - Hans Kolvenbach
  • Jesuit Brothers - Pedro Arrupe
  • The Priesthood - Karl Rahner
  • "Because Beset By Weakness" - Michael J. Buckley
  • Characteristics of Our Way of Proceeding - General Congregation 34
  • For Further Reading
  • Acknowledgements

As Kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
    As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
    Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bellís
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
    Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
    Selves--goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;
    Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in Godís eye what in Godís eye he is--
    Christ--For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
    To the Father through the features of menís faces.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

Introduction:

When St. Ignatius considered his own vocation and the path he and his companions would follow, he often spoke of "discernment" and "deliberation." The process of exploring your own vocation requires the same things. Prayer, service, and an understanding of your own desires are certainly sources of strength and grace. Considering a vocation to religious life as a Jesuit, whether a priest or brother, asks that you discern and carefully consider a call to special service in the Church. The readings in this booklet may be helpful to you in that process.

The selections ask you to dream about ideals and very real struggles. Excerpts are included from a wide range of sources, beginning with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and two texts from the Jesuit Constitutions--the Formula of the Institute and the General Examen. Other texts follow, ranging from a document formulated during General Congregation 32, the world-wide legislative body of the Society of Jesus which met in 1974, through part of an interview with the former Father General, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, to a talk on the vocation of the Jesuit Brother given by our previous Father General, Pedro Arrupe, to the writings of Jesuit theologians Karl Rahner and Michael Buckley, and finally to a selection from our most recent General Congregation. All of the readings explore the challenges, hopes, and difficulties of real Jesuits living out their service to God and the Church.

The selections do not pretend to be complete and they are in no way a textbook. Instead, they may provide some thoughts in answer to the perfectly logical question anyone considering a Jesuit vocation should ask: "What do these Jesuits think theyíre doing?" The issues and challenges have remained remarkably similar in the past 450 years. The language of the reflections includes official documents, letters, interviews, and homilies. You, like most Jesuits, will probably find some more engaging than others. Then again, that just shows that religious life and the Jesuits have drawn from a wide variety of people.

Practically, each reading begins with a short introduction to give its background and context. The booklet is not meant to be read at one sitting--any one of the selections may provide fuel for re-reading and reflection. While none of these selections is explicitly a prayer, you may find any of the thoughts and desires they speak about helpful in prayer. You might also want to share your reflections with your spiritual director as part of your ongoing deliberation and discernment. To be a Jesuit is...? Well, read on.

Jesuit religious life takes its place as a particular religious "family" in the universal Church. As one of those families, we have our particular "ways of proceeding" and sometimes unique and varied types of work. Still, we are brothers and priests like others in religious life. As people who profess the "evangelical counsels," i.e., the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, we are "religious" living a "consecrated life." Many of our number are also priests who offer themselves to the special service of leading prayer in the Christian community through the sacrament of Holy Orders. Priest or brother, we are Jesuits. The selections from the Catechism published in 1994 emphasize that Jesuits are a part of the Church they serve. Our particular charism and missions rise from the universal call to service in the Church.

from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Consecrated Life

(paragraphs 914-918, 931-932)

The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness.

Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God.

The religious state is thus one way of experiencing "a more intimate" consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christís faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come.

From the God-given seed of the counsels a wonderful and wide-spreading tree has grown up in the field of the Lord, branching out into various forms of the religious life lived in solitude or in community. Different religious families have come into existence in which spiritual resources are multiplied for the progress in holiness of the members and for the good of the entire Body of Christ.

From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved. Already dedicated to him through Baptism, the person who surrenders himself to the God he loves above all else thereby consecrates himself more intimately to Godís service and to the good of the Church. By this state of life consecrated to God, the Church manifests Christ and shows us how the Holy Spirit acts so wonderfully in her. And so the first mission of those who profess the evangelical counsels is to live out their consecration. Moreover, since members of institutes of consecrated life dedicate themselves through their consecration to the service of the Church they are obliged in a special manner to engage in missionary work, in accord with the character of the institute.

In the Church, which is like the sacrament--the sign and instrument--of God's own life, the consecrated life is seen as a special sign of the mystery of redemption. To follow and imitate Christ more nearly and to manifest more clearly his self-emptying is to be more deeply present to one's contemporaries, in the heart of Christ. For those who are on this "narrower" path encourage their brethren by their example, and bear striking witness that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the Beatitudes.

The Sacrament of Holy Orders

(paragraphs 1546, 1552-1553, 1565)

Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church "a kingdom, priests for his God and Father" (1 Tim 2:5). The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christís mission as priest, prophet, and king. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful are consecrated to be a holy priesthood.

The ministerial priesthood has the task not only of representing Christ--Head of the Church--before the assembly of the faithful, but also of acting in the name of the whole Church when presenting to God the prayer of the Church, and above all when offering the Eucharistic sacrifice.

"In the name of the whole Church" does not mean that priests are delegates of the community. The prayer and offering of the Church are inseparable from the prayer and offering of Christ, her head; it is always the case that Christ worships in and through his Church. The whole Church, the Body of Christ, prays and offers herself "through him, with him, in him," in the unity of the Holy Spirit to God the Father. The whole body, caput et membra (head and members), prays and offers itself, and therefore those who in the Body are especially his ministers are called ministers not only of Christ, but also of the Church. It is because the ministerial priesthood represents Christ that it can represent the Church.

Through the sacrament of Holy Orders priests share in the universal dimensions of the mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles. The spiritual gift they have received in ordination prepares them, not for a limited and restricted mission, but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation to the end of the earth, prepared in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere.

The document that follows was approved in its final form in 1558. As you read it, realize that the language may be a bit unfamiliar. St. Ignatius, who placed this at the beginning of the Constitutions for the Jesuits, intended that those considering entrance into the Society reflect carefully and seriously on this section. He writes briefly of the Societyís history, its aims and purposes, and what it expects of those who join it. Part of what shines through is the way St. Ignatius expects Jesuits to know of each otherís strengths and weaknesses, each otherís hopes and fears. This sharing of oneís heart and mind, especially with superiors, is what allows Jesuits to be sent on missions and to be as effective as possible in serving the Kingdom.

The Formula of the Institute
of the Society of Jesus:

Approved by Pope Julius III and inserted in the Bull
Exposcit Debitum (21 July 1550)

Whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God beneath the banner of the cross in our Society, which we desire to be designated by the name of Jesus, and to serve the Lord alone and the Church, His spouse, under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth, should, after a solemn vow of perpetual chastity, poverty, and obedience, keep what follows in mind. He is a member of a Society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine, by means of public preaching, lectures, and any other ministration whatsoever of the word of God, and further by means of the Spiritual Exercises, the education of children and unlettered persons in Christianity, and the spiritual consolation of Christís faithful through hearing confessions and administering the other sacraments. Moreover, he should show himself ready to reconcile the estranged, compassionately assist and serve those who are in prisons or hospitals, and indeed to perform any other works of charity, according to what will seem expedient for the glory of God and the common good. Furthermore, he should carry out all these works altogether free of charge and without accepting any salary for the labor expended in all the aforementioned activities. Still further, let any such person take care, as long as he lives, first of all to keep before his eyes God and then the nature of this Institute which he has embraced and which is, so to speak, a pathway to God; and then let him strive with all his effort to achieve this end set before him by God--each one, however, according to the grace which the Holy Spirit has given to him and according to the particular grade of his own vocation.

Consequently, lest anyone should perhaps show zeal, but a zeal which is not according to knowledge, the decision about each oneís grade and the selection and entire distribution of employments shall be in the power of the superior general or ordinary who at any future time is to be elected by us, or in the power of those whom this superior general may appoint under himself with that authority, in order that the proper order necessary in every well-organized community may be preserved. This superior general, with the advice of his associates, shall possess the authority to establish constitutions leading to the achievement of this end which has been proposed to us, with the majority of votes always having the right to prevail. He shall also have the authority to explain officially doubts which may arise in connection with our Institute as comprised within this Formula. The council, which must necessarily be convoked to establish or change the Constitutions and for other matters of more than ordinary importance, such as the alienation or dissolution of houses and colleges once erected, should be understood (according to the explanation in our Constitutions) to be the greater part of the entire professed Society which can be summoned without grave inconvenience by the superior general. In other matters, which are of lesser importance, the same general, aided by counsel from his brethren to the extent that he will deem fitting, shall have the full right personally to order and command whatever he judges in the Lord to pertain to the glory of God and the common good, as will be explained in the Constitutions.

All who make the profession in this Society should understand at the time, and furthermore keep in mind as long as they live, that this entire Society and the individual members who make their profession in it are campaigning for God under faithful obedience to His Holiness Pope Paul III and his successors in the Roman pontificate. The Gospel does indeed teach us, and we know from the orthodox faith and firmly hold, that all of Christís faithful are subject to the Roman pontiff as their head and as the vicar of Jesus Christ. But we have judged nevertheless that the following procedure will be supremely profitable to each of us and to any others who will pronounce the same profession in the future, for the sake of our greater devotion in obedience to the Apostolic See, of greater abnegation of our own wills, and of surer direction from the Holy Spirit. In addition to that ordinary bond of the three vows, we are to be obliged by a special vow to carry out whatever the present and future Roman pontiffs may order which pertains to the progress of souls and the propagation of the faith; and to go without subterfuge or excuse and at once (as far as in us lies) to whatsoever provinces they may choose to send us--whether they are pleased to send us among the Turks or any other infidels, even those who live in the region called the Indies, or among any heretics whatever, or schismatics, or any of the faithful.

Therefore before those who will come to us take this burden upon their shoulders, they should ponder long and seriously, as the Lord has counseled, whether they possess among their resources enough spiritual capital to complete this tower; that is, whether the Holy Spirit who moves them is offering them so much grace that with His aid they have hope of bearing the weight of this vocation. Then, after they have enlisted through the inspiration of the Lord in this militia of Christ, they ought to be prompt in carrying out this obligation which is so great, being clad for battle day and night.

However, to forestall among us any ambition of such missions or provinces, or any refusal of them, all our members should have this understanding: They should not either directly or through someone else carry on negotiations with the Roman pontiff about such missions, but leave all this care to God, and to the pope himself as Godís vicar, and to the superior general of the Society. This general too, just like the rest, should not treat with the said pontiff about his own being sent or not, unless after advice from the Society.

