Tertianship is usually made ten to fifteen years after the novitiate and at the end of a Jesuit’s professional training. St. Ignatius called it a “school of the heart” because it’s a time when the tertian deepens his own commitment to the Society of Jesus.

“The retreat of the Spiritual Exercises is perhaps the key moment of tertianship. After years of living his life as a Jesuit, the tertian once again engages in this month-long program of intense prayer and reflection and brings his lived experience as a Jesuit before our loving God,” explains Jesuit Father Dave Godleski, the delegate for formation and Jesuit life at the Jesuit Conference. The Jesuit Conference represents the nine U.S. provinces of the Society of Jesus, promoting common goals and overseeing international projects.

Because of the long retreat’s importance in the tertianship program, the Jesuit Conference is asking for prayers for the tertians and their directors:

• Jesuit Father Mark Bandsuch (Chicago-Detroit Province)
• Jesuit Father James Conway (British Province)
• Jesuit Father Emerito Salustiano de la Rama (Philippines Province)
• Jesuit Father  Jean-Alfred Dorvil (French Canada Province)
• Jesuit Father Wieslaw Faron (South Poland Province)
• Jesuit Father Ian Gibbons (Missouri Province)
• Jesuit Father Edwin T. Gnanaprakasam (Madurai)
• Jesuit Father Michael Harter (Missouri Province) – assistant tertian director
• Jesuit Father Raymund Benedict Hizon (Philippines Province)
• Jesuit Father Charlie Moutenot (New York Province) – tertian director
• Jesuit Father Godwin Mulenga (Zambia-Milawi Province)
• Jesuit Father John Murphy (California Province) – retreat director
• Jesuit Father Ignatius Hadimulia Sasmita (Maryland Province)

After completing the Spiritual Exercises, the tertians will study Society documents, including the Jesuit Constitutions and decrees from recent General Congregations. After studies, they will do apostolic experiments, which often involve pastoral work with the poor. Once the tertianship period is completed, the Jesuit is called to pronounce his final vows in the Society.

Jesuit Father Ron Gonzales pronounces his final vows to Provincial Mark Lewis.

Jesuit Father Ron Gonzales share his thoughts on Final Vows:

Taking final vows in the Society of Jesus reminded me of something Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees once said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Well in some ways it was just that but a lot more, much more. Even though we Jesuits take first vows after two years in the novitiate, we still remain officially in formation up until the time we are invited to take final vows (sometime after ordination and tertianship). Although the process of formation can seem long and cumbersome to some observers, without a doubt each and every phase contributes to the overall spiritual formation of the Jesuit. Of course with a longer formation period also come the opportunities for self-awareness and hopefully experience and wisdom.

I explained final vows to my parishioners, some of whom thought I was being ordained as a priest! Think of it as the Society of Jesus saying to itself, “You know we’ve had this fellow, Ron Gonzales, with us for about 18 years. Why not keep him?” When I took my first vows back in 1994, my intention and hope was to continue in the formation process until such time when the Society would say, “We, too, fully accept you.” Being fully accepted as a Jesuit is truly a great feeling of belonging and completion, in spite of my human weakness.

There is also a keen sense of humility knowing that our superiors and our Jesuit companions are quite aware of both our strengths and weaknesses. I liken it to a marriage covenant between spouses in which each one feels a peace and acceptance knowing that there is a commitment as well as an acceptance of one another, no matter what happens. Perhaps some in academia would appreciate another analogy, namely that of tenure. We recognize the work and effort that precedes tenure, yet we know the hard work continues long after final vows and even after retirement age. It is not a time to “rest on our laurels” as there is much work to be done.

Another feeling for me was one of poignancy, in that the stages leading towards final vows are officially complete. One of the things I loved especially during these 17 years of formation was looking forward to the next stage, such as philosophy studies in Chicago immediately after novitiate. In each stage I knew that I would have wonderful and challenging experiences, live in a different city, meet new and interesting people (some of whom are still close friends), and then after three years move on to yet another experience. While it is true that I still fondly remember some stages more so than others, I can say that each one was integral in shaping the Jesuit priest I am today.

It was during formation, for example, that I realized that perhaps the high school apostolate was not the best fit for me (even though I was a reasonably successful high school teacher for three years prior to entering the Jesuits). Still, this change in ministerial direction would not have occurred were it not for the variety of experiences and possibilities briefly explored during my formation. Most men come to the Jesuits with an idea as to what they will do as Jesuits. Inevitably Jesuit formation opens us to serving in many capacities. Part of Jesuit “detachment” and “availability” invites us to be completely flexible and open to other ministries, even if they initially are not appealing. God surprises us where we would never expect to find Him.

