With Christ on Mission

     
The congregation invites the entire Society to read and pray over this updating of our law and orientation of our mission for today. One way of doing this would be in the light of the Ignatian images of pilgrimage and labor. Like that of Ignatius, our way of proceeding is both a pilgrimage and a labor in Christ: in his compassion, in his ceaseless desire to bring men and women to the Father's reconciliation and the Spirit's love, and in his committed care for the poor, the marginalized, and the abandoned.

GC34, Decree One, 4


 

In authorizing the renewed Constitutions and their Complementary Norms the thirty-fourth General Congregation provided the entire Society of Jesus with an authoritative and contemporary interpretation of our Jesuit life.† All of us have received copies of the Constitutions and Norms and have been encouraged to incorporate them into our prayer and to make them part of our personal and corporate lives.

The following set of readings, With Christ On Mission, has been created with an eye to helping Jesuits reflect prayerfully on these treasures of our Institute.† Hopefully, this booklet captures vital thrusts and key themes from the Constitutions, Norms and our most recent General Congregation in a succinct and forceful manner.† It is organized in the form of forty-seven Lenten readings and, in the spirit of this season of conversion, it is designed to help us reexamine our lives together as Jesuits.† With Godís grace, these Lenten meditations will confirm us in our apostolic ministry and challenge us to become more authentic companions of Jesus and friends in the Lord.

 With Christ On Mission can be used in many ways.† It is hoped that Jesuits will make use of it in personal and community prayer as well as for spiritual reading.† Slow, prayerful reading of each dayís selection (a form of lectio) can challenge us to deepen our insight into our own Jesuit vocation as well as lead us into loving conversation (oratio) or prayerful silence with the Lord.† As we find ourselves intrigued by a passage, we may be drawn to return to the full text of the Congregationís documents, the Constitutions or the Norms in order to reach a fuller understanding of a particular theme.† Selections gathered and presented here can also serve as focal points for community discussions or faith-sharing groups.

 

This booklet is divided into eight sections and can easily be adapted for use in a Jesuitís annual retreat.† In fact, the organization and selection of texts in With Christ On Mission relies heavily on Fr. J. Peter Schinellerís manuscript for an eight-day retreat manual based on our revised law.† I am deeply grateful to Fr. Schineller for permitting us to make liberal use of his work while revising it to suit our Lenten purposes.

 
In praying over the selections in this booklet, it might be helpful to recall that, although the Constitutions arose out of the prayerful discussions and comments of the early companions, they find their real origin in the prayers and tear-filled Masses of St. Ignatius.† May our own prayerful use of With Christ On Mission draw us closer to the spirit of our founder and to the Heart of Jesus Himself.

 

Kenneth J. Gavin, S.J.

January 1, 1996

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and

Titular Feast of the Society of Jesus



 



 

Section I

 

END AND GOAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

 

Ash Wednesday:
Formula of the Institute

 

††††††††††† Jesus said to Simon and his brother, Andrew, ìFollow me and I will make you fishers of people.î† And immediately they left their nets and followed him.† (Mk 1:17-18)

 

††††††††††† Formula of the Institute, from Exposcit Debitum

 

1††††††††††† 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 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 Godóeach one, however, according to the grace which the Holy Spirit has given to him and according to the particular grade of his own vocation.

 

††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Preamble

 

2†††††††† ß 1.† The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through.† Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a holocaust to God, so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth, they would be sent into the entire world for ìthe defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine.î

 

††††††††††† ß 2.† The distinguishing mark of our Society, then, is that it is at one and the same time a companionship that is religious, apostolic, sacerdotal, and bound to the Roman Pontiff by a special bond of love and service.

 

 

Thursday after Ash Wednesday:

Mission of Evangelization

 

††††††††††† ìGo therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.† And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.î† (Mt 28, 19-20)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part IV

 

[308]†† A.† The aim and end of this Society is, by traveling through the various parts of the world at the order of the supreme vicar of Christ our Lord or of the superior of the Society itself, to preach, hear confessions, and use all the other means it can with the grace of God to help souls.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 1, United with Christ on Mission

 

7††††††††† ††††††††††† 7.† Ignatius presents a Christ who is on the move, traveling through villages and visiting syna?gogues to preach the Kingdom, going where people dwell and work. This con?tem?plative identifi?cation of Jesus on mission is linked to the Election of the Exercises. In their own communal apostolic dis?cernment, which led to the founding of the Society, Ignatius and his companions saw this as their unique call, their charism: to choose to be with Christ as servants of his mission, to be with people where they dwell and work and struggle, to bring the Gospel into their lives and labors.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

245†††† ß 1.† The mission of the Society today is participation in the total evangelizing mission of the Church, which aims at the realization of the Kingdom of God in the whole of human society, not only in the life to come but also in this life.† This mission is ìa single but complex reality, which is expressed in a variety of waysî; namely, through the interrelated dimensions of the witness of oneís life; of proclamation, conversion, inculturation, and of the establishment of local churches; and also through dialogue and the promotion of the justice desired by God.

 

†††††† †††† ß 2.† Within this framework and in accordance with our original charism approved by the Church, the contemporary mission of the Society is the service of faith and the promotion in society of that justice of the Gospel that is the embodiment of Godís love and saving mercy.

 

†††††† †††† ß 3.† In this mission, its aim (the service of faith) and its integrating principle (faith directed toward the justice of the Kingdom) are dynamically related to the inculturated proclamation of the Gospel and to dialogue with other religious traditions as integral dimensions of evangelization.†

 

Friday after Ash Wednesday:

Service of Faith and Promotion of Justice

 

††††††††††† ìI was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.î (Mt 25:35-36)

 

††††††††††† GC34: Decree 2, Servants of Christís Mission

 

35††††††† ††††††††††† 10.††††††††††† Pope John Paul II speaks of the pervad?ing "structures of sin," particularly characterized by "the all-consuming desire for profit and the thirst for power" in all cultures. Because the life of the spirit is inseparable from social relations, he calls on people of all faiths and none to become aware of "the urgent need to change the spiritual attitudes which define each individual's relationship with self, with neighbor, with even the remotest human communities, and with nature itself."† It is a summons which we, as Jesuits committed to the action of the Holy Spirit both in the human heart and in the world, cannot refuse; consequently, in the conduct of our personal and community lives and in whatever ministries we undertakeówhether works of pastoral service, academic scholarship, spiritual ministry, or educationówe will live in ways which look to the full?ness of the Kingdom in which justice, and not human sin, will hold sway. In the words of Pope John Paul II,

 

††††††††††† Working for the Kingdom means acknowl?edging and promoting God's activity, which is present in human history and transforms it. Building the Kingdom means working for liberation from evil in all its forms. In a word, the Kingdom of God is the manifesta?tion and realization of God's plan of salva?tion in all its fullness.

 

††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Preamble

 

4††††††††† ß 1.† According to these documents, explained by later general congregations, the mission of the Society consists in this, that as servants of Christís universal mission in the Church and in the world of today, we may procure that integral salvation in Jesus Christ which is begun in this life and will be brought to its fulfillment in the life to come.† Therefore the mission of the Society today is defined as the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement.

 

††††††††††† ß 2.† The service of faith and the promotion of justice constitute one and the same mission of the Society.† They cannot, therefore, be separated one from the other in our purpose, our action, our life; nor can they be considered simply as one ministry among others, but rather as that ministry whereby all our ministries are brought together in a unified whole.

 

††††††††††† ß 3.† This mission also includes, as integral dimensions of evangelization, the inculturated proclamation of the Gospel and dialogue with members of other religions.† Hence, in our mission, the faith that seeks justice is a faith that inseparably engages other traditions in dialogue and evangelizes cultures.

 

††††††††††† GC34: Decree 26, Characteristics of Our Way of Proceeding

 

548††††† ††††††††††† 14.† Today, whatever our ministry, we Jesuits enter into solidarity with the poor, the marginalized, and the voiceless, in order to enable their par?ti?ci?pa?tion in the processes that shape the society in which we all live and work. They, in their turn, teach us about our own poverty as no document can. They help us to under?stand the meaning of the gratuity of our ministries, giving freely what we have freely received, giving our very lives. They show us the way to inculturate gospel values in situations where God is forgot?ten. Through such solidarity we become "agents of incultura?tion."

 

 

Saturday after Ash Wednesday:

Mission to Find God in a World Scarred by Sin

 

††††††††††† Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.† For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:10,12)

 

††††††††††† GC34: Decree 2, Servants of Christís Mission

 

31††††††† ††††††††††† 6.† The mission of the Society derives from our continuing experience of the Crucified and Risen Christ who invites us to join him in preparing the world to become the completed Kingdom of God. The focus of Christ's mission is the prophetic procla?mation of the Gospel that challenges people in the name of the King?dom of his Father; we are to preach that Kingdom in poverty. He calls us to be at the very heart of the world's experience as it receives this promise of the Kingdom and is brought to receive God's gift in its fullness. It is still an experience of the Cross, in all its anguish and with all its power, because the enigmas of sin and death are still part of the reality of the world. He calls us "to help men and women disengage themselves from the tarnished and confused image that they have of them?selves in order to discover that they are, in God's light, completely like Christ."† And so we undertake all our ministries with a confidence that the Lord takes us, as he did Ignatius, as his servantsónot because we are strong, but because he says to us, as he said to St. Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).