All should likewise vow that in all matters which pertain to the observance of this Rule they will be obedient to the one put in charge of the Society. (He should be as qualified as possible for this office and will be elected by a majority of the votes, as will be explained in the Constitutions.) Moreover, he should possess all the authority and power over the Society which are useful for its good administration, correction, and government. He should issue the commands which he knows to be opportune for achieving the end set before him by God and the Society. In his superiorship he should be ever mindful of the kindness, meekness, and charity of Christ and of the pattern set by Peter and Paul, a norm which both he and the aforementioned council should keep constantly in view. Assuredly, too, because of the great value of good order and for the sake of the constant practice of humility which has never been sufficiently praised, the individual subjects should not only be obliged to obey the general in all matters pertaining to the Society's Institute but also to recognize and properly venerate Christ as present in him.

From experience we have learned that a life removed as far as possible from all infection of avarice and as like as possible to evangelical poverty is more gratifying, more undefiled, and more suitable for the edification of our fellowmen. We likewise know that our Lord Jesus Christ will supply to His servants who are seeking only the kingdom of God what is necessary for food and clothing. Therefore our members, one and all, should vow perpetual poverty in such a manner that neither the professed, either as individuals or in common, nor any house or church of theirs can acquire any civil right to any produce, fixed revenues, or possessions or to the retention of any stable goods (except those which are proper for their own use and habitation); but they should instead be content with whatever is given them out of charity for the necessities of life.

However, the houses which the Lord will provide are to be dedicated to labor in His vineyard and not to the pursuit of scholastic studies; and on the other hand, it appears altogether proper that workers should be provided for that same vineyard from among the young men who are inclined to piety and capable of applying themselves to learning, in order that they may form a kind of seminary for the Society, including the professed Society. Consequently, to provide facilities for studies, the professed Society should be capable of having colleges of scholastics wherever benefactors will be moved by their devotion to build and endow them. We now petition that as soon as these colleges will have been built and endowed (but not from resources which it pertains to the Holy See to apply), they may be established through authorization from the Holy See or considered to be so established. These colleges should be capable of having fixed revenues, annuities, or possessions which are to be applied to the uses and needs of the students. The general or the Society retains the full government or superintendency over the aforementioned colleges and students; and this pertains to the choice of the rectors or governors and of the scholastics; the admission, dismissal, reception, and exclusion of the same; the enactment of statutes; the arrangement, instruction, edification, and correction of the scholastics; the manner of supplying them with food, clothing, and all the other necessary materials, and every other kind of government, control, and care. All this should be managed in such a way that neither may the students be able to abuse the aforementioned goods nor may the professed Society be able to convert them to its own uses, but may use them to provide for the needs of the scholastics. These students, moreover, should have such intellectual ability and moral character as to give solid hope that they will be suitable for the Societyís functions after their studies are completed, and that thus at length, after their progress in spirit and learning has become manifest and after sufficient testing, they can be admitted into our Society.

Since all the members should be priests, they should be obliged to recite the Divine Office according to the ordinary rite of the Church, but privately and not in common or in choir. Also, in what pertains to food, clothing, and other external things, they will follow the common and approved usage of reputable priests, so that if anything is subtracted in this regard in accordance with each oneís need or desire of spiritual progress, it may be offered, as will be fitting, out of devotion and not obligation, as reasonable service of the body to God.

These are the matters which we were able to explain about our profession in a kind of sketch, through the good pleasure of our previously mentioned sovereign pontiff Paul and of the Apostolic See. We have now completed this explanation, in order to give brief information both to those who ask us about our plan of life and also to those who will later follow us if, God willing, we shall ever have imitators along this path. By experience we have learned that the path has many and great difficulties connected with it. Consequently we have judged it opportune to decree that no one should be permitted to pronounce his profession in this Society unless his life and doctrine have been probed by long and exacting tests (as will be explained in the Constitutions). For in all truth this Institute requires men who are thoroughly humble and prudent in Christ as well as conspicuous in the integrity of Christian life and learning. Moreover, some persons will be admitted to become coadjutors either for spiritual or temporal concerns or to become scholastics. After sufficient probations and the time specified in the Constitutions, these too should, for their greater devotion and merit, pronounce their vows. But their vows will not be solemn (except in the case of some who with permission from the superior general will be able to make three solemn vows of this kind because of their devotion and personal worth). Instead, they will be vows by which these persons are bound as long as the superior general thinks that they should be retained in the Society, as will be explained more fully in the Constitutions. But these coadjutors and scholastics too should be admitted into this militia of Jesus Christ only after they have been diligently examined and found suitable for that same end of the Society. And may Christ deign to be favorable to these our tender beginnings, to the glory of God the Father, to whom alone be glory and honor forever. Amen.

In the final format of the Jesuit Constitutions, the "General Examen" was the first section following the "Formula of the Institute." Here Ignatius explains in clear and fairly simple terms what is expected of those who desire to become Jesuits. Interestingly, he does not present a list of accomplishments those entering the order should have. Rather, he explains what Jesuit formation should begin to accomplish in those who desire to serve the Church. "They should endeavor" becomes a strong Ignatian term for a process of living the life of service, a process that merely begins in the novitiate, but then continues throughout Jesuit life.

GENERAL EXAMEN

THE FIRST AND GENERAL EXAMEN WHICH SHOULD BE PROPOSED TO ALL WHO REQUEST ADMISSION INTO THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

The Institute of the Society of Jesus and the diversity of its members

This least congregation, which at its earliest foundation was named the Society of Jesus by the Holy See, was first approved by Pope Paul III, of happy memory, in the year 1540. Later it was confirmed by the same Holy Father in 1543 and by his successor Julius III in 1550. On other occasions too it is mentioned in different briefs and apostolic letters which grant it various favors and thereby presuppose high approval and confirmation of it.

The end of this Society is to devote itself with Godís grace not only to the salvation and perfection of the membersí own souls, but also with that same grace to labor strenuously in giving aid toward the salvation and perfection of the souls of their fellowmen.

In addition to the three vows mentioned, the professed Society also makes an explicit vow to the sovereign pontiff as the present or future vicar of Christ our Lord. This is a vow to go anywhere His Holiness will order, whether among the faithful or the infidels, without pleading an excuse and without requesting any expenses for the journey, for the sake of matters pertaining to the worship of God and the welfare of the Christian religion.

In other respects, for sound reasons and with attention always paid to the greater service of God, in regard to what is exterior the manner of living is ordinary. It does not contain any regular penances or austerities which are to be practiced through obligation. But those may be taken up which each one, with the superiorís approval, thinks likely to be more helpful for his spiritual progress, as well as those which the superiors have authority to impose upon the members for the same purpose.

This decision will be left to the superiorís judgment; and he may delegate his authority to the confessor or other persons when he thinks this expedient.

Some observances within the Society which are more important for the candidates to know.
The intention of the first men who bound themselves together in this Society should be explained to the candidates. Those foundersí mind was that those received into it should be persons already detached from the world and determined to serve God totally, whether in one religious institute or another; and further, in conformity with this, that all those who seek admission into the Society should, before they begin to live under obedience in any house or college belonging to it, distribute all the temporal goods they might have, and renounce and dispose of those they might expect to receive. Further still, the foundersí intention was that the candidates should carry out this distribution first in regard to matters of debt and obligation, if any existed (and in that case provision should be made as soon as possible). In the absence of such obligations, the candidates should make the distribution in favor of pious and holy causes, according to the words, "He has scattered abroad and has given to the poor" (Ps. 111:9 and 2 Cor. 9:9), and according to those of Christ, "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor ... and follow me" (Matt. 19:21) thus making that distribution according to their own devotion and casting away from themselves all hope of being able to possess those goods at any time.

Everyone who enters the Society, following the counsel of Christ our Lord that "He who leaves father" and the rest (Matt. 19:29; Luke 18:30), should judge that he should leave his father, mother, brothers, sisters, and whatever he had in the world. Even more, he should consider as spoken to himself that statement: "He who does not hate his father and mother and even his own life, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).

Consequently he should endeavor to put aside all merely natural affection for his relatives and convert it into spiritual, by loving them only with that love which rightly ordered charity requires. He should be as one who is dead to the world and to self-love and who lives only for Christ our Lord, while having Him in place of parents, brothers, and all things.

For the candidateís greater progress in his spiritual life and especially for his greater lowliness and humility, he should be asked whether he will be willing to have all his errors and defects, and anything else which will be noticed or known about him, manifested to his superiors by anyone who knows them outside of confession; and further, whether he along with all the others will be willing to aid in correcting and being corrected, by manifesting one another with due love and charity, to help one another more in the spiritual life, especially when this will be requested of him by the superior who has charge of them for greater glory to God.

If he is pleased to remain in the Society, his food, drink, clothing, shoes, and lodging will be what is characteristic of the poor; and he should persuade himself that it will be what is worst in the house, for his greater abnegation and spiritual progress and to arrive at a certain equality and common norm among all. For where the Societyís first members have passed through these necessities and greater bodily wants, the others who come to it should endeavor, as far as they can, to reach the same point as the earlier ones, or to go farther in our Lord.

Moreover, besides the other pilgrimages and probations explained above, the professed before making profession, the coadjutors before taking their vows, and (when the superior thinks it wise) the scholastics before becoming approved and pronouncing their vows with the promise mentioned above, should for the love of God our Lord beg from door to door for a period of three days at the times assigned them, thus imitating those earliest members. The purpose is that, contrary to common human opinion, they may be able in Godís service and praise to humiliate themselves more and make greater spiritual progress, giving glory to His Divine Majesty. Another purpose is to enable them to find themselves more disposed to do the same begging when they are so commanded, or when it is expedient or necessary for them as they travel through various regions of the world, according to what the supreme vicar of Christ our Lord may order or assign to them, or, in his place, the one who will find himself superior of the society. For our profession requires that we be prepared and very much ready for whatever is enjoined upon us in our Lord and at whatsoever time, without asking for or expecting any reward in this present and transitory life, but hoping always for that life which in its entirety is eternal, through Godís supreme mercy.

But to come down to details, during the tests of humility and abnegation of oneself through the performance of lowly and humble tasks, such as working in the kitchen, cleaning the house, and all the rest of these services, one should take on more promptly those in which greater repugnance is found, if one has been ordered to do them.

When anyone begins to perform the services of the kitchen or to aid the cook, with great humility he must obey in all things pertaining to his office, by showing him always complete obedience. For if he should not do this, neither, it seems, would he show obedience to any other superior, since genuine obedience considers, not the person to whom it is offered, but Him for whose sake it is offered; and if it is exercised for the sake of our Creator and Lord alone, then it is the very Lord of everything who is obeyed. In no manner, therefore, ought one to consider whether he who gives the order is the cook of the house or its superior, or one person rather than another. For, to consider the matter with sound understanding, obedience is not shown either to these persons or for their sake, but to God alone and only for the sake of God our Creator and Lord. In time of illness one ought to observe obedience of great integrity not only toward his spiritual superiors that they may direct his soul, but also and with equal humility toward the physicians and infirmarians that they may care for his body; for the former work for his complete spiritual welfare and the latter for that which is corporal. Furthermore, the one who is sick should, by showing his great humility and patience, endeavor to give no less edification in the time of his illness to those who visit him and converse and deal with him than he does in the time of full health, for the greater glory to God.

