St. Ignatius later gathered six companions and founded the Society of Jesus, known today as the Jesuits, the largest religious order in the world today, in 1540. Ignatius and his companions, like St. Francis Xavier and St. Peter Faber, spread the gospel fearlessly around the globe.
His community lives out their mission of finding God in all things, teaching the faith, and giving greater glory to God.
I have been a part of the Jesuit family for 12 years. My elder brother was in the Jesuit seminary for 12 years right after his high school. It wasn’t a surprise to us then, and my parents were over the moon. Studying in a “Loyola” Jesuit school, my brother was the ideal person to be a priest. He was calm and introverted, thoughtful about prayers, and very much someone I would have seen as a priest. He was 17 years old when he joined.
I watched him grow into a confident man with the knowledge of Christ, and he excelled academically in humanities subjects, completed his master’s in philosophy, and was sent to China/Taiwan to train in learning Mandarin, which he mastered in 2 years. When suddenly I noticed how he seemed defiant of the church ways, and then he decided to discontinue at 30 years of age, and he returned to the regular world.
While we never were the closest siblings, and I knew he would find it hard to adjust to the changes in the world being an introvert—he did at first (as per my point of view), but gradually he got a degree, and then he decided he would teach—another passion he had as a child. So he pursued that and completed his doctorate in philosophy and teaches in a reputed college in my state. I watched him grow comfortable with the world outside the seminary, and in exactly a month he will be marrying the love of his life! Cheers…
I do, however, miss being a part of the Jesuit family. We had priests dropping by the house very often for a chat to scout him, and every 31st of July for 12 years we ensured we attended the St. Ignatius of Loyola mass and dinner. Where all the priests and the families of other Jesuit seminarians would sit and talk and help each other, and we were a family. While some friends are still in contact and in touch, my brother still shows his Jesuit traits of being self-disciplined with his house chores or savings.
I was always fascinated by how St. Ignatius had such a good life, and he left it all and convinced others to do the same. In my country, any student who has been educated in a Jesuit-backed college or school has a certain trait of being good at sports and academics and a reputation of being well-disciplined. Even the non-Christians believe in training and educating their children.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad, they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
While St. Ignatius did help cast the net, often we forget to see it as a journey to our ending. Let us learn to figure out what bucket we will be placed into. Every day let us meditate like St. Ignatius over Christ and believe that we are built for the Kingdom of the Lord. Even if we don’t join his ministry as clergy, we are all his children, and let’s do our best!
AMEN
Happy feast!