 

36††††††† ††††††††††† 11.† Ours is a service of faith and of the radical im?plications of faith in a world where it is becoming easier to settle for something less than faith and less than justice. We recognize, along with many of our contem?poraries, that without faith, without the eye of love, the human world seems too evil for God to be good, for a good God to exist. But faith recognizes that God is act?ing, through Christ's love and the power of the Holy Spirit, to destroy the structures of sin which afflict the bodies and hearts of his children. Our Jesuit mission touches something fundamental in the hu?man heart: the desire to find God in a world scarred by sin, and then to live by his Gospel in all its implications. This, the instinct to live fully in God's love and thereby to promote a shared, last?ing human good, is what we address by our voca?tion to serve faith and promote the justice of God's Kingdom. Jesus Christ invites us, and through us the people we serve, to move, in conversion of heart, "from solidarity with sin to solidarity with him for humanity," and to promote the Kingdom in all its aspects.

 

††††††††††† GC34: Decree 4, Our Mission and Culture

 

108††††† ††††††††††† 24.† We need to recognize that the Gospel of Christ will always provoke resistance; it challenges men and women and requires of them a conversion of mind, heart, and behavior. It is not diffi?cult to see that a mod?ernist, scientific-technological cul?ture, too often one-sidedly rationalistic and secular in tone, can be destruc?tive of human and spiritual values. As Ignatius makes clear in the Meditation on Two Standards, the call of Christ is always radically opposed to values which re?fuse spiritual transcendence and promote a pattern of selfish life. Sin is social in its expression, as is the counterwitness offered by grace: unless a Christian life distinctly differs from the values of secular modernity, it will have nothing special to offer. One of the most im?portant contributions we can make to critical contempo?rary culture is to show that the structural injustice in the world is rooted in value systems promoted by a power?ful modern culture which is becoming global in its impact.

 

 

First Sunday of Lent:

Jesuit Mission and Culture

 

††††††††††† All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.† (Acts 2:4)

 

††††††††††† GC34: Decree 4, ìOur Mission and Cultureî

 

87††††††† ††††††††††† 8.† The mission of the Society, in service to the Crucified and Risen Christ, is directed to the ways in which he makes his presence felt in the diversity of human cultural experiences, in order that we may pres?ent the Gospel as Christ's explicitly liber?at?ing presence. Ours must be a dialogue, born of respect for people, especially the poor, in which we share their cultural and spiritual values and offer our own cultural and spiritual treasures, in order to build up a communion of peoples instructed by God's Word and enlivened by the Spirit as at Pen?tecost. Our service of the Christian faith must never disrupt the best impulses of the culture in which we work, nor can it be an alien imposition from out?side. It is directed towards working in such a way that the line of development springing from the heart of a cul?ture leads it to the Kingdom.

 

88††††††† ††††††††††† 9.† In the exercise of our mission, we bring a sim?ple criterion from our Ignatian tradition: in our personal lives of faith, we learn that we are in consolation when we are fully in touch with what God is doing in our hearts, and we are in desola?tion when our lives are in conflict with his action. So, too, our ministry of evange?lizing culture will be a ministry of consolation when it is guided by ways that bring to light the character of God's activity in those cultures and that strengthen our sense of the divine mystery. But our efforts will be misguided, and even destructive, when our activity runs contrary to the grain of his presence in the cultures which the Church addresses, or when we claim to exercise sole proprietorial rights over the affairs of God.

 

107††††† ††††††††††† 23.† A genuine attempt to work from within the shared experience of Christians and unbelievers in a secular and critical culture, built upon respect and friendship, is the only successful starting point. Our ministry towards atheists and agnostics will either be a meeting of equal partners in dialogue, addressing com?mon questions, or it will be hollow. This dialogue will be based upon a sharing of life, a shared commitment to action for human develop?ment and liberation, a sharing of values and a shar?ing of human experience.† Through dialogue, mod?ern and postmodern cultures may be challenged to become more open to approaches and experiences which, though rooted in human history, are new to them. At the same time theology, when developed with an eye to contemporary critical culture, may help people discover the limits of immanence and the human necessity of transcendence.

 

 

Section II

LIFE CONSECRATED BY VOWS

 

 

Monday, First Week of Lent:

Lives Conformed to Christ

 

††††††††††† ìI am the vine, you are the branches.† Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.î† (Jn 15:5)

 

†††††††††††† General Examen

 

[101]††† ††††††††††† 44.† It is likewise very important to bring to the attention of those who are being examined, emphasizing it and giving it great weight in the sight of our Creator and Lord, to how great a degree it helps and profits 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 proceed spiritually and truly follow Christ our Lord love and intensely desire everything opposite.† That is to say, they desire to clothe themselves with the same garb and uniform of their Lord because of the love and reverence owed to him, to such an extent that where there would be no offense to his Divine Majesty and no imputation of sin to the neighbor, they desire 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 garb 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, with 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 with such desires, which are so salutary and fruitful for the perfection of his soul.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 2, Servants of Christís Mission

 

34††††††† ††††††††††† 9.† Being "friends of the Lord," then, means being "friends with the poor," and we cannot turn aside when our friends are in need. We are a com?munity in solidar?ity with them because of Christ's preferential love for them. We understand more clearly that the sinfulness of the world, which Christ came to heal, reaches in our time a pitch of intensity through social structures which exclude the pooróthe majority of the world's popula?tionófrom participation in the blessings of God's cre?ation. We see that oppressive poverty breeds a systemic violence against the dignity of men, wom?en, children, and the unborn which cannot be toler?ated in the King?dom willed by God. These are the signs of the times which call us to realize that "God has always been the God of the poor because the poor are the visible proof of a failure in the work of creation."

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

246††††††††††† Conditions for carrying out this mission [of the service of faith and the promotion of justice] are the following:

 

††††††††††† ††††††††††† 1?††††††††††† A continuing personal conversion, finding Jesus Christ in the brokeness of our world, living in solidarity with the poor and outcast, so that we can take up their cause under the standard of the cross.† Our sensitivity to such a mission will be most affected by frequent direct contact with these ìfriends of the Lord,î from whom we can often learn much about faith.† Some insertion into the world of the poor should therefore be part of the life of each member, and our communities should be located among ordinary people wherever possible. ...

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 26, Characteristics of Our Way of Proceeding

 

539                                    5.† Today we bring this countercultural gift of Christ t resolutely out of our "desire to resemble and imitate in some manner our Creator and Lord Jesus Christ . . . since he is the way which leads men to life."† Today, as always, it is deep, per?sonal devotion to Jesus, himself the Way, that principally characterizes the Jesuit way of proceed?ing.o a world beguiled by self-centered human fulfillment, extravagance, and soft living, a world that prizes pres?tige, power, and self-sufficiency. In such a world, to preach Christ poor and humble with fidelity and courage is to expect humiliation, persecution, and even death. We have seen this happen to our brothers in recent years. Yet we move forward

 

Tuesday, First Week of Lent:

Obedience in a Spirit of Love

 

††††††††††† ìWho are my mother and my brothers?î† And looking at those who sat around him, Jesus said, ìHere are my mother and my brothers!† Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.î† (Mk 3:33b-35)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VI

 

[547]††† All should strongly dispose themselves to observe obedience and to distinguish themselves in it, not only in the matters of obligation but also in the others, even though nothing else be perceived except an indication of the superiorís will without an expressed command.† They should keep in view God our Creator and Lord, for whom such obedience is practiced, and endeavor to proceed in a spirit of love and not as men troubled by fear.† Hence all of us should be eager to miss no point of perfection which we can with Godís grace attain in the observance of all the Constitutions and of our manner of proceeding in our Lord, by applying all our energies with very special care to the virtue of obedience shown first to the sovereign pontiff and then to the superiors of the Society.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VI

 

149††††††††††† Impelled by love of Christ, we embrace obedience as a distinctive charism conferred by God on the Society through its founder, whereby we may be united the more surely and constantly with Godís salvific will, and at the same time be made one in Christ among ourselves.† Thus, through the vow of obedience our Society becomes a more fit instrument of Christ in his Church, to assist souls for Godís greater glory.

 

150††††† ß 1.† Obedience is always an act of faith and freedom whereby the religious recognizes and embraces the will of God manifested to him by one who has authority to send him in the name of Christ.† But both the superior who sends and the companion who is sent gain assurance that the mission is really Godís will if it is preceded by special dialogue.

 

 

Wednesday, First Week of Lent:

Chastity: Love Freely Given in Service to All

 

††††††††††† To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.† (1 Cor 9:22-23)

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 8, Chastity in the Society of Jesus

 

236††††† ††††††††††† 9.† Accordingly, in our Society not only poverty and obedience but also chastity is essentially apostolic. It is not understood by Jesuits as directed exclusively to their personal sanctification, but as calling them to be one with Christ in labor for the salva?tion of the human race.† According to the whole intent of our Institute, we em?brace apostolic chastity as a special source of spiritual fruitfulness in the world, as a means for a more prompt love and a more total apostolic availability towards all men and women.† That is why the chastity of Jesuits does not compete with marriage, but rather reinforces its value. Both point to a love and a fidelity which is deeper than sexual expression and of which Christian marriage and religious chastity are divergent and sacred realizations. Few are called to the life of a Jesuit, but for the man who is called, chastity only makes sense as a means to a greater love, to a more authentic apostolic charity.