Through reflection in our Lord, what follows has seemed good to us in His Divine Majesty. It is a matter of great and even extraordinary importance that the superiors should have a complete understanding of the subjects, that by means of it they may be able to direct and govern them better, and while looking out for the subjectsí interests guide them better into the paths of the Lord.

Likewise, the more completely the superiors know these subjectsí interior and exterior affairs, just so much the better will they be able, with greater diligence, love, and care, to help the subjects and to guard their souls from various inconveniences and dangers which might occur later on. Further still, in conformity with our profession and manner of proceeding, we should always be ready to travel about in various regions of the world, on all occasions when the supreme pontiff or our immediate superior orders us. To proceed without error in such missions, or in sending some persons and not others, or some for one task and others for different ones, it is not only highly but even supremely important for the superior to have complete knowledge of the inclinations and motions of those who are in his charge, and to what defects or sins they have been or are more moved and inclined; that thus he may direct them better, without exposing them beyond the measure of their capacity to dangers or labors greater than they could in our Lord endure with a spirit of love; and also that the superior, while keeping to himself what he learns in secret, may be better able to organize and arrange what is expedient for the whole body of the Society.

It is likewise highly important to bring this to the mind of those who are being examined (through their esteeming it highly and pondering it in the sight of our Creator and Lord), to how great a degree it helps and profits one in the spiritual life to abhor in its totality and not in part whatever the world loves and embraces, and to accept and desire with all possible energy whatever Christ our Lord has loved and embraced. Just as the men of the world who follow the world love and seek with such great diligence honors, fame, and esteem for a great name on earth, as the world teaches them, so those who are progressing in the spiritual life and truly following Christ our Lord love and intensely desire everything opposite. That is to say, they desire to clothe themselves with the same clothing and uniform of their Lord because of the love and reverence which He deserves, to such an extent that where there would be no offense to His Divine Majesty and no imputation of sin to the neighbor, they would wish to suffer injuries, false accusations, and affronts, and to be held and esteemed as fools (but without their giving any occasion for this), because of their desire to resemble and imitate in some manner our Creator and Lord Jesus Christ, by putting on His clothing and uniform, since it was for our spiritual profit that He clothed Himself as He did. For He gave us an example that in all things possible to us we might seek, through the aid of His grace, to imitate and follow Him, since He is the way which leads men to life. Therefore the candidate should be asked whether he finds himself in a state of desires like these which are so salutary and fruitful for the perfection of his soul.

In a case where through human weakness and personal misery the candidate does not experience in himself such ardent desires in our Lord, he should be asked whether he has any desires to experience them. If he answers affirmatively that he does wish to have holy desires of this kind, then, that he may the better reach them in fact, he should be questioned further: Is he determined and ready to accept and suffer with patience, through the help of Godís grace, any such injuries, mockeries, and affronts entailed by the wearing of this uniform of Christ our Lord, and any other affronts offered him whether by someone inside the house or the Society (where he desires to obey, be humiliated, and gain eternal life) or outside it by any persons whatsoever on earth, while returning them not evil for evil but good for evil?

The better to arrive at this degree of perfection which is so precious in the spiritual life, his chief and most earnest endeavor should be to seek in our Lord his greater abnegation and continual mortification in all things possible; and our endeavor should be to help him in those things to the extent that our Lord gives us His grace, for His greater praise and glory.

A General Congregation is the highest legislative body of the Jesuits. This body of elected and appointed representatives meets infrequently, to elect a Superior General or when there is need for change or commentary on Jesuit life and law. There have been only thirty-four such meetings in the history of the Society. The Decree that follows was written by the Thirty-Second Congregation in 1975. In many ways, it tries to translate the hopes of the General Examen into the situation of the Church after the Second Vatican Council. That Church is more universal than ever in its scope, more respectful of a variety of cultures, and part of a world where inequalities and injustice are more easily visible realities. The decree implies that the goal of Jesuit formation is to prepare our members to be men of freedom in their response to serving the world in its needs.

Jesuits Today:

What is it to be a Jesuit? It is to know that one is a sinner, yet called to be a companion of Jesus as Ignatius was: Ignatius, who begged the Blessed Virgin to "place him with her Son," and who then saw the Father himself ask Jesus, carrying his Cross, to take this pilgrim into his company.

What is it to be a companion of Jesus today? It is to engage, under the standard of the Cross, in the crucial struggle of our time: the struggle for faith and that struggle for justice which it includes.

The Society of Jesus, gathered together in its 32nd General Congregation, considering the end for which it was founded, namely, the greater glory of God and the service of men, acknowledging with repentance its own failures in keeping faith and upholding justice, and asking itself before Christ crucified what it has done for him, what it is doing for him, and what it is going to do for him, choose participation in this struggle as the focus that identifies in our time what Jesuits are and do.

A. WHENCE THIS DECISION

We arrive at this decisive choice from several different points of departure. The postulata received from the provinces, the panorama of the state of the Society presented at the Congregation, and the instructions given us by the Pope, all direct our attention to the vast expanse and circuit of this globe and the great multitude and diversity of peoples therein.

Two-thirds of mankind have not yet had Godís salvation in Jesuit Christ proclaimed to them in a manner that wins belief, while in societies anciently Christian a dominant secularism is closing menís minds and hearts to the divine dimensions of all reality, blinding them to the fact that while all things on the face of the earth are, indeed, created for manís sake, it is only that he might attain to the end for which he himself was created: the praise, reverence, and service of God.

Ignorance of the Gospel on the part of some, and rejection of it by others, are intimately related to the many grave injustices prevalent in the world today. Yet it is in the light of the Gospel that men will most clearly see that injustice springs from sin, personal and collective, and that it is made all the more oppressive by being built into economic, social, political, and cultural institutions of worldwide scope and overwhelming power.

Conversely, the prevalence of injustice in a world where the very survival of the human race depends on men caring for and sharing with one another is one of the principal obstacles to belief: belief in a God who is justice because he is love.

Thus, the way to faith and the way to justice are inseparable ways. It is up this undivided road, this steep road, that the pilgrim Church must travel and toil. Faith and justice are undivided in the Gospel which teaches that "faith makes its power felt through love." They cannot therefore be divided in our purpose, our action, our life.

Moreover, the service of faith and the promotion of justice cannot be for us simply one ministry among others. It must be the integrating factor of all our ministries; and not only of our ministries but of our inner life as individuals, as communities, and as a worldwide brotherhood. This is what our Congregation means by a decisive choice. It is the choice that underlies and determines all the other choices embodied in its declarations and directives.

B. ORIGINAL INSPIRATION OF THE SOCIETY

We are confirmed in this basic choice by being led to it from another point of departure, namely, the original inspiration of the Society as set forth in the Formula of the Institute and the Constitutions.

Our Society was founded principally for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the rendering of any service in the Church that may be for the glory of God and the common good. In fact, the grace of Christ that enables and impels us to seek "the salvation and perfection of souls"--or what might be called, in contemporary terms, the total and integral liberation of man, leading to participation in the life of God himself--is the same grace by which we are enabled and impelled to seek "our own salvation and perfection."

Not only does the insight of Ignatius justify our basic choice, it specifies it. It enables us to determine what must be our specifically Jesuit contribution to the defense and propagation of the faith and the promotion of justice in charity.

At the very center of that insight is the sense of mission. No sooner was our companionship born than it placed itself at the disposal of "the Roman Pontiff, Christís Vicar on earth," to be sent wherever there is hope of Godís greater glory and the service of men.

A Jesuit, therefore, is essentially a man on a mission: a mission which he receives immediately from the Holy Father and from his own religious superiors, but ultimately from Christ himself, the one sent by the Father. It is by being sent that the Jesuit becomes a companion of Jesus.

Moreover, it is in companionship that the Jesuit fulfills his mission. He belongs to a community of friends in the Lord who, like him, have asked to be received under the standard of Christ the King.

C. FULFILLMENT IN COMPANIONSHIP

This community is the entire body of the Society itself, no matter how widely dispersed over the face of the earth. The particular local community to which he may belong at any given moment is, for him, simply a concrete--if, here and now, a privileged--expression of this worldwide brotherhood.

The local Jesuit community is thus an apostolic community, not inward but outward looking, the focus of its concern being the service it is called upon to give men. It is contemplative but not monastic, for it is a communitas ad dispersionem. It is a community of men ready to go wherever they are sent.

A communitas ad dispersionem, but also a koinonia, a sharing of goods and life, with the Eucharist at its center: the sacrifice and sacrament of the Deed of Jesus, who loved his own to the end. And each member of every Jesuit community is ever mindful of what St. Ignatius says about love, that it consists in sharing what one has, what one is, with those one loves. When we speak of having all things in common, that is what we mean.

The Jesuit community is also a community of discernment. The missions on which Jesuits are sent, whether corporately or individually, do not exempt us from the need of discerning together in what manner and by what means such missions are to be accomplished. That is why we open our minds and hearts to our superiors and our superiors, in turn, take part in the discernment of our communities, always on the shared understanding that final decisions belong to those who have the burden of authority.

D. DISTINGUISHING MARK OF THE SOCIETY

Not only our community life, but our religious vows are apostolic. If we commit ourselves until death to the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, it is that we may be totally united to Christ and share his own freedom to be at the service of all who need us. In binding us, the vows set us free:

--free, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

--free, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

--free, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of our superiors, especially our Father General, who has all authority over us ad aedificationem.

In our Society, the call to the apostolate is one, though shared in manifold ways. We are many members, but one body, each member contributing what in him lies to the common task of continuing Christís saving work in the world, which is to reconcile men to God, and men among themselves, so that by the gift of his love and grace they may build a peace based on justice.

Because this is its common task, the Society of Jesus is, in its entirety, a sacerdotal society. But it is sacerdotal not merely in the sense of the priesthood of all the faithful. For the Society began as, and continues to be, a band of ordained ministers of the Gospel which comprises in the self-same company both those willing to share the presbyteral function of being coadjutors of the episcopal order and those willing to give themselves to those aspects of our apostolic mission for which priestly orders are not required.

Moreover, following Ignatius, we have asked Christ our Lord to let us render this service in a manner that gives us a personality of our own. We have chosen to give it in the form of a consecrated life according to the evangelical counsels, and we have placed ourselves at the service not only of the local Churches but of the universal Church, by a special vow of obedience to him who presides over the universal Church, namely, the Successor of Peter.

