Last October a good friend pronounced his final vows; a huge step for a Jesuit! We pronounce perpetual vows after the two year noviciate program, but only after long training and successful ministry does the Society of Jesus make its final commitment to its members. That took him twenty years! At his reflections during the vow ceremony Mass, he confessed that he first came north “. . . to see Nepal!” After ten years of schooling at home, he had spent two years in a minor seminary in south India before travelling north to enjoy his visit. After a year in our “pre-noviciate” program, his motives had changed. He accepted our invitation to join the noviciate at Kalimpong, pronounced those first perpetual vows two years later, continued studies and service, was ordained, and finally reached that happy October day.
Before we can proclaim the Gospel we absorb it into our own lives. This good news boils down to the Law of Love, that is, Jesus’ words to his disciples: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) I define love as the will to work for the best for myself and all who enter my life. I try to challenge myself first, and then everyone I meet, to live up to Jesus’ law.
Most people in our world are not Christian, but can still be the loving people I believe God is calling them to be. I certainly do not like everyone in the same way or to the same extent, but try to see God’s created goodness in them, and therefore I want them to get the most out of this life and reach eternal life. I try to teach them by example, always forgiving and challenging them to forgive, and therefore to enjoy the freedom of being people without enemies.
To love fully in this way is to let go of selfishness. I cannot say I will love someone only so much, and no more. Any limit reveals a lack of love. St. Paul reminds us that Jesus emptied himself on the cross in order to personally enjoy the Resurrection himself, and to offer that enjoyment to the world. (Philippians 2:6-11) None of us has reached this level of love, but hopefully we are patiently yet persistently moving towards higher levels of love, and enjoying that movement.
My friend who pronounced his vows in October is from a good family. His parents and relatives were his first teachers of the art of loving. Having given him a good education, they gave him the freedom to at least go and see what Nepal is like. During his years of study he grew closer to his companions and guides, and therefore closer to God. Now he can continue to share life with others, a life of thanksgiving for God’s presence in everyone.
I think we are all called to be evangelizers, to bring this law of love alive in ourselves and others. However we need special prophets as well, people who dedicate their lives to teaching others how to live and teach this law of love. I look back with thanksgiving at my own childhood in a good Catholic family. I consider my parents as my first and most important teachers, but not my only teachers. Dedicated nuns, priests and lay teachers guided me through school and then helped me to respond to the invitation to go to the Jesuit noviciate. Other guides then took over, leading me to the time of my own final vows and beyond.
Those guides, now my peers and the young men I profess to guide, have become my teachers, my prophets. The Church and world have changed much in the half century I have been a religious. There are fewer priests and vowed religious, but not necessarily fewer prophets! We all are those prophets! May we help the people in our care learn to revel in God’s love together!