 

243††††† ††††††††††† 16.† Throughout his life a Jesuit will give his time and his talents to others without thought of recompense. He does not build his own business or his own career, because he does not build his own home and family. His chastity has made it possible for him to grow in his poverty. At the end of his life, through his vow of chas?tity, he will have become poor in a way that his previous talents and education and energies made impossible. Now all of these belong to yesterday; they have been spent for others. He has finally become poor as did Christ, who, "although he was rich, made himself poor for our sakes" (2 Cor. 8:9).† He has become a man who possesses neither family nor property, has built up noth?ing for himself, and looks to God for the defini?tion of his life. This poverty that flows from his chastity is not the destruction of his Jesuit life; in many ways it is its com?pletion and fulfillment.† But he should not disguise the cost of such a life.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VI

 

144††††† ß 1.† By the vow of chastity, we devote ourselves to the Lord and to his service in such a unique love that it excludes marriage and any other exclusive human relationship, as well as the genital expression and gratification of sexuality.† Thus the vow entails the obligation of complete continence in celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.† Following the evangelical counsel of chastity, we aspire to deepen our familiarity with God, our configuration to Christ, our companionship with our brother Jesuits, our service to our neighbors whoever they may be; and at the same time we aspire to grow in our personal maturity and capacity to love.

 

††††††††††† ß 2.† Hence in the Society chastity, which is before all else Godís gracious gift, is essentially apostolic and the source of radical availability and mobility for mission, and not at all to be understood as directed exclusively to our own personal sanctification.† Its precious apostolic fruitfulness, besides providing freedom for greater mobility in Godís service, in imitation of the angels, is a mature, simple, anxiety-free dealing with the men and women with whom and for whom we exercise our ministry for building up the body of Christ.

 

††††††††††† ß 3.† Especially in our times, when people tend to put whole classes of their fellow human beings beyond the margins of their concern, while at the same time identifying love with eroticism, the self-denying love that is warmly human, yet freely given in service to all, especially to the poor and the marginalized, can be a powerful sign leading people to Christ, who came to show us what love really is, namely, that God is love.

 

146††††† ß 1.† That the love once consecrated by chastity may grow unceasingly, all should before all else cultivate intimate familiarity with God and friendship with Christ through contemplation of his mysteries and through life-giving assimilation to him in the sacraments both of penance and of the Eucharist.

 

††††††††††† ß 2.† It is also very important, as the Society has learned from the experience of Ignatius himself, to renew incessantly the strong desire of persevering, by means of humble and simple devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who by her chaste assent obtained divine fecundity and became the mother of fair love.

 

††††††††††† ß 3.† Chastity is more safely preserved ìwhen in common life true fraternal love thrives among its members,î by fostering charity and the ready union of souls, which disposes us to bear one anotherís burdens; and when we feel a generous love for one and all and at the same time engage in a helpful and fruitful dialogue with all and are true brothers and friends in Christ, leading the community life proper to the Society, as described in Part VIII, nos. 311-30.

 

 

Thursday, First Week of Lent:

Poverty: Strong Wall of Religious Life

 

††††††††††† Jesus said, ìThere is still one thing lacking.† Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.î† (Lk 18:22)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VI

 

[553]††† 1.† Poverty, as the strong wall of the religious institute should be loved and preserved in its integrity as far as this is possible with Godís grace.† The enemy of the human race generally tries to weaken this defense and rampart which God our Lord inspired religious institutes to raise against him and the other adversaries of their perfection.† Into what was well ordered by their first founders he induces alterations by means of Interpretations and innovations not in conformity with those foundersí first spirit.† Therefore, so that provision may be made in this matter as far as lies in our power, all those who make profession in this Society should promise not to take part in altering what pertains to poverty in the Constitutions, unless it be in some manner to make it more strict, according to the circumstances in the Lord.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VI

 

157††††††††††† Voluntary religious poverty is the attempt of fallen human beings, in the radical following of the humble and poor Christ, to achieve that freedom from every inordinate attachment which is the condition for a great and ready love of God and neighbor.

 

158†††† The principle and foundation of our poverty is found in a love of the Word of God m, ade flesh and crucified.† Therefore in the Society that way of life is to be maintained which is as far as possible removed from all infection of avarice and as like as possible to evangelical poverty. Which our first fathers experienced as more gratifying, more undefiled, and more suitable for the edification of the neighbor.

 

††††††††††† GC34,† Decree 9,† Poverty

 

277††††† ††††††††††† 4.† Our poverty is apostolic because it witnesses to God as the one Lord of our lives and the only Absolute; it distances us from material goods and frees us from all attachment so that we can be fully available to serve the Gospel and dedicate ourselves to the most needy. In this way poverty is itself a mission and a proclamation of the Beatitudes of the Kingdom.

 

278                                    5.† Our poverty is also prophetic. In recent decades the cry of the poor has become more piercing. But the gap between rich and poor is being reinforced rather than diminishing. Unbridled capitalism produces dispro?portionate growth for some economic sectors, exclusion and marginalization for many others. Contemporary society is infected by consumerism, hedonism, and lack of responsibility. The values considered important today are personal fulfillment, competition, efficiency, and success at any cost. In view of this panorama of con?trasts, our personal and community poverty becomes a sign and message of a different logic, that of evangelical solidarity

 

 

Friday, First Week of Lent:

Poverty: Solidarity with the Poor

 

††††††††††† But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.† He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them.† Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.† (Lk 10:33-34)

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 9, Poverty

 

287††††† ††††††††††† 14.†† 5.† In order to "feel" [sentir] the anxieties and aspirations of the dispossessed in an Igna?tian way, we need direct personal experience.† Profound experience is what changes us. We can break out of our habitual way of living and thinking only through physical and emotional proximity to the way of living and thinking of the poor and marginalized.

 

289††††† ††††††††††† 16.††††††††††† b. Solidarity with the poor cannot be the concern only of some Jesuits; it has to typify our life and our ministry. So whatever the mission given us may be, we have to work within it for the benefit of the poor and for a more just and fraternal world. Moreover, the inser?tion of communities in areas of poverty and marginali?zation is a special witness to love for the poor and for the poverty of Christ.† Fortunately the number of these communities has grown; in them Jesuits serve selflessly, working with the poor and living as they do. Provincials must continue to promote such communities so that, while maintaining a strong sense of belonging to the body of the province, they are a visible application of our preferential option for the poor and contribute by means of fraternal exchange to increasing the social sensibility of the province.

 

 

Saturday, First Week of Lent:

Formula of First Vows

 

††††††††††† ìVery truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears a much fruit.† Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (Jn 12:24-25)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part V

 

[540]††† 4.† ìAlmighty and eternal God, I, N., though altogether most unworthy in your divine sight, yet relying on your infinite goodness and mercy and moved with a desire of serving you, in the presence of the most holy Virgin Mary and your whole heavenly court, vow to your Divine Majesty perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Society of Jesus; and I promise that I shall enter that same Society in order to lead my entire life in it, understanding all things according to its Constitutions.† Therefore I suppliantly beg your immense Goodness and Clemency, through the blood of Jesus Christ, to deign to receive this holocaust in an odor of sweetness; and that just as you gave me the grace to desire and offer this, so you will also bestow abundant grace to fulfill it.

 

††††††††††† ìRome, or elsewhere, in such a place, day, month, year, and so forth.î

 

††††††††††† After this he will likewise receive Holy Communion and all the rest will be done as is stated above [530].††

 

 

Section III.

INCARNATIONAL SPIRITUALITY

 

 

Second Sunday of Lent:

Love of God our Lord as Chief Bond in the Society

 

††††††††††† Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.† (1 Cor 12:4-6)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VIII

 

[671]††† On both sides, the chief bond to cement the union of the members among themselves and with their head is the love of God our Lord.† For when the superior and the subjects are closely united to his Divine and Supreme Goodness, they will very easily be united among themselves, through that same love which will descend from the Divine Goodness and spread to all other persons, and particularly to the body of the Society.† Thus charity will come to further this union between superiors and subjects, and in general all goodness and virtues through which one proceeds in conformity with the spirit.† Consequently there will be also total contempt of temporal things, in regard to which self-love, the chief enemy of this union and universal good, frequently induces disorder.

 

††††††††††† Still another great help can be found in uniformity, both interior uniformity of doctrine, judgments, and wills, as far as this is possible [K], and exterior uniformity in respect to clothing, ceremonies of the Mass, and other such matters, to the extent that the different qualities of persons, places, and the like permit.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VIII

 

††††††††††† ß2.† What especially helps toward fostering communion among all members of the Society is an attitude of mind and heart that esteems and welcomes each member as a brother and friend in the Lord, because ì[w]hat helps most...toward this end must be, more than any exterior constitution, the interior law of love and charity which the Holy Spirit writes and engraves in our hearts.††††

 

 

Monday, Second Week of Lent:

Familiarity with God in Prayer

 

Now during those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. †(Lk 6:12)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VI

 

[582]††† 1.† Given the length of time and approbation of their life which are required before admission into the Society among the professed and also the formed coadjutors, it is presupposed that those so admitted will be men who are spiritual and sufficiently advanced that they will run in the path of Christ our Lord to the extent that their bodily strength and the exterior occupations undertaken through charity and obedience allow.† Therefore, in what pertains to prayer, meditation, and study, and also in regard to the bodily practices of fasts, vigils, and other austerities or penances, it does not seem proper to give them any other rule than that which discreet charity dictates to them, provided that the confessor always be informed and also, when a doubt about advisability arises, the superior.† Only this will be said in general: On the one hand, they should take care that the excessive use of these practices not weaken their bodily strength and or take up so much time that they are rendered incapable of helping the neighbor spiritually according to our Institute; on the other hand, they should be vigilant that these practices not be relaxed to such an extent that the spirit grows cold and the human and lower passions grow warm.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VI

 

223††††† ß3.† Hence, all Ours are urged to strive each day, personally and communally, toward an even greater integration of our spiritual life and apostolate, by which they will find God in all things, the God who is present in this world, in its struggle between good and evil, between faith and unbelief, between the yearning for justice and peace and the growing reality of injustice and strife.† We should also seek to be enriched in our own spirituality by the spiritual experiences and ethical values, theological perspectives, and symbolic expressions of other religions.