This, then, is the distinguishing mark of our Society: it is a companionship that is, at one and the same time, "religious, apostolic, sacerdotal, and bound to the Roman Pontiff by a special bond of love and service."

E. WHAT OUR MISSION DEMANDS OF US

Because the missions on which the Holy Father and our superiors are likely to send us will demand well trained minds and dedicated spirits, we test the vocation of those whom we admit to our ranks in various ways over an extended period of time, and we try to give them, to the best of our ability, a spiritual and intellectual formation more than ordinarily exacting. But even during their period of training these young men are already our companions, in virtue of the perpetual vows they take after the noviceship.

Coming from many different countries, cultures, and social backgrounds, but banded together in this way, we try to focus all our efforts on the common task of radiating faith and witnessing to justice. We are deeply conscious of how often and how grievously we ourselves have sinned against the Gospel; yet it remains our ambition to proclaim it worthily: that is, in love, in poverty, and in humility.

In love: a personal love for the Person of Jesus Christ, for an ever more inward knowledge of whom we daily ask, that we may the better love him and follow him; Jesus, whom we seek, as St. Ignatius sought, to experience; Jesus, Son of God, sent to serve, sent to set free, put to death, and risen from the dead. This love is the deepest well-spring of our action and our life. It was this personal love that engendered in Ignatius that divine discontent which kept urging him to the magis--the ever more and more giving--the ever greater glory of God.

In poverty: relying more on Godís providence than on human resources; safeguarding the freedom of the apostle by detachment from avarice and the bondage imposed by it; following in the footsteps of Christ, who preached good news to the poor by being poor himself.

In humility: realizing that there are many enterprises of great worth and moment in the Church and in the world which we, as priests and religious inspired by one particular charism, are not in a position to undertake. And even in those enterprises which we can and should undertake, we realize that we must be willing to work with others: with Christians, men of other religious faiths, and all men of good will; willing to play a subordinate, supporting, anonymous role; and willing to learn how to serve from those we seek to serve.

This availability for the meanest tasks, or at least the desire to be thus available, is part of the identity of the Jesuit. When he offers to distinguish himself in the service of the Eternal King, when he asks to be received under his standard, when he glories with Ignatius in being placed by the Father "with the Son," he does so not in any spirit of prideful privilege, but in the spirit of him who "emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, even to accepting death, death on a cross."

F. CONCLUSION: A JESUIT TODAY

Thus, whether we consider the needs and aspirations of the men of our time, or reflect on the particular charism that founded our Society, or seek to learn what Jesus has in his heart for each and all of us, we are led to the identical conclusion that today the Jesuit is a man whose mission is to dedicate himself entirely to the service of faith and the promotion of justice, in a communion of life and work and sacrifice with the companions who have rallied round the same standard of the Cross and in fidelity to the Vicar of Christ, for the building up of a world at once more human and more divine.

Deeply conscious of our utter unworthiness for so great a mission, relying only on Godís love and grace, we offer together the prayer of Ignatius:

      Take, O Lord, and receive
      all my liberty,
      my memory, my understanding, and my entire will.
      Whatever I have or hold,
      You have given to me;
      I restore it all to You
      and surrender it wholly
      to be governed by your will.
      Give me only your love and your grace,
      and I am rich enough
      and ask for nothing more.

Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach was elected the 29th Superior General of the Society of Jesus in 1983. A Dutch Jesuit, he spent time working and teaching in Beruit before his election. He resigned from his position as Superior General in 2008. His ecumenical vision includes an understanding that religious life has been redefining itself in the modern industrialized world. The interview below was given to an Italian journalist in 1990. Fr. Kolvenbach addresses the perception of a "vocation crisis" and the difficulties of choosing to follow religious life in modern times. His answers focus not on some impossible task, but rather on what the good religious life does and the problems in our world that call for solutions. Jesuits commit themselves to witnessing to a God who is very much active in even the most complex modern lives.

Committed to the Present:
Witnessing to the Future

The position of religious in the Church

Many investigations and much publicity are being devoted to the crises among religious, that is to say, among those Christians who make public profession of the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. Do you share the diagnosis?

Some people think that religious life is in crisis, whereas others insist that this crisis is itself a sign of normal life and actually of growth. There are difficulties, of course: in some regions the crisis is due to the aging of the members of the religious institutes; in others it is attributed to the growth of a bourgeois mentality, even making itself felt in the religious life. In any case one fact is indisputable: religious life is searching for its position in a Church undergoing renewal in a changing world. Religious of either sex are the first to suffer when a local Church becomes divided or finds itself having to live in a critical situation owing to political or social conditions. In spite of this, you have only to travel a little beyond the frontiers of your own country to realize what an immense amount of good religious of both sexes manage to achieve in the difficult conditions of our times.

What is the message religious life is meant to give to the Church and to the world?

I deduce it from the origins of religious life in the church. In the fourth century the Church, having received legal recognition, settled into a sort of spiritual comfort, no longer living in an environment of persecution and martyrdom. Men and women then arose who perceived Godís call and protested against the compromises and pacts of a Christianity happily installed in the fleeting world. In the depths of their being they became aware of the need to testify, for the good of the Church, the City of God-with-us, in which are the true roots of the future people of God. Itís in this perspective of denunciation that we need to locate the care manifested by the spirit of God that the words of Scripture should not remain a dead letter but be embodied in peopleís lives and transform them. Now, precisely because the Gospel insists on the need for love to manifest itself visibly in works of service to the poor and afflicted, there are men and women in the Church who feel themselves called to be Christ to the needy. Every type of human misery has brought a religious Family to birth within the Church, in answer to that need. The explanation for this is none other than Christ himself, who wills to be helped and served in the poor, as the Gospel reminds us.

Can the eschatological summons, with the radical nature of the commitment, provide an explanation for the difficulties and tensions which not uncommonly arise between religious institutes and the hierarchy of the Church?

Be it said at the outset that religious life doesnít exist for its own but for the Churchís sake. It cannot be disputed that the Lord calls each of us in a very personal way, but no one becomes a religious for his or her own good but rather for the holiness of the Church. And this is why it pertains to the Church to pronounce on the authenticity of the gift that is being offered. It is however a fact that Orders and Religious Congregations know the temptation of wanting to monopolize the spirit of the Lord. In religious life, there is a permanent temptation to situate oneself on the margins of Church life or actually to put oneself above the ordinary condition of Godís people. From another angle, there is always a possibility that some members of the hierarchy--as the lives of the founders, Saint Francis and others, prove--may not immediately discern the specific nature of the Spiritís gift. In such a case, as Saint Paul said long ago, there is a risk of extinguishing the Spirit. All this notwithstanding, Ignatius of Loyola was convinced that accidental tensions between the Church hierarchy and religious life cannot build up into permanent conflict: sooner or later it comes about that the Spirit of the Lord is recognized at work in religious life and in the Church at large. One consequence of the fact that religious life is born by inspiration of the Spirit is that a religious institute cannot be autonomous over deciding when to be born and when to die; it exists completely at the service and at the mercy of the Spirit. The Church alone has received the guarantee that it will last forever. No religious institute has received any such guarantee.

It follows that a religious institute, once its founderís charisma is exhausted, once the function for which the Spirit brought it into existence has ceased, should disappear. But who guarantees that its disappearance doesnít depend more on unfaithfulness or adverse historical factors? Or ought these facts to be taken as signs that the original charism is exhausted?

The Passover of the Lord, with its mystery of life and death, is present in all religious foundations. It isnít very surprising that, at a given moment of history, Godís people should need a different kind of service of prayer or of charitable works from those already in existence. This is why, even today, we see religious Families being born and dying out. The disappearance of a religious institute doesnít necessarily imply a negative judgment, since a religious Familyís future depends less on the personal holiness of its members than on the will of the Spirit of the Lord: to him pertains to use it for the Churchís good. All this ought not to lead us too hastily to suppose that the inspiration of the Spirit, which is at the origin of a religious Family, is exhausted. Often there are unsuspected energies within for a renewal.

Since the Second Vatican Council, most religious institutes have attempted to renew themselves. Has this been a genuine effort to recover the original charism or a sociological adaptation to altered historical conditions?

All the meetings and reexaminations, all the discussions and conferences, (probably far too many) held by religious institutes are basically only a manifestation of that availability never to put the last full stop to the commitment to always being ourselves, to always staying as we were founded, by the grace and initiative of the Spirit. And so today, religious life as a whole offers a witness of availability. It isnít a matter of changing our life and work because we itch for change. It isnít a matter either of making certain adjustments merely in response to often very superficial demands: tastes, fashions, or present-day ideologies. No, what matters is to have the evangelical creativity to read the signs of the times by the light of the Lord and within his Church. Only thus can we respond to the call of the Spirit, who makes us feel his prompting in the prayer of discernment. We should be daring enough to accept the Spiritís invitation as the basis of our entire life and activity. A religious Family able to be entirely open to the spirit of God and to give itself with apostolic enthusiasm will always have the future assured that God wills for it.

Religious life: "sign," not "model"

In days gone by, religious were singled out as specialists in holiness and prayer, and what they had chosen was known , as the life of perfection. Can this still be so today, when we see the flowering of lay communities and movements specially given over to prayer and the radical practice of the evangelical counsels?

Our male and female religious certainly donít claim a monopoly on prayer and holiness within the Church. The monks of Egypt were already admitting as something very probable that this or that mother of a family in Alexandria was much holier than all the specialists in asceticism and prayer there might be there among them in the desert. The Second Vatican Council then put an end to all pretensions of this sort by reminding us that we are all called to holiness. We cannot conceive of the Gospel as divided into two compartments: the first with requirements for the laity; the second with demands exclusively for the religious. The Lord invites us all to pray unceasingly and calls all to be perfect as the Father who is in heaven is perfect (cf. Mt. 5:58). ,

How then is the particular call of religious to be defined?

To put what the Second Vatican Council attributes specifically to religious into very simple words, I should say that our specific commitment is to follow the Lord more nearly. A, nd this is why religious can be a sign capable of effective influence on other members of the Church, so that they can bravely and wholeheartedly discharge the duties required of their respective Christian vocations.

But can following the Lord more closely depend on juridical or sociological status? I mean, why should living in a certain manner recognized by the Church automatically entail greater nearness to Christ?

