Going to the Frontiers

I have been in Catholic schools my entire life, and the majority of those schools have been Jesuit institutions. I, like many of my friends, am incredibly blessed and grateful to have been taught and formed by the Company founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

This evening I was able to attend the celebration of St. Ignatius' feast day in the Jesuit mother church, the Gesu in Rome. It was pretty cool. In his homily, the Superior General of the Jesuits, Adolfo Nicolas, spoke about the Holy Father's vision for the New Evangelization and how this is so incredibly necessary in the world today-- especially for the young.

Not too long ago in an official meeting with the Jesuits, Pope Benedict charged the order with the mission to go to the frontiers-- to take the Gospel to the borders of society today. To engage the ever changing world with an evolving theology and a spiritually grounded way of proceeding.

In his homily this evening, Fr. Adolfo talked about how necessary this is in our world today. He talked about how empty and meaningless our lives can be today. How it seems to be ever harder to find beauty in the world-- in society, in art, in music, in thought, etc. And he talked about young people today, who lack above all else patience. He says that they lack patience because they are tired of hearing empty words. Empty promises. Empty lyrics in repeating songs. And he said that we as the teachers, we as the priests, we as the parents, we as the adults must be patient with them! We must be patient with the young. He said that their conversion happens in conversation. In the New Evangelization we must listen and engage people at the level of conversation.

Fr. Adolfo used the example of the spiritual director, the guide during the Spiritual Exercises, written by St. Ignatius. The director searches for and identifies the workings of the Holy Spirit in a person's prayer and then guides that person to accepting the invitation and following the will of God. This process happens in conversation. So too must our evangelization.

It was a good homily. And it was inspiring to hear these words alongside hundreds and hundreds of people who were packed into the Gesu-- teachers, parents, people from the streets, religious sisters, students, priests, tourists, etc.

After the homily we professed our faith in the form of the Creed used at Baptism and Confirmation liturgies... giving our full consent and proclaiming our belief by saying, "I Believe." And I realized as I prayed this Creed, that I can believe more fully because of the great teachers that I have had. I realized that there have been many men and women who have in a very real way collaborated in the process of forming me in the faith. And during the rest of the Mass I thanked God for those people. I thanked God for my parents, role models, and friends that I have had around me my whole life. I thanked God for the teachers and coaches who have helped form me. And I thanked God for the many Jesuits who have done the same as teachers, spiritual directors, and friends-- who have taught me to search for God in all things, in all people, in all situations; and to truly celebrate that. To celebrate every occasion of finding God in the ordinaries of everyday life.

The Jesuits and their partners in mission have a saying for after you've been a student in a Jesuit school or had a Jesuit spiritual director, ruined for life. I guess its true.

Tomorrow I head out to Dublin, Ireland for a couple of weeks. I will be working in a homeless shelter run by the St. Vincent DePaul Society, getting involved with a program that ministers to men who are addicted to alcohol and do not have a home. Through volunteering in this program I hope to get some ideas and resources to, like everything else that I learn and experience over here, bring back to Baltimore. Should be awesome. And like most experiences with reality, it might even ruin me a little bit.