 

224††††† ß1.† To achieve such integration, it is crucial for us to use all means to foster that familiarity with God in both prayer and action which St. Ignatius considered absolutely essential to the very existence of our companionship.† But we cannot achieve this familiarity with God unless we regularly engage in personal prayer.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† The Jesuit apostle goes forth from the Exercises, at once a school of prayer and of the apostolate, a man called by his vocation to be a contemplative in action.† We must contemplate our world as Ignatius did his, that we may hear anew the call of Christ dying and rising in the anguish and aspirations of men and women.

 

225††††† ß1.† Therefore, the traditional hour of prayer is to be adapted so that each Jesuit, guided by his superior, takes into account his particular circumstances and needs, in the light of that discerning love which St. Ignatius clearly presupposed in the Constitutions.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† All should recall that the prayer in which God communicates himself more abundantly is the better prayer, whether it is mental or even vocal, whether it consists in meditative reading or in an intense feeling of love and self-giving.† Prayer thus becomes a truly vital activity whose progressive growth makes increasingly evident in us the action and presence of God, whereby we are enabled to seek, love, and serve him in all things.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† Ours are also to give sufficient time to preparation for prayer and to spiritual reading.

†

Tuesday, Second Week of Lent:

Communities of the Society as Faith Communities

 

††††††††††† For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.† For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one bodyóJews or Greeks, slaves or freeóand we were all made to drink of one Spirit.† (1 Cor 12:12-13)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VI

 

227††††† ß2.† According to the prescriptions of their own rite, all should take part in the daily celebration of the Eucharist and consider it as the center of their religious and apostolic lives.† Communitarian celebrations of the Eucharist are encouraged, especially on days when the community can more easily gather.† Moreover, for the faithful fulfillment of their apostolic vocation, both communities and individuals should cherish daily converse with Christ the Lord in visiting the Blessed Sacrament.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† Likewise, so that they might increase in purity of soul and in freedom in Godís service, all should also frequently receive the sacrament of reconciliation; they should also willingly participate in community penitential services and strive to promote the spirit of reconciliation in our communities.† Each one should have his own fixed confessor to whom he ordinarily confesses.

 

228††††† In the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, to which they are obligated by the reception of ordination, our priests and deacons should try to pray attentively and at the appropriate time that wonderful song of praise which is truly the prayer of Christ to the Father, in union with his Body.

 

229††††† Twice daily the examination of conscience should be made, which, in accord with Ignatiusís intent, contributes so much to discernment regarding our entire apostolic life, to purity of heart, and to familiarity with God in the midst of an active life.† In accord with the approved tradition of the Society, it is recommended that it last a quarter of an hour.

 

230††††† Insofar as their apostolic character permits, Jesuit communities should come together daily for some brief common prayer.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 10, The Promotion of Vocations

 

295††††††††††††††††† ††††††††††† Does our prayer remain a secret except to our?selves, or do we talk about our experience of God, including its difficulties, with others and with our broth?er Jesuits? Do our communities remain mysterious to all except Jesuits, or are they open and welcoming to those who seek us? Do young people see us working together, sometimes struggling but still supporting one another, praying together? Does our apostolic zeal communicate itself to others, so that they, too, will want to commit themselves to God's service?

 

 

Wednesday, Second Week of Lent:

Eucharist, Center of Religious and Apostolic Life

 

††††††††††† Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad an generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.† (Acts 2:46-47a)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VI

 

227††††† ß1.† Every community of the Society is a faith community that comes together in the Eucharist with others who believe in Christ to celebrate their common faith.† More than anything else, our participation at the same table in the Body and Blood of Christ makes us one companionship totally dedicated to Christís mission in todayís world.

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part IV

 

[401]††† First of all, those who in the judgment of the superior should be ordained are to be taught how to say Mass not only with interior understanding and devotion but also with a good exterior manner, for the edification of those who hear the Mass.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VIII

 

315††††† A local Jesuit community is an apostolic community, whose focus of concern is the service that Ours are bound, in virtue of their vocation, to give to people.† It is a community ad dispersionem, since its members are ready to go wherever they are sent; but it is also a koinonia, a close sharing of life and goods, with the Eucharist at its center, and a community of discernment with superiors, to whom belong the final steps in making decisions about undertaking and accomplishing missions.

 

 

Section IV

MISSION: LABORERS DISPERSED

IN THE LORDíS VINEYARD

 

 

Thursday, Second Week of Lent:

Availability for Mission 1

 

††††††††††† The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.† (Lk 10:1)

 

†††††††††††† General Examen

 

[92]††††† 35.† Likewise, the more thoroughly they are aware of the interior and exterior affairs of their subjects, with so much greater diligence, love, and care will they be able to help the subjects and to guard their souls from the various difficulties and dangers which might occur later on.† Later, in conformity with our profession and manner of proceeding, we must always be ready to travel about in various parts of the world, on all occasions when the supreme pontiff or our immediate superior orders us.† Therefore, 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 that the superior 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; so that thus he may direct them better, without placing them beyond the measure of their capacity in dangers or labors greater than they could in our Lord endure with a spirit of love; and also so 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.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part X

 

411††††† The sense of belonging and responsibility that each individual one of Ours has toward the whole Society should be manifested in a knowledge of our spirituality, our history, our saints, our apostolic labors, and our men, especially of those who are suffering difficulties for the sake of Christ; it is to be manifested as well by maintaining Ignatian mobility and flexibility with a view to helping any region of the Society whatsoever.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 26, Characteristics of Our Way of Proceeding

†

556††††† ††††††††††† 22.††††††††††† Nadal, in promulgating the Constitutions, asked: Why are there Jesuits? There are diocesan priests and bishops. He answers simply that our charism, indeed our reason for existence, is that we might go where needs are not being met. Our way of proceeding en?courages this mobility.

557††††† ††††††††††† 23.††††††††††† A Jesuit is essentially a man on a mission, a mission he receives from the Holy Father and from his own religious superior, but ultimately from Jesus Christ himself, the one sent by the Father. Jesuits remain "rea?dy at any hour to go to some or other parts of the world where they may be sent by the Sovereign Pontiff or their own superiors."

 

 

Friday, Second Week of Lent:

Availability for Mission II

 

††††††††††† For by grace you have been saved by faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of Godónot the result of works, so that no one may boast.† (Eph 2:8-9)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VII

 

[618]††† 1.† The more readily to be able to meet the spiritual needs of souls in many regions, as also with greater security for those who go for this purpose, the superiors of the Society, in accord with the faculty granted by the sovereign pontiff, will have authority to send any of the Societyís members to whatsoever place these superiors think it more expedient to send them, although these members, wherever they are, will always be at the disposition of His Holiness.

 

††††††††††† Now there are many who make requests more with a view to their own spiritual obligations to their flocks, or to other less immediate advantages, rather than to those that are common or universal.† Hence, the superior general, or whoever holds this authority from him, ought to bestow much careful thought on missions of this kind, so that, in sending subjects to one region rather than to another, or for one purpose rather than for another, or one particular person rather than another or several of them, in this manner or in that, or for a longer or shorter time, that may always be done which is conducive to the greater service of God and the universal good.

 

††††††††††† With this thoroughly right and pure intention in the presence of God our Lord, and--should he think it advisable because of the difficulty or importance of the decision--commending the matter to his Divine Majesty and causing it to be commended in the prayers and Masses of the house, as well as discussing it with one or more members of the Society who happen to be present and whom he thinks suitable, the superior will on his own authority decide about sending or not sending, and about the other circumstances, as he will judge to be expedient for the greater glory of God.

 

††††††††††† The part of the one who is sent will be, without interposing himself in favor of going or remaining in one place rather than another, to leave the disposition of himself completely and very freely to the superior who in the place of Christ our Lord directs him in the path of his greater service and praise.† In similar manner, too, no one ought to try by any means to bring it about that others will remain in one place or go to another, unless he does so with the approval of his superior, by whom he should be governed in our Lord.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

255†††† ß1.† All members of the Society of Jesus, even though dispersed in various local communities and ascribed to individual provinces and regions, are inserted directly and primarily into the single apostolic body and community of the whole Society.† It is at this level that the overall apostolic decisions and guidelines are worked out and established, for which each one should feel responsible.† This demands of all of us a high degree of availability and a real apostolic mobility in the service of the universal Church.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† This solidarity with the body of the Society ought to take precedence over any other loyalties (those binding a man to any type of institution, within or outside the Society).† It ought to mark any other commitment, transforming it thereby into a ìmission.î† For a ìmissionî as such is bestowed by the Society through the superior and is always subject to its review.† The Society can confirm or modify it as the greater service of God may require.