The Second Vatican Council, I recall, had great difficulty in defining religious life owing to objections of that sort. The most important reason is that religious life is a gift of the Spirit, and the Spirit will not suffer himself to be defined. Because of this, religious life exists in surprising diversity. The Council did however say that the monopoly of holiness doesnít lie with religious, since all the faithful are called to the fullness of Christian life, and holiness. It thus becomes, very hard to spot the, d, ifference between the ideal of holiness for every Christian and the one for religious. Certainly the difference isnít conferred by juridical or sociological status, but rather by an existential condition. That is to say, when we use the expression to follow the Lord more closely, we are referring to the lives of the Apostles, who likewise existentially followed the Lord. Among them, there were people whose holiness might have been in doubt, and one of them was actually a traitor; yet, for twenty-four hours in the day they stood with the Lord; and the Lord it was who determined their way of life. Today, in one way or another, religious do the same; they lay their lives out totally in the service of the Lord, in accordance with the various needs of the Church and the human race.

Isn't it rather odd, from a pedagogical point of view, that religious should be singled out as the model of Christian life, when they live in conditions very different from those of 99 percent of Christians?

Religious life isnít a model of Christian life, of holiness or of charity; rather, it is a sign. Not only are religious men and women as such not better than their brothers and sisters in Christ, but neither does the religious vocation mean that it is the only model or most perfect realization of the Gospel. In other words, the important thing is not that religious should be imitated but that they should be perceived as a sign that Godís people have no abiding city here on earth but are journeying towards the City that is to be. In the heat of the struggle for justice, we run the risk of forgetting what is essential. Hence the need for that sign, given by the Spirit, to illuminate and point out the paschal path, which is the only road for humanityís full salvation. Rather than a solution, religious life is a reminder of the Gospel, offered to those who are seeking the City of God. Constantly religious life reminds Godís people of the meaning of their existence, of their paschal journey--to the presence of the Risen One--towards new heavens and a new earth.

The ecclesial significance of religious vows

We havenít yet spoken about what distinguishes religious externally, that is to say, the public profession of the evangelical counsels through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. What is the meaning of the vow of poverty?

This has to be understood in the context of society and the Church. In the next few years, we shall probably experience an even more accentuated and accelerated economic development than we are experiencing today. Under the prompting of the Spirit, religious are being called to assume--more than we are already doing--the beatitude of the poor. This involves living like them, with them and among them. And this is not only to remind us that the good news is contrary to the immense interest in getting and hoarding the goods of this world, but also and above all so that we shall put on the Lord Jesus and make his feelings ours, by remembering that, though he was rich, he became poor so that we should become rich by proclaiming his Word and by sharing in his Body and Blood. To give a voice to those in this world who have no voice presupposes a life which is not of this world and which refuses to consider the present world as the last word. And this, because now we are already living in hope of the Savior who is to come.

This witness may be effective in a prosperous world. Is it also effective in poorer countries where the vast majority of people live in even greater poverty than the religious?

This is undoubtedly a serious difficulty. It often happens that religious living in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world where there are many poor people, hear people say: "Your ideal of poverty may be all very well for Europe and North America, where the people are rich; but it certainly doesnít go down well with us, because we live in poverty and have got to get out of it." Here the problem hinges on the meaning of the word poverty, which is used for such extremely varied situations that even the expression "vow of poverty" can give rise to misunderstandings. To try to explain, let me remind you that even in conditions of extreme poverty, to be poor of heart is not an automatic fact. Itís possible to be rich of heart in penurious conditions; this is when we think exclusively about ourselves, completely forgetting about other people. Contrariwise, the poverty of Christ is to be understood primarily as solidarity: indeed he who was rich became poor to make us rich. In other terms, the purpose of evangelical poverty is not penury, against which we rightly protest, but stripping ourselves of selfishness, to make ourselves open to others and to God. When Jesus says: Woe to the rich! he does so because he condemns their selfishness, their inaccessibility to others, their self-sufficiency. People who are rich of heart try to get their hands on everything and then not share; this is the opposite of life in God, which is communion with the Trinity and saving love for our fellow beings. The poor are the image of God, not because they own nothing but because they are usually open to one another, sharing the little they have with one another; in a word they are in communion with one another. The religious vow of poverty is meant to prompt us into this communion with others; and hence all that religious possess ought to be shared with others. If this is how it really is, it doesnít matter if religious have fine, efficient works; what matters is if they embody a spirit of sharing. We shouldnít have an ideology of poverty but bear witness to that freedom from material goods that characterized the life of Jesus. The Lord Jesus was not only the first person to say: Blessed are you, the poor! but was and still is the first and truly poor man in the Kingdom of God.

Let's pass on to the vow of chastity. What is the message of this vow for the world today?

From its origins until now, religious life has never existed as a way of life in the married state. That is an eloquent sign in itself. Furthermore the City of God-with-us is proclaimed and prefigured and the new commandment is existentially lived, in that community whether of brothers or sisters, which is not born either of blood or of the flesh, or of human will, but of God. It isnít the rejection of human sexuality or the flight from the responsibility, implicit in Christian married love, of coping with a family. It is a sign that the personal love of Christ can satisfy human love when it is called to this vocation in religious life. Lastly, it is a powerful eschatological sign, since by renouncing the opportunity of perpetuating ourselves by having children, we are existentially confessing that everlasting life in the Risen Lord which will never fail.

And what is the ecclesial significance of the vow of obedience?

By means of obedience, and within their ecclesial and communitarian works of mercy, religious manifest one of the fundamental aspects of their vocation. They are genuine apostles, not because they exercise an apostolate, but because they try to live like the apostles. They follow Christ in service and communion and this they do in accordance with the teachings of the Gospel and of the Church founded by the Lord. In other words, they renounce leading a life of their own, setting up their own home, having a profession of their own, and allow themselves to be guided, by obedience, into forming part of an apostolic body which follows the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, giving primacy to the will of God and relocating the vital space of their personal freedom in God.

This is the theologico-spiritual substance of the vow of obedience. How do you actually put it into practice?

If the vow of chastity, which consists in consecrating the most intimate aspect of ourselves to the Lord, depends less on the cultural context, the opposite is true for the vows of poverty and obedience. The vow of poverty depends very largely on the economics of the era. Similarly the way of living the vow of obedience depends on the structure of human society. It also depends on the differing traditions of the various religious Families: there are indeed those that are eminently democratic, as is the case with the Mendicant Orders (Franciscans and Dominicans) and those on the other hand that are monarchical, like the Society of Jesus. Let me stress, however, that these categories ("monarchy," "democracy") are applied here, as in any other ecclesial context, in a merely analogical sense. The heart of the matter is that, regardless of the social structures of the day, religious try to live, again by virtue of the vow of obedience, as a community of brothers or sisters, as the case may be.

In the Society of Jesus, has the way of living the vow of obedience been altered in recent times?

When, a little while ago, I wrote a letter to the Jesuits about communal apostolic discernment, someone immediately informed the press that the Society was going democratic and clearly conveyed the impression that our Order had been an absolute monarchy. In fact, of course, discernment has its origin in Saint Ignatius himself who intended the superior to engage in ample consultation before making a decision.

How different is this from what happens in civil society, where directors and managers normally consult with all sorts of people before arriving at a decision?

The difference is marked, since in the Society the aim of consultation is to discover, as well as one can, what Godís will is. Furthermore, in the Society, everyone comes in order to obey and no one has come in order to command; the only one to command is the Lord. So, rather than of powers of command, one should talk of ability to listen, so as accurately to find out what the Lord wants of us.

Religious life in human society

Youíve concentrated mainly on the ecclesial and eschatological meaning of religious vows. Do you think they still have a social significance, a message for the society of today?

The witness of consecrated chastity, lived in a morally permissive environment, the proclamation of a poverty that rejects the values of a consumer society, apostolic obedience proclaimed in an environment critical of any form of authority: these taken altogether provide an extremely powerful witness, especially in the societies of the wealthier countries.

Only a witness of contradiction?

Not only: if by contradiction you mean merely to deny or reject the existing state of affairs. The witness religious wish to give is aimed at safeguarding the values of society. So, chastity in religious life helps to safeguard Christian married love, and this canít be done without sacrifice; religious poverty likewise proposes to safeguard the well-being of all if founded on justice; our obedience helps to safeguard the freedom of all, inasmuch as it is based on the response to Godís call, and not on human coercion.

You said: "Especially in the societies of the wealthier countries." What about the poor ones?

In Third World countries, religious life is a prophetic sign, accusing a world of entrenched power and wealth which will not bother about its poor brothers and sisters. But as a sign, religious life goes further still. From the depths of its consecration, sincerely lived in commitment to the poor, it proclaims that only the poverty lived by Christ can lead anyone to the unique beatitude: the riches of God. Only a poor person can destroy poverty, struggle for justice, free human beings from slavery and penury. Thus, by means of liberations effected in this world, the religious will proclaim and prepare in tangible form that perfect liberation consisting in the Kingdom of God which is to come.

Since the liberations achieved by religious in this world have the force of symbol rather than of fact, isnít there a danger that the proclamation of a perfect liberation in the future will be a modern version of that resignation preached to the poor in days gone by?

Certainly not. Meanwhile you must agree that even the best society we succeed in constructing still wonít be the Kingdom of God. But this wouldnít be a reason for giving up and not doing anything to improve the society in which we live. All our projects, all our commitments, have to be signs of liberation, all the while knowing that true liberation comes from God and is of God. Itís a difficult concept for someone to accept who takes an immanentist view of human life and history but itís the dialectic of the Christian life: we have to give ourselves to do the best we can, knowing however that, in the end, we are unprofitable servants, and that it wonít be we, for all our efforts, who will build the Kingdom of God, but that this same Kingdom will be given to us as a gift, as the loving gift of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The contrary objection is that the commitment of religious to the poor risks becoming pure philanthropy, thus obscuring the eschatological sense of their consecration. Would you agree?

No. Religious families usually occupy themselves with poor people who are of little interest to other organizations and ideologies. Furthermore, religious very often lend a voice to those who cannot express themselves, precisely because no one is brave enough to speak up on behalf of those who wield no clout in society and are forced to keep quiet. In other words, religious lifeís commitment to the poor for the coming Kingdomís sake is marked by the gratuity of Christís love. The Lord gives himself without reserve and exacts no return for his giving of himself to others. This is the spirit in which religious try to perform their service. And itís precisely this free-giving of the gift--of oneself, of oneís own material and spiritual goods, of oneís own time, etc.--that characterizes religious life as a sign of the Kingdom of God, as a reminder in the here-and-now of Godís fullness and transcendence.

