In May 2014, igNation launched a series exploring the Jesuit identity as it is expressed in works of fiction: "Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Fiction".  This was followed by the series "Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Biography".  In these two series we hear what others think about what it means to be a Jesuit – in fiction and in biography.

This new series – “Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography” – will explore what it means to be a Jesuit today – as told in their own words by Canadian Jesuits.  The articles – written for igNation –are as different in expression and format as the men who wrote them.

                        Today's  posting is by Frank Obrigewitsch, SJ

What does it mean to me to be a Jesuit?

53 years ago

it meant leaving siblings and parents in Saskatchewan

and a long train ride to Saint Stanislaus Novitiate in Guelph, Ontario.

It meant learning to live in a community with some 30 Jesuits

and 30 some novices like me.

It meant to study, live, and work, to learn how to pray,

and to don the Jesuit cassock, become a 'black robe'.

The 'me' that I became for over 42 years

was priest, teacher, administrator

at three Jesuit educational ministries

St Paul's High School, Loyola High School, Campion College.

But through all this time

what I have been really seeking to be

is a true companion of Jesus,

striving with my Jesuit brothers

and with all other sisters and brothers

in ministries and communities to which I have been sent

to learn and to follow His way

to discover the Father's will

and to generously joyfully do it.