 

Saturday, Second Week of Lent:

The Society in Service to the Church

 

††††††††††† But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?† And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard?† And how are to to hear without someone to proclaim him?† And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? †(Rom 10:14-15a)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VII

 

[603]††† 1.† Just as Part VI treats of what each member of the Society needs to observe in regard to himself, so this Part VII deals with what the members need to observe in regard to their neighbor (which is an end eminently characteristic of our Institute) when they are dispersed throughout Christís vineyard to labor in that part of it and in that work which have been entrusted to them, whether they have been sent to some places or others by either the supreme vicar of Christ our Lord or the superiors of the Society, who for them are similarly in the place of his Divine Majesty; or whether they themselves choose where and in what work they will labor, having been commissioned to travel to any place where they judge that greater service of God and the good of souls will follow; or whether they carry on their labor not by traveling but by residing steadily and continually in certain places where much fruit of glory and service to God is expected.

 

††††††††††† And to treat the missions from His Holiness first as being most important, it should be observed that the vow which the Society made to obey him as the supreme vicar of Christ without any excuse meant that the members were to go to any place where he judges it expedient to send them for the greater glory of God and the good of souls, whether among the faithful or unbelievers.† The Society did not mean the vow for a particular place, but rather for being dispersed to various regions and places throughout the world, wishing to make the best choice in this matter by having the sovereign pontiff make the distribution of its members.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

252††††† ß1.† To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the successor of Peter.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† Out of love for Christ and in virtue of the fourth vow of special obedience to his vicar concerning missions, the Society offers itself completely to the Church, so that the Supreme Pontiff may send all its members into the vineyard of the Lord to carry out his mission.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† Missions that the Supreme Pontiff may wish to entrust to our Society at any time and in any part of the world in fulfillment of our mission, we must place in the category of the highest priority of our apostolic activity.

 

Third Sunday of Lent:

The Society in Fidelity to the Call of the Holy Father

 

††††††††††† Simon Peter answered, ìYou are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.î† And Jesus answered him, ìBlessed are you Simon, Son of Jonah!† For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.î† (Mt 16:16-17)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

253††††† The calls that have come to the Society from recent popes are the following:

 

††††††††††† 1?† To contribute effectively to the implementation of the Second Vatican Council

 

††††††††††† 2?† To confront with all our forces the problem of atheism and cooperate in that profound renewal of the Church needed in a secularized age

 

††††††††††† 3?† To better adapt our traditional apostolates to the different spiritual necessities of today:† the renewal of Christian life, the education of youth, the formation of the clergy, the study of philosophy and theology, research into humanistic and scientific cultures, and missionary evangelization

 

††††††††††† 4? †To pay particular attention to ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and the task of authentic inculturation

 

††††††††††† 5?†† In a manner consonant with our priestly and religious Institute and within the Churchís evangelizing action, to promote the justice ìconnected with peace, lwhich is the aspiration of all peoplesî

 

††††††††††† 6?†† To foster the vigorous impulse toward missionary work and church union and to serve our prophetic mission to promote the new evangelization

 

254††††† The pontifical mandate entrusted to the Society of resisting atheism should permeate all the accepted forms of our apostolate, in such wise that we may both cultivate among believers true faith and an authentic awareness of God and also zealously direct our efforts to nonbelievers of every type.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 11, A Proper Attitude of Service

 

317††††† ††††††††††† 20.††††††††††† If our love of Christ, inseparable from our love for his spouse the Church, impels us to seek the will of God in each situation, it can also oblige us to engage in constructive criticism based on a prayerful discernment. But it cannot justify a lack of solidarity with the Church, from which we are never in any way distinct or apart. In the elaboration and expression of our theological views and in our choice of pastoral options, we must always actively seek to understand the mind of the hierarchical Church, having as our goal the end of the Society to help souls. At the same time, we must try to articulate the sensus fidelium and help the Magisterium discern in it the movements of the Spirit in accord with the teach?ing of Vatican II.† Formed by the experience of the Spiritual Exercises and desirous of being faithful to this Ignatian vision, we pray God to instill in us the spirit that animates these Ignatian rules.

 

325††††† ††††††††††† 28.††††††††††† In that same spirit, on this eve of the third mil?lennium we pledge our?selves once again to gener?ous service of all our brothers and sisters. This service will be Christian only if anchored by fidelity to him who makes all things new. It will be Jesuit only if it is in union with the successor of Peter. For this union has always given us the assuranceóindeed, it is the visible signó"of our communion with Christ, the first and supreme head of the Society which by its very name is his: the Society of Jesus."

 

 

Tuesday, Third Week of Lent:

The Jesuit Brother

 

††††††††††† ìWhoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the slave of all.† For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.î† (Mk 10:43b-45)

†

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 7, The Jesuit Brother

 

204††††† ††††††††††† 6. ††††††††††† Brothers, in the same way as priests, are inte?grated into the Society by reason of the one common call of the Lord to follow him in living out the evangeli?cal radicality of re?ligious life. But a vocation to religious life is distinct from a vocation to priesthood. "In some ways the religious brother embodies re?ligious life in its essence, and so is able to illustrate that life with particu?lar clarity."

 

205††††††††††††††††† ††††††††††† Therefore, the first and most important contribu?tion of a brother is the gift of his own self, off?ered freely in ser?vice to the Lord.† As a consequence, through a life that is manifestly religious, he offers a prophetic witness, in the Church and in the Society, to the world of today.

 

215††††† ††††††††††† 11.††††††††††† If everyoneópriests, brothers, and scholasticsóshares in all aspects of community life, including faith, domestic tasks, relaxation, prayer, apostolic discern?ment, the Eucharist, and the Spiritual Exercises, we will truly become "friends in the Lord." This sharing of life will help to build up commu?nities of shared responsibil?ity in our common fol?low?ing of Jesus, and complementarity in the one mission. To make this shar?ing a reality among us, we need human and spiri?tual ma?turity and a better formation in interpersonal commu?nication

 

 

Wednesday, Third Week of Lent:

Norms for the Choice of Ministries 1

 

††††††††††† The word of God is not chained.† Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.†† (2 Tim 2:9b-10)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VII

 

[622]††† D.† To make the best choice in sending persons to one place or another while having the greater service of God and the more universal good before oneís eyes as the guiding norm, it would appear that in the ample vineyard of the Lord one ought to select, other things being equal (and this should be understood in everything that follows), that part of the vineyard which has greater need, both because of lack of other workers, and because of the wretchedness and infirmity of the people there and their danger of eternal condemnation.

 

††††††††††† Consideration should also be given to where greater fruit is likely to be reaped through the means usual in the Society; as would be the case where one sees the door more widely open and a better disposition and readiness among the people to be profited.† This would consist in their greater devotion and desire (which can be judged in part by the insistence they show), or in the condition and quality of the persons who are more capable of making progress and of preserving the fruit produced, to the glory of God our Lord.

 

††††††††††† In places where our indebtedness is greater, for example, where there is a house or college of the Society, or members of it engaged in study, who are recipients of charitable deeds from the people there, and assuming that the other considerations pertaining to spiritual progress are equal, it would be more suitable to have some laborers there, preferring these places to others for these considerations in conformity with perfect charity.

 

††††††††††† The more universal the good is, the more is it divine.† Hence preference ought to be given to persons and places which, once benefited themselves, are a cause of extending the good to many others who are under their influence or take guidance from them.

 

††††††††††† For that reason, the spiritual aid which is given to important and public persons ought to be regarded as more important, since it is a more universal good.† This is true (whether these persons are laymen such as princes, lords, magistrates, or administrators of justice, or whether they are clerics such as prelates).† This holds true also of spiritual aid given to persons who are distinguished for learning and authority, for the same reason of the good being more universal.† For that same reason, too, preference ought to be shown to the aid which is given to large nations such as the Indies, or to important cities, or to universities, which are generally attended by numerous persons who, if aided themselves, can become laborers for the help of others.

 

††††††††††† Similarly, in places where the enemy of Christ our Lord is seen to have sown cockle [Matt. 13:24-30], particularly where he has spread bad opinion about the Society or stirred up ill will against it so as to impede the fruit which it might produce, the Society ought to exert itself more, especially if it is an important place of which account should be taken; persons should be sent there, if possible, who by their life and learning may undo the evil opinion founded Jon false reports.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

258††††† ß1.† All our members, especially superiors, to whom the choice of ministries belongs ìas the most important task of all,î must make great efforts to bring about this review of our ministries.† The criteria for review, found in the Constitutions themselves and illuminated by the decrees of the general congregations and the instructions of the superiors general, retain their perennial validity, but none the less must always be rightly applied to historical circumstances.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† We should always keep in mind social conditions and pastoral programs, the apostolic forces available or hoped for, the more pressing pastoral and apostolic needs, and the help that ought to be given to Father General for more universal works.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† Social and cultural analysis of the true state of affairs should also be employed from a religious, social, and political point of view, based on serious and specialized studies and on an accurate knowledge of those matters.

 

††††††††††† ß4.† According to this way of proceeding, which is to be used by local, provincial, and regional communities, superiors can employ the customary consultations and then draw up apostolic options to be submitted to Father General.

 

 

Thursday, Third Week of Lent:

Norms for the Choice of Ministries II

 

††††††††††† I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.† Do not be conformed to this world , but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of Godówhat is good and acceptable and perfect.† (Rom 12:1-2)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VII

 

[623]††† E. †For making a better choice of the undertakings on which the superior sends his men, the same rule should be kept in view, namely, that of considering the greater divine honor and the greater universal good.† This consideration can quite legitimately suggest sending persons to one place rather than to another.