Printed with Permission of Alba House

Fr. Pedro Arrupe served as the 28th Superior General of the Jesuits. He gave the talk below to a gathering of Jesuit Brothers from the Jesuit Communities in Rome in 1978. Early in the life of the Society, the vocation of the Jesuit Brother tended to be one committed to serving the physical needs of Jesuit missions and institutions. In the modern world, however, Brothers share the same roles as Jesuit Priests in ministry, save those which require ordination. Fr. Arrupe sums up the special contributions of the Brothers under the headings of communion, service, and proclamation. As Jesuits who are not priests, they witness in a particular way to "finding the greater glory of God" as a result of living out the fullness of every Christianís baptismal commitment, while professing the same evangelical counsels as do all religious.
Jesuit Brothers

Abridged

The contribution of the Brothers, both to community life and that of the apostolate, is irreplaceable. It would be a real profanation to understand this affirmation in the utilitarian sense. Why? Because the true contribution of the Brothers (as of every other member of the Society) is himself, his own person, the gift God gives to the Society in each vocation.

But how can we understand a little more deeply the value of the specific contribution of the Jesuit Brother to the apostolic community to which he belongs? I will make some principal reflections from which to deduce some practical consequences. Then we can discuss as much as possible--with the help of the Lord.

This specific role of the Jesuit Brother--what is it exactly and how is it revealed? The authentic community of the Society, like every other authentic Christian community, will be a community only insofar as every member lives and shares the triple dimension of the koinonia, diaconia and kerygma. This triple dimension of living points outwardly towards the Church and humanity, but also inwardly towards the center of each community of the Society. And it is precisely this dimension that is enriched by the presence of Jesuit non-priests.

The koinonia: communion, sharing everything, welcoming and accepting everything, or better, everyone. It is not only a question of sharing material goods, ideas, sentiments, expressions of personal faith ... but of sharing life: "that which everyone has and is." Obviously, we are talking about a dimension every Jesuit must live: but, by the very nature of the vocation (coadjutor), the mission that the Jesuit non-priest bears within his own person emphasizes strongly this dimension. It means to put all of your own existence permanently in complete koinonia--twenty-four hours a day --at the disposition of the community in order to build community.

It is precisely this koinonia that gives to the apostolic community of the Society and to its specific priestly mission the possibility of having a base of stability and intensity not found in any other kind of Christian community. And it is precisely this dimension of koinonia, this particular way of giving "that which everyone has and is," that makes up the essential difference between Jesuit non-priests and the secular collaborators of the Society, even the most generous. The apostolic importance of the Jesuit Brother, since our communities are essentially apostolic, derives from the fact that all the members of the community give to the community everything they have and are.

The diaconia (service): with more reason, perhaps, the very nature of the "cooperation" implied in the vocation of the non-priest Jesuit is expressed essentially in this term. It comes out frequently in technical services oriented to the building of the same community, that is, the human community in which the intimacy and privacy of its components have need of being guaranteed. It also comes out in diverse forms of preparation, sharing or completion of direct apostolic action.

But, evidently, the importance of this dimension of diaconia is not simply in service, or even less in the technical quality of service (which in reality could be carried out by non-Jesuits). What makes the service a true diaconia, as a dimension of the Christian community, is its gratuitousness as an unmistakable sign that this service is, in reality, love. It is this gratuitousness for love of Christ that converts service into Christian diaconia and builds the Christian community. For the same reason, this gratuitousness in service, which all of us Jesuits mutually owe, "serving one another in the Lord, esteeming others as superiors," will eliminate in our communities the least trace of class distinction. We are all "servants and servers" and must feel ourselves such. If there is any tension, it would not come from the demands or insistence upon the rights of servers, but rather upon the will to serve.

But there is another very important aspect and the 32nd General Congregation has underlined it. And even in those enterprises which we can and should undertake, we realize that we must be willing to work with others: with Christians, men of other religious faiths, and all men of good will: willing to play a subordinate, supporting, anonymous role: and willing to learn how to serve from those we seek to serve. Thus, the Society declares to the Church and to the world its desire to be a coadjutant. Every Jesuit should be and should consider himself a coadjutor of the Church and of the world, living this mysticism of coadjutant.

It is evident, then, that the presence of the Brother who happily lives this life of coadjutant in an apostolic community of the Society keeps alive this dimension which we often take for granted. They used to say that Brothers were the "nursers" of communities. No one uses this expression today, but its meaning is still valid. People full of affection and unselfishness have a great capacity for discovering the needs of others and enough love to pay the price of self-sacrifice. And how many examples of this there are!

This does not subtract from what the 31st General Congregation said: "Moreover, in addition to the offices mentioned above and in accordance with the judgment of superiors, Brothers properly undertake those other tasks for which they may have a God-given talent and in which they may be of assistance and example ‘for the help of souls.í Among such tasks are teaching, practicing the liberal and technical arts, laboring in the fields of science and in whatever other areas their work, according to circumstances and places, may prove more useful in attaining the end of the Society."

And finally kerygma: the announcement. The Lord Jesus and His Gospel have need of being proclaimed within the community in every possible way. It is the food of our faith, without which a Christian community, much less so a Jesuit apostolic community, cannot grow or even exist. The Church must begin "evangelization with itself" because "it has a need of being evangelized if it wishes to conserve its freshness and its strength in announcing the Gospel." If the Church says this of itself, the Jesuit apostolic community, as a community of the Church, has even more need of evangelization within itself. Within every community there is the function of announcement of testimony (called "example" by our predecessors) that is vital for the community itself: there is also an equal function of denouncement of anti-Christian values. Both of these functions are carried out by word of mouth, but more importantly, by the very life of the community. This testimony, viewed interiorly, has a great influence on the apostolic efficacy of the community, urging all members to dedicate themselves with maximum vigor and joy to the apostolate.

It also has an external influence, not only because everything is reflected outwards, but because this spirit of dedication, when it exists, touches all the people outside of the community connected with the apostolate. And these new contacts have a spiritual depth all their own. This is also a dimension for every Jesuit: that is, both actively and passively announcing and denouncing.

As I said before, we are talking about dimensions for which every Jesuit is responsible. But our communities and apostolates will be enriched by Jesuit Brothers living these dimensions joyfully.

Now, I think that we can comprehend the richness which the Jesuit Brothers bring to the formation of our apostolic community. This richness consists not only in the impressive range of their capabilities and talents actually employed in the Jesuit enterprise, but more importantly in the project of conceiving and living out our corporate life, with a mystique of cooperation, of coadjutant, which their particular vocation contributes, even though this is not exclusively their vocation and is a dimension of every Jesuitís life.

After reflecting with you on our actual situation and the demands of our committed life, I would like to formulate some practical consequences. Clearly I have every Jesuit in mind, but each one should take to heart before God those points which have more direct reference to himself or those for which he may have greater need. I do not intend to come up with anything new. It is rather a matter of expressing some points which I think should be emphasized today.

a. I assume as beyond question that our fundamental vocation to form the apostolic and priestly community which is the Society--and which each of our local communities should be--is a gift of God, given as "one and the same vocation" to every man called by Him to this Society. The diversity of "ministries," whether directed within or without, is not and should not be an obstacle to this radical unity arising from the vocation to construct, in koinonia, diaconia and kerygma, an authentic apostolic community.

b. Furthermore, it is this call, which turns out to be in truth a convocation, which grounds our sense of belonging to this Society, which makes us members of one another through love, and which puts us all at the service of the will of the Lord which we seek and follow as a common labor.

c. From this perspective, which faith lends us and without which we will not understand the reality of our life, we should see clearly the necessity of regarding as equal, in terms of Gospel values, the services and ministries which the members of the Society perform. A reexamination in depth of St. Ignatius will help us to a renewed understanding of his classification of "humble offices" and "greater things," terminology which can, in fidelity to authentic Ignatian teaching, legitimately be purified of that which embodies categories which are more sociological than theological. In the Society of Jesus today there are only services--or more properly, servants--of the Kingdom, responding to the demands of community (koinonia) and Gospel proclamation (kerygma) which service (diaconia) of the Kingdom implies.

Foreign to the Ignatian scheme of things would be any project or vision of any Jesuit whatever, which is not motivated by a desire for "greater service." The same must be said of any personal self-fulfillment which does not turn the person into a "greater servant." All the more so when such projects and self-fulfillment are carried on at the expense of the community and with damage to its mission. This kind of selfish effort and desire clearly distorts the triple dimension which makes us living members of an apostolic community. And it corrupts our mission itself.

d. On the contrary, what is apostolically valid is any kind of "ministry" (service) given to a Jesuit as a mission and accepted and fulfilled as mission. Our service is perceived in this way when viewed from the community perspective to which I referred above (cf. a and b). Whatever the particular work may be, it cannot be properly gauged apart from the Gospel. We cannot tolerate within the Society the worldly categories of servant and master. The more important person among us is the one who is more a servant of the Gospel of the Society, and of his brothers.

And now I bring my observations to a close so that you can carry the discussion forward, or better, so that we can continue in dialogue. As I said at the outset, I limit myself here to developing one assertion: that I regard as irreplaceable the contribution of the Jesuit Brother to the very life of the Society and to its apostolate. I am very conscious of not having touched on all the aspects which relate to this issue. I could have referred to the range of concrete possibilities for apostolic service which the Society in fact offers to the Jesuit who is not a priest. But I have preferred to content myself with reflections on particular aspects of the contribution of the Brother to the life and apostolate of the Society which to me seem more central and more fundamental. It is precisely in such moments of history that we are able to undertake revisions and adaptations with liberty and confidence. This moment demands of us that we give living expression, with clarity and vigor, to the few fundamental realities which constitute the crucial point of our life. We dare not forget that these few basics are at the heart of the Exercises and that in returning to them we shall find new life in our vocation.

I invite you to go on exploring more deeply the several aspects of this one point which I have developed with you. I am confident that you will discover--we shall all discover--a wide field of new possibilities for yourselves and for others. This is the path, the concrete and particular way to God which lies before us, beckoning us on. We should step out realistically and without fear. Not a few generous young men want to walk with us.

It is your responsibility to make this valuable contribution to the body of the Society. It is the responsibility of the whole Society to accept it and give it explicit shape. We must be open to the life which the Spirit awakens in all of us. It is a rushing stream which we dare not dam, but let flow to others. Rooted in this Spirit-given life, with His strength and in fidelity to Him Who is the giver of our charism, we shall keep reexamining and reflecting on our theological and juridical categories in which our life finds expression. In this way we hope to attract many young men of todayís world who seek an apostolic life in the kenosis of Christ, which is precisely the vocation of the Society, and in a special way the vocation of the Jesuit Brother.