Because “finding God in all things” is essential in reflecting on all experiences, both good and bad, throughout formation, it is quite clear that the Lord had an even better ministerial fit in mind for me: pastoral work. Since ordination in 2003, I have worked exclusively in the parish apostolate in various parishes starting with Immaculate Conception in Albuquerque, Sacred Heart in El Paso, Our Lady of the Sioux in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and finally now as pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Antonio.

Each day is different – filled with meetings, funerals, confessions, daily masses, hospital visits, counseling and surprises that inevitably come up. It is unpredictable, but the fact that we have three priests and one brother, all of whom use their talents generously, makes the work load manageable. We each have a passion for areas outside of the parish as well, with pro-life issues, community organizing, social justice issues, participating on boards for America Magazine or Hope for the Future, to name a few. Single-priest parishes often call us to help them out on the weekends, and usually we are called on for hearing confessions after the popular ACTS Retreats held nearly every week. We have a small Jesuit community, but we enjoy our work and each other’s company.

Who knows what the future holds for those still in Jesuit formation? But, regardless we can trust that the Lord has brought us this far and has never abandoned us. It is through complete trust in the Lord that we will serve Him as He desires. His love and His Grace are enough for me. [New Orleans Province]

O’Brien writes that he spent many of his days reading news and current events, “lost in a forest of headlines about debt ceilings and protests in Syria.”

He writes that in the midst of all the bad news, “it is easy to overlook that we, as Christians and as Jesuits, are a people of Good News…I am not saying that we should ignore bad news or the challenges that we face in the church and in the Society of Jesus. To the contrary, in fact. If ‘finding God in all things’ is more than just rhetoric, and I think it is, then even bad news can be a site of encounter with the Lord. And we can only find God in all things because God wishes to be found in all things.”

One place that O’Brien says he found God this summer was in his Jesuit community, America House in Manhattan, which he called a “dynamic cross-section of life in the Society.”

“This experience of community was a helpful reminder for me that, as a Jesuit in formation, I stand on the shoulders of the men who have come before me,” he writes.

“I have been helped by my Jesuit brothers to see the hand of God in places I’d never even look to find it. It is, for me, a great grace of our community life. My brothers help me see, time and again, the Good News amid the bad,” he writes.

Read more of O’Brien’s reflections on Jesuit community at the Maryland, New England and New York Province vocation website.

Fr. Edgar Dávalos, SJ (on left), then rector of I.A.I. and Bill Noe, SJ, then instructor of Electronics in I.A.I.’s Department of Industrial Automation in Oruro, Bolivia.

Jesuit Bill Noe remembers pondering the meditation of the Spiritual Exercises on the call of Christ during his 30-day retreat as a novice. He remembers hearing Jesus say, “You are going to live as I live.”

That call came to life in Bolivia, where Noe recently spent two and a half years teaching in a technical college during regency, a time in Jesuit formation that affords each Jesuit an opportunity to work in an apostolic area.

“In Bolivia I had a chance to live at least a little bit of what I discovered in the Spiritual Exercises,” he said.

In July 2008, Noe was sent to teach electronics at the Instituto de Aprendizaje Industrial, a three-year technical institute founded and operated by the Bolivian Jesuits.

In Bolivia, Noe was both a teacher and a student. While he used his training as an engineer in the classroom, he learned to integrate his work with his life in a Jesuit community and with his prayer life.

Although he was welcomed into the community, he soon learned what it was like to be an immigrant. “Jesus was outside of his culture,” Noe said, recalling Jesus’ life in Egypt. “He was a migrant.”

When he returned home, he noticed all the Latino faces on the streets around him. “I didn’t notice them before,” he said. “My time in Bolivia gave me a lot to think about in how I relate to people from other cultures.”

It has made him ask himself, “Who else don’t I notice? Who else don’t I include?”

Read more about Noe’s regency experiences in Jesuits magazine.

Jesuit Vincent Marchionni assists a client at the McKenna Center in Washington, D.C.

Jesuit Vincent Marchionni spent five months working at the Father McKenna Center in Washington, D.C., for his Long Experiment, during which a Jesuit novice engages in full-time apostolic work while living in a Jesuit community.