 

††††††††††† To touch upon some motives which can exist in favor of one place rather than another, we mention these:

 

††††††††††† First of all, where members of the Society have the possibility of engaging in works aimed at spiritual benefits and also in works aimed at corporal benefits where mercy and charity are exercised; or of helping persons in matters of greater perfection and also of lesser perfection, and, in fine, in things which are in themselves more good and also less good; then, if both things cannot be done simultaneously (everything else being equal), the first ought always to be preferred to the second.

 

††††††††††† Likewise, when there are matters in the service of God our Lord which are more urgent, and others which are less pressing and can better suffer postponement of the remedy, even if they are of equal importance, the first should be preferred to the second.

 

††††††††††† Similarly too, when there are matters that are especially incumbent upon theSociety, or clearly without anyone else to attend to them, and others for which other persons do have a care and means of providing, the first kind should rightly be preferred to the second in selecting missions.

 

††††††††††† Likewise, among pious works of equal importance, urgency, and need, when some are safer for those engaged in them and others more dangerous, and when some are dispatched more easily and quickly, whereas others are more difficult and take longer time, the first should be similarly preferred to the second.

 

††††††††††† All things mentioned above being equal, when there are occupations which are of more universal good and extend to the aid of greater numbers of our neighbors, such as preaching or lecturing, and others aimed more at individuals, such as hearing confessions or giving the Exercises, and it is impossible to accomplish both at once, then preference should be given to the first, unless there should be circumstances through which it would be judged that it would be more expedient to take up the second.

 

††††††††††† Similarly too, when there are pious works that continue longer and are permanently profitable, such as are certain pious foundations for the aid of our neighbors, and others that are less durable and give help only on a few occasions and for a short time, then it is certain that the first ought to be preferred to the second.† Hence the superior of the Society ought to employ his subjects more in the first than in the second, always as being for the greater divine service and greater good for our neighbors.

 

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

260††††† ß1.† To promote the better choice of ministries and to foresee to some extent future developments, a commission should be set up as an aid to the provincial and under his authority; the task of this commission will be, after careful study and in view of the priorities established by the general or the Conference of Major Superiors, to give advice on an overall review of ministries.† This will involve suggesting which ones ought to be kept or dropped and which others ought to be undertaken for the first time.† Each year the provincial should report to Father General what has been done in this regard.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† In order to achieve a more effective coordination of the apostolate in a given region, the Conferences of Major Superiors can be greatly helped by a commission of the entire conference, linked with the provincial and regional commissions.† In regions that are sufficiently homogeneous, a single general commission can be instituted in place of commissions for the individual provinces or regions.

 

 

Section V

MISSION TODAY

 

 

Friday, Third Week of Lent:

Faith that Does Justice

 

††††††††††† ìThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.† He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to procalim the year of the Lordís favor.î† (Lk 4:18-19)

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 3, Our Mission and Justice

 

66††††††† ††††††††††† 17.††††††††††† The promotion of justice requires, before all else, our own continuing personal conversionófinding Jesus Christ in the brokenness of our world, living in solidarity with the poor and outcast, so that we can take up their cause under the standard of the Cross. Our sensitivity for such a mission will be most affected by frequent direct contact with these "friends of the Lord," from whom we can often learn about faith. Some inser?tion into the world of the poor should therefore be part of the life of every Jesuit. And our communities should be located among ordinary people wherever possible.

 

69††††††† ††††††††††† 20.††††††††††† Forming "men and women for others" is appro?priate not only in our educational institutions but in ministries of the Word and the Spiritual Exercises, in pastoral apostolates and communica?tion. Social centers and direct social action for and with the poor will be more effective in promoting justice to the extent that they integrate faith into all dimensions of their work. Thus each Jesuit ministry should work to deepen its particular implementation of our full mission of faith and justice, which can?not but be enriched by efforts towards a more effec?tive dialogue and inculturation.

 

71††††††† ††††††††††† 22.††††††††††† Each province should evaluate its apos?tolic planning using the Ignatian criteria found in the Consti?tutions, read in the light of our mission today.† When understood in the light of the faith which seeks justice, the criterion of "greater need" points towards places or situations of serious injus?tice; the criterion of "more fruitful," towards min?istry which can be more effective in creating com?munities of solidarity; the criterion of "more uni?versal," towards action which contributes to struc?tural change to create a society more based on shared responsibility. After decisions are made, it is of crucial importance to evaluate the process of implemen?tation. Annual review of the accomplish?ment of objec?tives during the year can help deter?mine objectives for the coming year. Serious and regular review of effec?tiveness in carrying out our mission will give credibility and realism to our province and institutional planning.

 

 

Saturday, Third Week of Lent:

Conditions for Carrying Out Mission

of Faith That Does Justice

 

††††††††††† For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.† (2 Cor 4:17-18)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

246††††††††††† Conditions for carrying out this mission are the following:

 

††††††††††† 1? A continuing personal conversion, finding Jesus Christ in the brokenness of our world, living in solidarity with the poor and outcast, so that we can take up their cause under the standard of the cross.† Our sensitivity to such a mission will be most affected by frequent direct contact with these ìfriends of the Lord,î from whom we can often learn much about faith.† Some insertion into the world of the poor should therefore be part of the life of each member, and our communities should be located among ordinary people wherever possible.

 

††††††††††† 2?† A dialogue, born of respect for people, especially the poor, in which we share their cultural and spiritual values and offer our own cultural and spiritual resources, in order to build up a communion of peoples instructed by Godís Word and enlivened by the Spirit as at Pentecost.† In such a dialogue, we come into contact with the activity of God in the lives of other men and women, and we try to enable people to become aware of Godís presence in their culture.† This dialogue is also necessary in the so-called ìpost-Christianî cultures, based upon a sharing of life, a shared commitment to action for human development and liberation, a sharing of values and a sharing of human experience.

 

††††††††††† 3? A deep respect for everything that has been brought about in human beings by the Spirit who blows where he wills; attention to the global desire for a contemplative experience of the divine; a desire to be enriched by the spiritual experiences and ethical values, theological perspectives, and symbolic expressions of other religions.

 

††††††††††† 4? A desire to embody Christís ministry of healing and reconciliation in a world increasingly divided by economic and social status, race and ethnicity, violence and war, cultural and religious pluralism.

 

††††††††††† 5? A closer collaboration with others, especially with the laity, with other members of local churches, with Christians of other denominations, with adherents to other religions, and all ìwho hunger and thirst after justiceî; in short, with all who strive to make a world fit for men and women to live in, a world where the brotherhood of all opens the way for the recognition and acceptance of Christ Jesus and God our Father.

 

††††††††††† 6? A more profound spiritual experience through the Spiritual Exercises, by which we continually renew our faith and apostolic hope by experiencing again the love of God in Christ Jesus.† We strengthen our commitment to be ìcompanions of Jesusî in his mission, to labor with him in solidarity with the poor for the establishment of the Kingdom.

 

††††††††††† 7? All the major problems of our time have an international dimension.† On our part, great solidarity and availability and real openness to change will be necessary, even as we remain firmly rooted in our own culture, in order to foster the growth of cooperation and coordination throughout the whole Society, in the service of the worldwide mission of the Church.

 

††††††††††† 8?† We must therefore have an operative freedom: open, adaptable, even eager for any mission that may be given us.† Our desire is an unconditional consecration to mission, free of all worldly interest and free to serve all men and women.† Our mission extends to the creation of this same spirit of mission in others.

 

† †††††††††

Fourth Sunday of Lent:

Communities of Solidarity in Seeking Justice

 

††††††††††† As it is there are many members, yet one body.† The eye cannot say to the hand, ìI have no need of you,î nor again the head to the feet, ìI have no need of you.î† On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensible.î† (1 Cor 12:20-22)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

249††††† ß3.† In each of our different apostolates, we must create communities of solidarity in seeking justice.† Working together with our colleagues, we can and should engage in every ministry of the Society to promote justice in one or more of the following ways: directly serving and accompanying the poor, developing awareness of the demands of justice joined to the social responsibility to achieve it, and participating in social mobilization for the creation of a more just social order.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 3, Our Mission and Justice

59††††††† ††††††††††† 10.††††††††††† Our experience in recent decades has demon?strated that social change does not consist only in the transformation of economic and political structures, for these structures are themselves root?ed in sociocultural values and attitudes. Full human liberation, for the poor and for us all, lies in the development of communities of solidarity at the grass-roots and nongovernmental as well as the political level, where we can all work to?gether towards total human development.† And all of this must be done in the context of a sustainable, re?spectful interrelation between diverse peoples, cultures, the environment, and the living God in our midst.

 

 

Monday, Fourth Week of Lent:

The Society and Solidarity with Women

 

††††††††††† Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.† The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herodís steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.† (Lk 8:1b-3)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

247††††† ß2.† The situation of women in the world today merits special attention.† Our contribution to overcoming unjust structures and experiencing our solidarity with women include the following: teaching the essential equality of women and men; supporting women in opposing situations of exploitation and violence; fostering an appropriate presence of women in our ministries and institutions and involving women in decision making in our ministries; promoting the education of women and elimination of all forms of discrimination in it; using appropriately inclusive language in speaking and writing.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 14, Jesuits and the Situation of Women

 

384††††† ††††††††††† 16.††††††††††† Above all we want to commit the Society in a more formal and expli?cit way to regard this solidarity with women as integral to our mission. In this way we hope that the whole Society will regard this work for recon?cili?ation between women and men in all its forms as integral to its interpretation of Decree 4 of GC 32 for our times. We know that a reflective and sus?tained commitment to bring about this respectful reconcilia?tion can flow only from our God of love and justice, who reconciles all and promises a world in which "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).