Karl Rahner, S.J., was one of the most innovative and significant theologians during and after the Second Vatican Council. The homily that follows is not one of his "heavy" theological works. Instead, it is a talk he gave at the first Mass of a new priest in Germany in the 1970ís. He explores priesthood as the task of a messenger of the gospel. Jesuits proclaim that word in a number of ways. Those who are priests lead the public worship of the Church. Rahnerís point is that a Jesuit priest speaks out of the same knowledge of his own weakness and need for God that led him to the Society in the first place.
The Priesthood

We have come together today on Easter Sunday, filled with the joy of Christís resurrection, to celebrate the holy sacrifice of the New Covenant. We are especially happy today because a new priest of the Church will offer this sacrifice for the first time, among the people of his own parish. At a time like this it seems fitting to call to mind the role of the priest in the community of God.

The holy community of God is an ordered community, making visible the order of God Himself. For that reason alone there exists an office of priesthood in the Church. Now a new priestly life begins, a life emanating from the altar. With this beginning a human life continues, a Christian life continues. The priest is not an angel sent from heaven. He is a man, a member of the Church, a Christian. Scripture says a priest is a man chosen from among men. This is not as obvious as it sounds. It means that we priests are men like you in every respect, like men you meet a thousand times a week, not one hair different, not one jot better; poor, weak, sinful, with hereditary faults and limited talents, we are finite men in need of Godís mercy. Such are the men called by God, chosen by Him to be servants of the altar in your holy community. When the bishop lays his hands upon them, he gives them a new power, promising them that through the sacrament of Holy Orders they will receive the graces necessary to exercise their holy office validly and worthily. He does not change them into angels. They remain men.

PRIESTS, TOO, MUST STRUGGLE

My Brothers, accept us as we are: men who, like you, need the mercy of God. We, too, stand before the altar, beating our breasts and praying, "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa." We, too, grope through the darkness of the world. We have no formula for bringing peace and ease to the world. All we can do is travel with you out of the darkness into the light of God, out of sinfulness into the mercy of God, out of this world into Godís eternal kingdom.

This beginning of a new priestly life also pre-supposes the continuation of a Christian life. Although Christ established an office, a mission and a hierarchy, it must be remembered that he did so only in the midst of His holy, believing community. Those who have this office have it solely through Christís mandate, but they are chosen only because they also belong to the community of Jesus Christ. Like you, we priests are Christians baptized, confirmed and ordained to eternal life: Christians who must daily eat the Bread of the Lord as sustenance for our pilgrimage through life. Like you, we will ultimately stand before the judgment of Jesus Christ with no right of appeal to dignity or to office, but only to His gracious mercy. The bishop and priest, quite properly, are called the communityís pastor and father, but in the end they are still only your brothers.

In this light, we begin to see what the priest undertakes when he goes out from the altar of his first Mass and assumes his holy office. Remaining man and Christian, he begins to speak to you the word of God. He speaks to a glib and garrulous world, a world bubbling over with suave and superficial words. Of course, he himself is one of the effusive, with his plethora of words, mostly wasted. But he believes, and despite his fears he knows that he must communicate Godís word to you. This word is not his own. Nor does he possess it through his own talents or through some special religious interest that beckons him, as a musical, scientific or artistic genius beckons the other men. No, he comes to you because God has told him to proclaim Godís word. Perhaps he has not entirely understood it himself. How else could he speak Godís word, ordinary man that he is with his petty human wit, his elaborate conceits and his shortsightedness.

THE PRIEST IS A MESSENGER

But must not some one of us say something about God, about the majesty of grace in the heart of our sanctified being; must not some one of us speak of sin, of the judgment and mercy of God? Does this not remain the most important message, precisely as it was two thousand years ago? Have we really understood it? Must we not hear it again and again? Need it seem so boring, or strike our ears as though we had heard it a thousand times before? Need we feel as though the seed of the Divine Word had fallen on the beaten path of our life only to die a sterile death? No, the message must still be heard. There is need for the messenger of God, as well as for the philosopher of practical wisdom. And his message will be only that God, the infinite, the nameless Mystery embracing our being, loves us, forgives us, and sends Himself in Jesus Christ our Lord and in the grace of the Holy Spirit. Can we hear a holier, more exalted, more redemptive word? Godís word, the word spoken by his Incarnate Mercy, Jesus Christ, is the only word that endures forever and everywhere, redeems, sanctifies and remains true beyond death into eternity. Priests come to you with this old, yet eternally new message, saying: Accept us as the messengers of Christ. Let your hearts and minds well with the grace of God so as to hear in our human words, in our fumbling, miserable, colorless and often repetitious words the holy, blessed and powerful word of God, the word that brings God Himself and his eternal life into our midst. If you can accept us in such a brotherly spirit of understanding and support, and if, looking always through and beyond us, you set your gaze upon the Lord, then you will take from our words the comfort, the power and the eternal life that comes to you in the Word of God.

This word, carried by the priest on a sacred mission can be spoken with such final authority that the action of God on man, according to Godís absolute promise, is made present in all its truth, reality and power. For that reason we call this word the Sacramental Word. It is entrusted to the priest. He says: I baptize you in the name of the Father. He says: Your sins are forgiven you. He anoints us in the holy Word to receive Godís eternal life through death. And having recalled Christís words at the Last Supper, he gives us the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Then, his word spoken, his mission completed, the priest steps aside. All he can say is Christís word, nothing more.

Over and over the same word, throughout the span of a priestly life. But the word we are honored to speak is one of the most blessed, most powerful. It humbles us and makes God the Lord of our life. If it sinks into your hearts, it is Christ working in you. Through the Word, you meet your Lord directly. You find Him and with Him his grace, his mercy, his eternal life. We priests can only plead that you accept this word from us.

And now, beloved Father, on this day of your first Mass, allow me to look a little into the future.

Above all, your life will be very ordinary. The solemnity and exuberance of todayís celebration will not last. Like all Christians, priests, too, must walk the weary ways of life, asking God every day for the grace to persevere. Day after day, week after week, we must face the monotonous routine of our work. The future will see some harvest in the vineyard of the Lord, but time will also bring many disappointments. The sower goes out, but many seeds will not take root. Often he will preach to deaf ears. Often his heart will be torn by the awareness that he is at fault because of his narrowness and ineptitude, his bad example, his wretchedness of mind and heart. Surrounded by the routine mediocrity of his life, he will continue through success and failure, forced again and again to remind himself that the word of God does not return empty to God. And if he lives as a trusting and humble, unpretentious servant of God, preaching the word of God in season and out, he will have to say to himself over and over: I am where I should be. I am fulfilling a mission; I live not my own life, but the mission of God. What more could a man desire? What service is nobler than that of the good and faithful servant doing his dayís work and at the end abandoning himself to the mercy of his Lord? The measure of his harvest is lost in the mystery of Godís judgment. Nobody knows, nobody can see, no one can measure or count the fruits of his work.

THE PRIEST IS CHOSEN

Essentially, the priest is not sent from God to others; he is chosen from the community of God to perform a definite function within the community. Therefore, as we priests are well aware, you must carry us just as we must carry you. We are strengthened by you and you by us with the word of God. And so, on this day resplendent in the joy of Easter, we priests can only beg you, beloved of the Lord, holy ones anointed by his Spirit: Pray for us. Have patience with us. Carry us. Accept Godís word and his holy mysteries from us.

If we are united to one another in one faith, one hope, one love, then the Church is truly present, the Church of Jesus Christ, the community of the redeemed. Then we are what we should be.

reprinted by permission of Serra International

Michael J. Buckley, a Jesuit from the California Province and a theology professor, writes in the same vein as Karl Rahner. His letter below was written specifically to American Jesuits at the end of their theology studies before ordination. In it he also focuses on the weakness of twentieth-century men. Like Rahner and Ignatius, he sees weakness as a source of strength for Jesuits in their ministry. The basis of priesthood and religious life lies fundamentally in a realization that God does the work of saving people. Jesuits and Jesuit priests work to show that God meets people in their struggles and trials: in the places they work, in their communities, and in their own lives.

"Because Beset By Weakness. . . ."

There is a tendency among us Americans, common and obvious enough, recommended by common sense and successful practice, to estimate a personís aptitude for a profession or for a career by listing his strengths. Jane speaks well, possesses an able mind, exhibits genuine talents for leadership and debate; she would be an excellent lawyer. John has recognizably good judgment, a scientific turn of interest, obvious manual dexterity and deep human concerns; he would make a splendid surgeon.

The tendency is to transfer this method of evaluation to the priesthood, to estimate a man by his gifts and talents, to line up his positive achievements and his capacity for more, to understand his promise for the future in terms of his accomplishments in the past, and to make the call within his life contingent on the attainments of personality or grace. Because a man is religiously serious, prayerful, socially adept, intellectually perceptive; possesses interior integrity, sound common sense, and habits of hard work--therefore he will make a fine priest.

I think that transfer is disastrous. There is a different question, one proper to the priesthood as of its very essence, if not uniquely proper to it: Is this man weak enough to be a priest? Is this man deficient enough so that he cannot ward off significant suffering from his life, so that he lives with a certain amount of failure, so that he feels what it is to be an average man? Is there any history of confusion, of self-doubt, of interior anguish? Has he had to deal with fear, come to terms with frustrations, or accept deflated expectations? These are critical questions and they probe for weakness. Why? Because, according to Hebrews, it is in this deficiency, in this interior lack, in this weakness, that the efficacy of the ministry and priesthood of Christ lies.

"For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted ... For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning ... He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness." (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15; 5:2).

How critically important it is for us to enter into the seriousness of this revelation, of this conjunction between priesthood and weakness, that we dwell upon deficiency as part of our vocation! Otherwise we can secularize our lives into an amalgam of desires and talents; and we can feel our weakness as a threat to our priesthood, as indicative that we should rethink what was previously resolved, as symptomatic that we were never genuinely called, that we do not have the resources to complete what we once thought was our destiny and which once spoke to our generosity and fidelity.

What do I mean by weakness? Not the experience of sin; almost its opposite. Weakness is the experience of a peculiar liability to suffering a profound sense of inability both to do and to protect, an inability, even after great effort, to author, to perform as we should want, to effect what we had determined, to succeed with the completeness that we might have hoped. It is this openness to suffering which issues in the inability to secure our own future, to protect ourselves from any adversity, to live with easy clarity and assurance; or to ward off shame, pain, or even interior anguish.

If a man is clever enough or devious enough or poised enough, he can limit his horizons and expectations and accomplish pretty much what he would want. He can secure his perimeters and live without a sense of ineffectual efforts, a feeling of failure or inadequacy or of shame before his temperament or his task--then he experiences weakness at the heart of his life. And this experience, rather than militating against his priesthood, is part of its essential structure. This liability to suffering forms a critically important indication of the call of God, that terrible sinking sense of incapacity before the mission of Moses and the vocation of Jeremiah, that profound conviction of sinfulness when the vision of God rose before Isaiah and demanded response.