The center, named after Jesuit Father Horace McKenna, serves the poor, providing meals for homeless men, groceries for local residents and assistance for those facing eviction and utility cutoff.

Marchionni said that the Long Experiment taught him that simple acts of compassion and generosity profoundly and positively affect people’s lives, making God’s presence real and tangible.

“The men show tremendous gratitude for their meals, and it is God’s way of showing me that such grunt work truly does manifest His presence to those in dire circumstances,” he said.

Marchionni also led 12-Step meetings that focused on drugs and alcohol. The group used the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola to supplement 12-Step spirituality.

Marchionni said that through his experience of serving D.C.’s poorest he realized, “Jesus Christ is always laboring, always desiring to bring his brothers and sisters closer to him. He does hear the cry of the poor, and he answers them with gifts of hope and gratitude.”

Read more about Marchionni’s long experiment in Jesuits magazine.

Jesuit Dennis Baker at Xavier High School in New York City.

Regency is a time in Jesuit formation that occurs after First Studies and just prior to the formal study of theology, affording each Jesuit an opportunity to work in an apostolic area.

Jesuit Dennis Baker, of the New York Province, teaches at Xavier High School in New York City for his regency and said that Xavier High “is, quite literally, changing my life.”

“The students provide a context for me to work out what my own particular vocation means for me and to the world,” said Baker. “They constantly teach me about what it means to be a Jesuit and, in ways they cannot fathom, they instruct me on what kind of priest they want to see me become one day.”

Baker taught at a Jesuit high school before he entered the Society, but doing this work as a Jesuit scholastic is something completely different. “For reasons that often make me shake my head in utter disbelief, this work — and doing it in this particular way as a Jesuit — suits me better than I ever could have imagined.”

Jesuit Ben Brenkert, also of the New York Province, is spending his regency as a teacher, guidance counselor and social worker at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City.

For Brenkert, the magis takes on a new meaning in regency to include the search for the quality, excellence and mastery of a craft and the freer and more personal service of others.

“To be a successful regent,” he said, “I believe that my love for my students must pour forth, flowing from my prayer and from my participation in the sacraments.”

Read more about Jesuits’ regency experiences in Jesuits magazine.

Jesuit Keith Maczkiewicz (back row, second from right) with Georgetown students on retreat.

Jesuit Keith Maczkiewicz had hoped to do something he had never done before during his Long Experiment, a time when each Jesuit novice does five months of full-time apostolic work while living in a Jesuit community. He had worked in high school campus ministry, but when he was missioned to Georgetown University to assist in campus ministry there, his novice director said, “You may have done this job before, but you never did it as a Jesuit.”

Maczkiewicz, who was involved in Sunday liturgies, Catholic chaplaincy programs and retreats and ministry as a chaplain-in-residence in a dorm at Georgetown, soon realized that his novice director was right.

Maczkiewicz said he was very conscious that the 30-day experience of the Spiritual Exercises was affecting all of his life and ministry. “I realized that the Exercises had become not only important to me, but had become my heritage, in a way, had become an inherent part of my life.”

Working with the Exercises as an instrument of prayer, and helping to lead others in prayer and discernment, helped him to solidify his own relationship with God. “The Long Experiment has helped me to fall in love with Christ all over again in the midst of my ministry, in the context of my Jesuit community, and with the lenses of poverty, chastity and obedience focusing, broadening and enriching my life,” Maczkiewicz said.

Today, Maczkiewicz is a scholastic in First Studies at Loyola University Chicago. He professed his vows to the Society of Jesus last year. You can read more about Jesuit novices’ long experiments in Jesuits magazine.

Jesuit Vincent Marchionni, at left, receiving his vow cross from Jesuit Father Joe Lingan.

Jesuit Vincent Marchionni, a scholastic, recently reflected on his first semester of “First Studies,” the first mission for scholastics after taking their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the Society of Jesus.

Marchionni is studying at Saint Louis University and writes that while many see philosophy as a tedious and frustrating subject, his first semester has taught him the opposite.

“Philosophy is so interesting because everyone philosophizes, whether they know it or not. Everyone has opinions on human nature, or how we know things, or ethics,” he writes.

He also writes about his vows, which he says “are a means to enhance his [a Jesuit’s] performance in mission.”  Of his vow of obedience, he says that it “demands that, as a Jesuit, I am as available for mission as possible. The point of all this studying is to make me a better Jesuit who can engage different people in different apostolates.”

Read more of Marchionni’s reflections on his first studies and vows.