Still Duped After All These Years

My life as a Jesuit is a constant process of discovery. Often that discovery involves learning in greater depth the extent to which the Lord has duped me. God never tires of reminding me that he was far more aware of what he was doing when he called me to this life then I ever was in responding. Take something as simple as the religious community I joined--the Society of Jesus. Why did I become a Jesuit, and not something else? I know that one thing that attracted me was the Society of Jesus' reputation as educators. There was also something a little more intuitive that had something to do with my love for the movie "The Mission." And, finally, it was because when I received the promotional material in the mail something just seemed to fit. It was not because out of some great devotion to Jesus Christ, I just had to be a member of the Society of Jesus.

Yet, lately I am starting to become more convinced that this didn't just happen to be the name of the religious community I joined. There was a reason Jesus called me to this religious community which bears his name. I can't speak for every other Jesuit, but for me that "S.J." after my name indicates that I have a particular responsibility to represent and introduce others to Jesus Christ, the center and focus of our Jesuit spirituality, and of my life. I am starting to feel an especial sense of urgency in these days when evangelization seems to be getting a bad name. If we hesitate to speak of Jesus for fear of offending someone, it seems to me that we've given into the worst of lies--that somehow the "Christian" thing to do is to keep from others the one who animates all that we are and do, that to do otherwise might somehow amount to unjust coercion. To be a member of the Society of Jesus does not mean that I'm to keep Jesus to myself, as if he were only for those who belong to the club. No, I'm to share with others who I am, and I am first and foremost a member of Jesus' company.

I have not always been so convinced of this, and certainly was not at the beginning of this journey. But more and more God is revealing to me why, as he did with that first Jesuit Ignatius of Loyola, he desired that I be placed with his Son. My sense is that it is because as a Church and as a civilization we may be reaching a crossroads where the challenge is to refocus on Jesus, or risk losing our way. I suspect that, though it is not always so clear what he meant by this, this was the type of intuition that led John Paul II to urgently insist on the need for "new evangelization." As is the case with my vocation, it may be that we are only just beginning to know what this means. But I think there is little doubt of the fundamental content of this new evangelization--who we must be convinced is somehow good news for all--Jesus Christ.