There is a classic comparison running through contemporary philosophy between Socrates and Christ, a judgment between them in human excellence. Socrates went to his death with calmness and poise. He accepted the judgment of the court, discoursed on the alternatives suggested by death and on the dialectical indications of immortality, found no cause for fear, drank the poison and died. Jesus--how much the contrary. Jesus was almost hysterical with terror and fear; "with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death." He looked repeatedly to his friends for comfort and prayed for an escape from death, and he found neither. Finally he established control over himself and moved into his death in silence and lonely isolation, even into the terrible interior suffering of the hidden divinity, the absence of God.

I once thought that this was because Socrates and Jesus suffered different deaths, the one so much more terrible than the other, the pain and agony of the cross so overshadowing the release of the hemlock. But now I think that this explanation, though correct as far as it runs, is superficial and secondary. Now I believe that Jesus was a more profoundly weak man than Socrates, more liable to physical pain and weariness, more sensitive to human rejection and contempt, more affected by love and hate. Socrates never wept over Athens. Socrates never expressed sorrow and pain over the betrayal of friends. He was possessed and integral, never over-extended, convinced that the just man could never suffer genuine hurt. And for this reason, Socrates--one of the greatest and most heroic men who has ever existed, a paradigm of what humanity can achieve within the individual--was a philosopher. And for the same reason, Jesus of Nazareth was a priest--ambiguous, suffering, mysterious, and salvific.

So with us, a priest must also be liable to suffering, weak because he must become like what he touches--the body of Christ. Obviously the ordinary person understands priest primarily and imaginatively through the Eucharist within the Church. And what is this Eucharist? The body of Christ? Yes, certainly, but how understood? How does Christ conceive and present this, his body? This is an important question, for psychologists maintain that a man evaluates himself in terms of his spontaneous body-images, that what he senses and feels about his body is what he senses and feels about himself, that as he perceives his body so he perceives himself.

How then does Christ perceive this, his body? A body which was broken for us. A blood that was shed for us. He understands himself as a sacrificed self, effective only passing through his destruction, giving life and freedom only because he himself has moved through death and terror and achieved new life. In our Mass, when we celebrate "the great mystery which he has left us," the Eucharist only achieves its graced entrance into our lives if it is broken and distributed. Thus it is the liability of Christ to suffer, his ability to be broken and shed, that makes his priesthood effective and his Eucharist possible. How paradoxical this mystery is! The strength of our priesthood lies precisely in the weakness which seems to threaten it. The sensitivity and openness to discouragement and suffering are constitutive of the mystery of the priesthood itself.

Weakness relates us profoundly with other people. It allows us to feel with them the human condition, the human struggle and darkness and anguish, which call out for salvation. (For to be a human being is to take a certain amount of suffering into life.) It is hard to get at this consideration, since so much in Western civilization attempts to disguise it or affects to despise it. One of the most debilitating aspects of American society is that we do not authentically admit the cost in a struggle and almost never allow real fear to surface. Yet most of us must struggle to make a living, must wonder about our future and about our sense of personal value in a market economy, must deal with the half-articulated and half-understood problems of our children, must fear what our death will be like--what it will mean to die; we must deal with the temptation to believe that life is without meaning, that actions are inconsequential and selfish, and that other people are to be used.

Being a priest does not mean, must not mean, that we are excised from all of that, as if called to deal with others as from a higher eminence; that the struggle for meaning and value and fidelity to the Gospel has been completed in our lives, and that we now deal out of our strengths. God has called us to the salvation of men, and there is no salvation without incarnation. The means of human salvation are other men, as Christ was a man, and we can understand and respond to the degree that we feel ourselves "beset with weakness." If part of our life becomes a subtle, only occasionally noticed effort to maintain a daily sense of priestly call in a culture that increasingly finds us anachronistic and dying--a struggle against a sense of barrenness when God seems so distant, so unreal, and yet his reality is the one thing to which we have given our entire life; an exertion to deal sensitively and honestly with nagging occupations, with difficult colleagues, or with distant superiors in a context that seems lifeless and without promise--then remember that we are called to be men, to enter as Christ so deeply into the human condition that we can redeem it, that our temptations and desolations are the grace of God calling us to a more profound sensitivity with those who are similarly in battle. As we are tempted, as we ourselves suffer or are in pain, so shall we understand and call upon our compassion.

Secondly, weakness more profoundly relates us to God, because it provides the ambit or the arena in which his grace can be seen, in which his sustaining presence can reveal itself, in which even his power can become manifest. This is why it contradicts expectations and stands as almost the contrary of sin. Weakness is the context for the epiphany of the Lord, it is the night in which he appears--not always as felt reassurance, but more often as a power to continue, faithful even when we do not feel the strength, even when fidelity means simply putting one foot in front of the other. Paul saw his own lifeís history as this litany of reversals or sufferings, as linking moments of weakness, but transformed through the supporting power of Christ: "I will all the more gladly boast of my weakness, that the power of God may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10).

The priest often discovers what his vocation means in these moments, as the power of God becomes evident in the continuity of his life, a fidelity which his weakness would only seem to undermine but actually supports as it evokes the presence of the Lord. Weakness becomes the vocation of the Lord, our call upon him. It is this night, and the heavy work of rowing against the storm, and the threatening waves which bring him to us. It is not that a priestís life would ideally be some other thing--without struggle, self-doubt, or suffering--but that circumstances have unfortunately introduced obdurance and humiliations and a sense of incapacity. Quite the contrary. It is in and through this night that a priest is joined to Christ, as it is in and through this night that he learns that he can trust in the Lord, that he can call out to Jesus in faith, even when this seems the most lifeless thing to do, and find that Jesus Christ is enough. Only in this way will that which we preach and urge upon others become part of our own lives. To commit our lives in trust to the Lord. It is in this experience, the experience of personal weakness, and of having read even limitations as the presence of Christ, of having trusted in him in darkness and having found that one can trust him--it is the experience that joins Christ to his disciples, as he comes to them walking on the waters.

The experience of weakness deepens both our sensitivity to human religious need and our experience in prayer.

There is a collective consequence which follows from all of this. We must make such a life possible for one another. We must support one another in weakness, forgiving one another our daily faults and carrying one anotherís burdens. It would be absurd to maintain weakness as essentially a part of the priestly vocation and then to belittle those who are deficient; to resent those who are insensitive, unsophisticated, or clumsy; to allow disagreements to become hostilities. It would be a dreadful thing for us to reject, under one criterion or another, those whom God has called.

The sad fact stands that it is frequently no great trick to get religious men or women to condemn one another. Wars, even personal wars, are terrible realities, and the most horrible of these are religious. For under the guise of good, under the rubric of orthodoxy or liberality, of community or of personal freedom, even of holiness itself, religious men and women can slowly disintegrate into pettiness or cynicism or hostility or bitterness so that "the second state of the man is worse than the first."

Priests are of the same stuff as other men, and they also depend upon men for the unconditioned love of God to be mediated to their weakness. The command of Christ, that we should love one another as he has loved us, is more than a general norm of total benevolence; it is a particular mission: as he cared--out of his weakness--for our weakness, and so became our Eucharist. For us to refuse this support to one another, no matter how religious our articulated standard, is to deceive ourselves almost irremediably and to limit the mercy and understanding of God that should have come through our life. It is not our weakness that hinders the compassion and the goodness of God. It is that often what others count as our strengths, now become the criteria by which we distance ourselves from others not so gifted, interests through which we discover others as boring or unproductive, dedications and religious attainments by which we judge others as mediocre or obviously compromising. There is nothing in our lives that cannot be twisted into a means for evil, if we are not discerning, and we know when that moment has come, when Satan has finally effected his transformation into an angel of light, when we have judged others by our own achievements and found them wanting, too inconsequential for our support, unworthy of our time and concern. The greatest protection against this terrible pride--masked as religious seriousness or apostolic commitment, as purity about the things of God, or as honesty about the qualities of men--is an abiding sense of our own weakness, that searing reminder that as we are strengthened by one who has loved us, so we should support one another.

To live this way is to live the paschal mystery of Christ in weakness and in love. We have made a costly choice deciding to become priests, and we should not disguise that choice. Neither should we disguise the love that we are about nor the sense of personal weakness as we confront those lives. God will grace us in the priesthood, in the ministry that lies before us: "He is not weak in dealing with you, but powerful in you. For he was crucified in weakness; but lives by the power of God" (2 Corinthians 13:3-4).

The latest General Congregation of the Jesuits met in 1995. The final decree of the documents is printed below. Its eight sections offer a challenging summary of "what it is the Jesuits think theyíre doing." Perhaps you already see yourself as someone who sees Christ as you work for the good of others, especially those in greatest need. Perhaps you already have a sense that the Society is a place where you might best work with others by preparing for public ministry and for being sent to where you can do the greatest good for Godís glory. If so, then you may recognize yourself and your hopes in what follows. In its weakness and struggles, the Society of Jesus continues to work for Godís Kingdom, as it has since Ignatius first followed the call of Christ with a small, most diverse and unlikely group of men.

CHARACTERISTICS
OF OUR WAY OF PROCEEDING

Certain attitudes, values, and patterns of behavior join together to become what has been called the Jesuit way of proceeding. The characteristics of our way of proceeding were born in the life of St. Ignatius and shared by his first companions. Jerome Nadal writes that "the form of the Society is in the life of Ignatius." "God set him up as a living example of our way of proceeding."

General Congregation 34 has considered which of these characteristics we need especially to draw upon today, and the form they must take in the new situations and changing ministries in which we labor today. We suggest that the following would be included among them.

Deep Personal Love for Jesus Christ

    Here it will be to ask for an intimate knowledge of our Lord, who has become human for me, that I may love him more and follow him more closely.

In remorse, gratitude, and astonishment--but above all with passionate love--first Ignatius, and then every Jesuit after him, has turned prayerfully to "Christ our Lord hanging on the Cross before me" and has asked of himself, "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What must I do for Christ?" The questions well up from a heart moved with profound gratitude and love. This is the foundational grace that binds Jesuits to Jesus and to one another. "What is it to be a Jesuit today? It is to know that one is a sinner yet called to be a companion of Jesus as Ignatius was." The mission of the reconciled sinner is the mission of reconciliation: the work of faith doing justice. A Jesuit freely gives what he has freely received: the gift of Christís redeeming love.

Today we bring this countercultural gift of Christ to a world beguiled by self-centered human fulfilment, extravagance, and soft livi