 

Tuesday, Fourth Week of Lent:

Collaboration with the Laity

 

††††††††††† As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.† But Jesus refused, and said to him, ìGo home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.î† And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.† (Mk 5, 18-20a)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

305††††† ß1.† The Society recognizes as a grace of our day and a hope for the future the laityís taking ìan active, conscientious, and responsible part in the mission of the Church in this great moment of history.î† Therefore, we seek to respond to this grace by cooperating with them to realize their mission fully, accommodating ourselves in our way of conceiving and exercising ìourî apostolate.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† In order to achieve this, all our members should become more keenly aware of the meaning of the state and vocation of the laity and their apostolate in the Church and the world, according to the new teaching of the ecclesiastical magisterium.† By means of fraternal dialogue with them, we should make efforts to understand better their life, their ways of thinking and feeling, their aspirations and their religious mentality; and along with them we should strive to share our spiritual heritage, conscious that we can receive from the laity much to strengthen our own vocation and mission.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 13, Cooperation with the Laity in Mission

334††††† ††††††††††† 4.††††††††††† Jesuits are both "men for others"† and "men with others."† This basic characteristic of our way of proceeding calls for an attitude and readiness to coop?erate, to listen and to learn from others, to share our spiritual and apostolic inheritance. To be "men with others" is a central aspect of our charism and deepens our identity.

 

353††††† ††††††††††† 19.††††††††††† Lay men and women will assume more and more responsibility for the ministries of the Church in parishes, diocesan structures, schools, theological insti?tutions, missions, and works of justice and charity. We can expect a flourishing of specialized ministries, eccle?sial movements, and lay apostolic associations of more varied purpose and inspiration. With our charism and experience we will make a specific and needed contri?bution to these apostolic endeavors. For this we must increasingly shift the focus of our attention from the exercise of our own direct ministry to the strengthening of laity in their mission. To do so will require of us an ability to draw out their gifts and to animate and inspire them. Our willingness to accept this challenge will de?pend on the strength of our Jesuit companionship and on a renewal of our response to the call of Christ to serve his mission.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 26, Characteristics of Our Way of Proceeding

550††††† ††††††††††† 16.††††††††††† Partnership and cooperation with others in ministry is not a pragmatic strategy resulting from dimin?ished manpower; it is an essential dimension of the contem?porary Jesuit way of proceeding, rooted in the realization that to prepare our complex and divided world for the coming of the Kingdom requires a plurality of gifts, perspec?tives, and experienc?es, both international and multicultural.

 

 

 

Wednesday, Fourth Week of Lent:

Variety of Ministries I:† Missionary Service,

Interreligious Dialogue, and Ecumenism

 

††††††††††† I am the good shepherd.† I know my own and my own know me, Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.† And I lay down my life for the sheep.† I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.† I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.† So there will be one flock, one shepherd.† (Jn 10: 14-16)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

263††††† ß1.† By reason of their vocation to the Society, all our members, and not only those who so petition, may be sent to evangelize peoples.† But those who were born in former mission lands ought to be aware of their serious responsibility to promote the faith and the life of the Church with deep roots in their own cultures.† But even they should be prepared to undertake mission service among other peoples.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† Superiors ought to select for the missions those who are men of solid virtue, who are quite flexible, and who are capable of fitting into a new culture, so that their proclamation of the Gospel may be sensitive to the religious situation of those to whom they address it.

 

265††††† ß1.† In the context of the divisive, exploitative, and conflictual roles that religious, including Christianity, have played in history, dialogue seeks to develop the unifying and liberating potential of all religions, thus showing the relevance of religion for human well-being, justice, and world peace.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† Dialogue is ìan activity with its own guiding principles, requirements, and dignityî; and it should never be made a strategy to elicit conversions, since a positive relationship with believers of other faiths is a requirement in a world of religious pluralism.

 

268††††† Faith which does justice is necessarily committed to ecumenical dialogue and cooperation.† Ecumenism is not only a specific work for which some Jesuits must be trained and missioned, it is a new way of living as a Christian.† It seeks, namely, what unites rather than what divides; it seeks understanding rather than confrontation, it seeks to know, understand, and love others as they wish to be known and understood, with full respect for their distinctiveness, through the dialogue of truth, justice, and love.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 5, Our Mission and Interreligious Dialogue

 

131††††††††††† ††††† 4.††††† The Society must foster the fourfold dia?logue recommended by the Church:

 

††††††††††† a.The dialogue of life, where people strive to live in an open and neigh?borly spirit, sharing their joys and sorrows, their human prob?lems and preoccupations

††††††††††† b.The dialogue of action, in which Christians and others collabo?rate for the integral devel?opment and libera?tion of people

††††††††††† c.The dialogue of religious experience, where per?sons, rooted in their own religious traditions, share their spiri?tual rich?es, for instance, with regard to prayer and contemplation, faith and ways of searching for God or the Absolute

††††††††††† d.The dialogue of theological ex?change, where specialists seek to deepen their under?standing of their respective religious heritages, and to appre?ciate each other's spiritual values.

 

135††††† ††††††††††† 7.††††††††††† Interreligious dialogue and proclamation of the Gospel are not contrary ministries, as if one could re?place the other. Both are aspects of the one evangeliz?ing mission of the Church.† "These two elements must maintain both their intimate connec?tion and their dis?tinctiveness; therefore they should not be confused, manipulated, or regarded as iden?tical, as though they were interchangeable."† Dia?logue reaches out to the mystery of God active in others. Proclamation witnesses to and makes known God's mystery as it has been manifested to us in Christ. Our spiritual encounter with believers of other religions helps us to discover deeper dimen?sions of our Christian faith and wider horizons of God's salvific presence in the world. "Dialogue is a new way of being Church."† Through proclama?tion others encounter the compassionate God in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whose Spirit brings about a new creation in all realms of life. Without in any way relativizing our faith in Jesus Christ or dispensing with a critical evaluation of religious experiences, we are called upon to grasp the deeper truth and meaning of the mystery of Christ in relation to the universal history of God's self-revelation. "It is the same Spirit, who has been active in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrec?tion of Jesus and in the Church, who was active amongst all peoples before the Incarnation and is active amongst the nations, religions, and peoples today."

 

 

Thursday, Fourth Week of Lent:

Variety of Ministries II: Pastoral Work

and Social Apostolates

 

††††††††††† ìBlessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.† Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.† Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.î† (Lk 6:20b-21)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

271††††† ß1.† The Spiritual Exercises, carefully adapted in different ways, should be presented to every type of person insofar as individuals are capable of them, not excluding simple folk, in order to form Christians who are enriched by a personal experience of God as Savior and are led to an intimate knowledge of the Lord, so as to love and follow him more.† Thus wherever necessary they can play a constructive part in the reform of social and cultural structures.

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 19, Parish Ministry

 

422††††† ††††††††††† 3.††††††††††† A parish is Jesuit if, committed to the pastoral goals and policies of the local church, it also "partici?pates in the apostolic priorities of the Society"† and in the mission plan of the province, according to "our way of proceeding."† As central to its life, the parish gathers as a community to celebrate its joys, struggles, and hopesóin the Word, in the Eucharist, and the other sacramentsóin well-planned, creative, and inculturated ways. A parish becomes an evangelized and evangeliz?ing community committed to "justice and reconciliation" and makes its popular devotions relevant to contempo?rary needs.

 

423††††† ††††††††††† 4.††††††††††† A Jesuit parish is energized by Ignatian spiritual?ity, especially through the Spiritual Exercises, and by individual and communal discernment. It tries to pro?vide well-developed programs in catechesis and forma?tion for both individuals and families; it offers opportuni?ties for spiritual direction and pastoral counseling. Fol?lowing the model of the election in the Spiritual Exer?cises, it helps individuals to discern their vocation in life.

 

424††††† ††††††††††† 5.††††††††††† The parish opens itself progressively to ecumeni?cal and interreligious dialogue and reaches out to alien?ated Christians as well as to nonbelievers. It grows into a partici?pative church through such means as basic human and ecclesial communities and promotes oppor?tunities for lay participation and leadership.

 

425††††† ††††††††††† 6.††††††††††† In its service of the faith, a Jesuit parish is called upon to develop strategies to promote local and global justice by means of both personal conversion and struc?tural change. Networking with other Jesuit apostolic works as well as other ecclesial and civil organizations, it opposes all forms of discrimination and contributes to a genuine culture of solidarity which transcends parish boundaries.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

298††††† In the planning of our apostolic activities, in fulfilling todayís mission of the Society in the service of faith, the social apostolate should take its place among those of prime importance.† Its goal is to build, by means of every endeavor, a fuller expression of justice and charity into the structures of human life in common.

 

299††††† ß1.† The social apostolate, like every form of our apostolate, flows from the mission ìfor the defense and propagation of the faith and the progress of souls in Christian life and learning.î

 

††††††††††† ß2.† Moreover, all should understand that they can and ought to exercise the social apostolate in their spiritual ministries by explaining the social teaching of the Church, by stimulating and directing the souls of the faithful toward social justice and social charity, and, finally, by establishing social projects by means of the members of our organizations.

 

 

Friday, Fourth Week of Lent:

Variety of Ministries III: Educational

and Intellectual Apostolates

 

††††††††††† So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.† We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.† (Rom 12:5-8)

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VII

 

277††††† ß1.† The educational apostolate in all its ramifications, recommended in a special way by the Church in our day, is to be valued as of great importance among the ministries of the Society for promoting todayís mission in the service of faith from which justice arises.† For this work, when carried out in the light of our mission, contributes greatly to ìthe total and integral liberation of the human person, leading to participation in the life of God himself.î

 

279††††† ß1.† We must in a special way help prepare all our students effectively to devote themselves to building a more just world and to understand how to labor with and for others.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† When dealing with Christian students, we should take particular care that alon, g with letters and sciences they acquire that knowledge and character which are worthy of Christians, and that animated by a mature faith and personally devoted to Jesus Christ, learn to find and serve him in others.† For this, it will help to establish groups of Christian Life Communities in our schools.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† Regarding all other students of other religions, we must take care throughout the whole course of studies and especially in the teaching of ethics courses to form men and women who are endowed with a sound moral judgment and solid virtues.

 

††††††††††† ß4.† In our educational work we must sensitize our students to the value of interreligious collaboration and instill in them a basic understanding of and respect for the faith vision of those belonging to diverse local religious communities.

 

294††††† Among all the ways of being engaged in the intellectual apostolate in the service of the Kingdom of God, theological research and reflection, when undertaken with the seriousness of research and the creativity of imagination that they merit, within the broad spectrum of Catholic theology and in the midst of the varied circumstances in which Jesuits live and work, have a special place because of their unique value to discern, illuminate, and interpret the opportunities and problems of contemporary life and thus to respond to the broadest questions of the human mind and the deepest yearnings of the human heart.

 

 

Section VI
APOSTOLIC LIFE IN COMMON

 

 

Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent:

Union of Minds and Hearts I

 

††††††††††† Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.† (Rom 13:8)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part VIII

 

[655]††† 1.† The more difficult it is for the members of this congregation to be united with their head and among themselves, since they are so spread out in diverse parts of the world among believers and unbelievers, the more should means be sought for that union.† For the Society cannot be preserved or governed or, consequently, attain the aim it seeks for the greater glory of God unless its members are united among themselves and with their head.† Therefore the present treatise will deal first with means towards the union of hearts, and then towards the union of persons in congregations or chapters.† With respect to the union of hearts, some things will be helpful on the side of the subjects, others on the side of the superiors, and others on both sides.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VIII

 

311††††† ß1.† Our members fulfill their mission in companionship with others, for they belong to a community of friends in the Lord who have desired to be received under the standard of Christ the King.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† It is our community-life ideal that we should be not only fellow workers in the apostolate but truly brothers and friends in Christ.

 

312††††† Given the wide dispersion of our apostolic enterprises, the need for us to acquire highly specialized skills for highly specialized works, and in many places the need to make a distinction between our apostolic institutions and our religious communities, the preservation of unity of purpose and direction becomes a prime necessity.

 

314††††† ß1.† Community in the Society of Jesus takes its origin from the will of the Father joining us into one; it is constituted by the active, personal, united striving of all members to fulfill the divine will and is ordered to a life that is apostolic in many ways.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† Our 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 one belongs at any given moment is, for him, simply a concreteóif, here and now, a privilegedóexpression of this worldwide brotherhood.

 

316††††† ß1.† When community life flourishes, the whole religious life is sound; and unity and availability, universality, full personal dedication, and gospel freedom are also strengthened for the assistance of souls in every way.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† Community life itself is a manifold testimony for our contemporaries, especially since it fosters brotherly love and unity by which all will know that we are disciples of Christ.

 

 

Fifth Sunday of Lent:

Union of Minds and Hearts II

 

††††††††††† So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one anotherís feet.† For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part VIII

 

319††††† The following are necessary for fostering community life in the Society of Jesus: exchange of information between superiors and subjects; consultation by which experts share their insights and all members of the community actively engage in the process of coordinating and promoting the apostolate and other things that pertain to the good of the community; delegation by superiors in favor of their subjects; collaboration of various kinds transcending every sort of individualism; a certain daily order; a feeling for the whole Society on the part of its members that transcends local and personal limits.

 

320††††† All should associate with one another easily, in sincerity, evangelical simplicity, and courtesy, as is appropriate for a family gathered together in the name of the Lord.

 

323††††† Since our communities are apostolic, they should be oriented to the service of others, particularly the poor, and to cooperation with those seeking God or working for greater justice in the world.† For this reason, under the leadership of superiors, communities should periodically examine whether their way of living supports their apostolic mission sufficiently and encourages hospitality.† They should also consider whether their style of life testifies to simplicity, justice, and poverty.

 

324††††† ß1.† To the extent possible, superiors should strive to build an Ignatian apostolic community in which many forms of open and friendly communication on a spiritual level are possible.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† Taking into account the mission it has been given, every community should after mature deliberation under the direction of the superior establish a daily order for community life, to be approved by the provincial and periodically reviewed.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† The daily order of the community should include, besides a brief prayer every day,†† occasionally a longer period for prayerful discussion; when the will of God is seriously sought concerning the life and work of the community, elements of true spiritual discernment in common can be included.

 

325††††† ß1.† Each member should contribute to community life and give sufficient time and effort to the task.† Only in this way can a certain ìatmosphereî be created that makes communication possible and in which no one is neglected or looked down upon.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† As far as apostolic work or other occupations for the greater glory of God permit it, all of us, ìesteeming the others in their hearts as better than themselves,î should be ready to help out in the common household chores.

 

Monday, Fifth Week of Lent:

Jesuits in Formation I

 

††††††††††† ìI made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.î† (Jn 17:26)

 

†††††††††††† Constitutions, Part IV

 

[340]††† 2.† In regard to spiritual matters, the same procedure as is used with those received in the houses will be used with those received in the colleges as long as they are still going through probations.† However, once they have satisfactorily completed them and are devoting themselves to studies, while care must be taken that they do not through fervor in study grow cool in their love of true virtues and of religious life, still they will not at that time have much place for mortifications or for long prayers and meditations.† For their devoting themselves to learning, which they acquire with a pure intention of serving God and which in a certain way requires the whole person, will be not less but rather more pleasing to God our Lord during this time of study.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part IV

 

64††††††† ß1.† During the time of studies the formation of our members should be such that they learn to place great value on their own vocation and, motivated by the internal law of love, will more and more embrace our way of proceeding, just as they were taught in the novitiate.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† The vocation, tested and strengthened during the novitiate, should continue its growth throughout the whole time of formation.† Accordingly, it is necessary to provide an appropriate transition and continuity between the novitiate and subsequent formation, and between various stages of the latter.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† Special care should be given to those who are in formation, especially for two years after their first vows.

 

65††††††† The process of apostolic formation must favor the personal assimilation of Christian experience, an experience that is spiritual, personal, vital, rooted in faith, nourished by daily prayer and the Eucharist; an experience that makes us capable of cooperating with God for the spiritual growth of believers and of communicating the gift of faith to nonbelievers.

 

67††††††† ß1.† Our members during the entire time of their formation should be carefully helped to grow in prayer and a sense of spiritual responsibility towards a mature interior life, in which they will know how to apply the rule of discerning love that St. Ignatius prescribed for members after the period of their formation.

 

††††††††††† ß2.† To foster this growth, the Society retains the practice of an hour and a half as the time for prayer, Mass, and thanksgiving.† Each one should be guided by his spiritual director as he seeks that form of prayer in which he can best advance in the Lord.† The judgment of superiors is normative for each.

 

††††††††††† ß3.† Each one should determine with his superior what time he gives to prayer and preparation for it.

 

†††††††††††† Complementary Norms, Part X

 

414††††† ìIn the perfect observance of all the Constitutions and in the particular fulfillment of our Institute,î our formed members should excel, setting a good example and spreading the good odor of Christ, keeping before their eyes the serious obligation they have of giving edification especially to our younger members.

 

Tuesday, Fifth Week of Lent:

Jesuits in Formation II

 

††††††††††† I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.† (Eph 1:17-19)

 

††††††††††† GC34, Decree 16, Intellectual Dimension of Jesuit Ministries

 

396††††† ††††††††††† 3.††††††††††† For this reason, GC 34 resolutely encourages a vigorous spiritual and intellec?tual formation for young Jesuits and ongoing spiritual and intellectual formation for every Jesuit. The Society, sensitive to present needs and challenges, must insist on the necessity not only for each one's ongoing acquisition of knowledge but also on the ongoing development of each one's personal capacity to analyze and evalu?ate, in our circumstances of rapid change, the mission which he has received. There can be no substitute for individual, painstaking, and, quite frequently, solitary work. Such capacity is indispensable if we wish to integrate the promotion of justice with the proclamation of faith, and if we hope to be effective in our work for peace, in our concern to protect life and the environment, in our defense of the rights of individual men and women and of entire peo?ples. Serious and active intellectual inquiry must also characterize our commitment to integral evangelization. This assumes a basic knowledge of the econom?ic, social, and political structures in which our contempo?raries find them?selves immersed, and it cannot be igno?rant of the development of traditional and modern cul?tures or of the effects of the emerging culture of com?munication. For evangelization to be effective, accuracy in knowledge, respect for the other in intercultural dia?logue, and critical analysis a