In the past few months IgNation has presented three sets of Jesuit portraits: Jesuits viewed through the lens of fiction, through the filter of biography, and through the written equivalent of “selfies” – short autobiographical reflections by contemporary Jesuits.

Today, in the last of three “summary” articles, IgNation contributor, Kevin Burns, looks through this collection of vivid autobiographical portraits to see if he can identify recurring Ignatian themes and images. This, then, is what he has learned about being a Jesuit from reading the statements of a small group of contemporary Jesuits.

In his November igNation posting “Canadian Jesuit Identity: Eloquent Images Old and New”, Jean Marc Laporte SJ gives an overview of a recent Jesuit gathering in Pickering, Ontario. This was a meeting for some serious Ignatian discernment:  “What priorities does God want us to adopt for our apostolic action? With our limited resources, what should we be doing?”

In his blog item, Jean Marc Laporte explains that helpful images surfaced during the discussion. “One of these images,” he writes, “was that of a canoe, part of the mythical background of our own country and of our own Jesuit origins in Canada, beginning with the first nations for whom it was a favourite means of transportation, but soon adopted by the newcomers, including the Jesuit missionaries who circulated between Quebec and their outpost in Huronia.”

The paradoxical fragility and toughness of those bark and wood water craft offer a powerful image for the future. Certainly, St. Jean de Brébeuf knew first-hand the risk and the potential of depending on a canoe. This is why I have shaped this summary of the recent Jesuit mini-autobiographies by combining Jean Marc Laporte SJ’s image of the canoe and St. Jean de Brébeuf’s own words of advice (presented below in bold italics) about using them. His “Instructions for the Fathers of Our Society who Shall Be Sent to the Hurons,”appear in the Relations of 1637. In combining these perspectives, an uninterrupted stream of Jesuit tradition in a Canadian setting presents itself.

The Fathers and Brethren whom God shall call to the holy Mission of the Hurons ought to exercise careful foresight in regard to all the hardships, annoyances, and perils that must be encountered in making this journey, in order to be prepared betimes for all emergencies that may arise.

"Where else but in the Jesuits would a former opera singer receive his first formal assignment at a rustic and rowdy stay over summer camp for 8-17 year olds (Camp Ekon in Muskoka); and as director to boot!  Even my close Jesuit friends wondered what the provincial was thinking." 

Erik Oland, SJ

"In 2003, I had surgery for a brain tumour. Early in my recovery, I feared that life, as I knew it, was ending. However, it didn’t. If anything, it’s gotten richer. I think that I’ve become much better at knowing who and what is really important in life. And I have learned about the importance of really listening to another. I recall being at a regular session with my physiotherapist. I was painstakingly taking tiny steps in a more-or-less straight line. I asked her if I’d be able to run again. She seemed to doubt it. My innate stubbornness took over. I said to myself, “just watch.” I climbed on a treadmill and I haven't looked back."

Philip Shano, SJ

                    You must be sincere in your affections for [Them] – looking upon them as ransomed by the blood of the son of God, and as our Brethren with whom we are to pass the rest of our lives. 

I see the Jesuit vocation as being one in which I am called to love others deeply. It involves journeying as a disciple of Jesus Christ, interacting with all those around me and prayerfully reflecting on these interactions. Through all of this, I am challenged and enabled to love and serve those around me ever more deeply. This love, though, is one that focuses the attention of others on God rather than on myself; and it leaves me free to follow God’s will in new directions and to new places.

Paul Robson, SJ

… 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. 

Frank Obrigewitsch, SJ

              "After eight years as Director of the Center of Concern, Father Arrupe first asked me to stay longer, but soon appointed me provincial of the Canadian Jesuits, as requested by my province. On taking office on the feast of St. Ignatius, July 31, 1978, I asked the Lord to give me the grace to love each Jesuit genuinely. I believe my prayer was answered, with the precious help of Bill Addley SJ, my assistant and friend."

Bill Ryan, SJ

"(Visiting a village in El Salvador) I was deeply moved by the sincerity of their desire to celebrate the Eucharist as a community and to have the important symbol of the cross consecrated.  It turns out that they had not had mass in their village since last Christmas! After making all the necessary arrangements we celebrated the Eucharist a few days later in what passes as a village square. The look of joy and gratitude on the faces of the people filled me with consolation. It was one of the most satisfying masses I have ever celebrated."

Len Altilia, SJ

… you should try to be, and to appear, always cheerful…

My present joy, and challenge, is to accept God in the world around me – easy as I look at the natural world, but more demanding when I deal with people.

Bill Robins, SJ

(During his ordination)" … an indisputable sense had entered me that the performance going on all around was not in fact a mere spectacle.  It was a sacrament.  The few hundred people gathered, the vibrant flowers, the polished music, the care and heightened solemnity of the event were all collaborating in a unique act of creation.  This was a kind of real time revelation in which an invisible God was briefly making a cameo appearance. That’s what cracked my smile.  Suddenly I felt that we all – everyone assembled – were part of something so much more than the manufacturing of clerics.  We with God were in the midst of creating Church.  The ordination was merely occasion for this grander, holier performance of creation."

Greg Kennedy, SJ

  Do not undertake anything unless you desire to continue it; for example, do not begin to paddle unless you are inclined to continue paddling.

                "So, for a Jesuit the question is not so much ‘when will I retire’ but rather ‘how can I live my life and mission to the fullest every day until…… I come face to face with my maker.’  Indeed, I have always been happy to be part of an institute that writes ‘praying for the Society’ beside the name of every member in the infirmary, no matter how physically or mentally frail he has become. Perhaps it might be helpful to think of ourselves as eternal novices in life, ever refining our desires and, through prayer and discernment, allowing those desires to be shaped by God’s desires for us. "

Erik Oland, SJ

"I believe I have been mostly able to keep my spiritual freedom – strongly committed but open to the new and the different. . . My constant prayer is that I be given the gift to continue to experience Christ crucified and Risen in myself, in others, in nature and in the poor in whatever form I meet them – with humility, generosity, freedom, gratitude and love."

Bill Ryan, SJ

Jesus Christ is our true greatness; it is He alone and His cross that should be sought in running after these people, for, if you strive for anything else, you will find naught but bodily and spiritual affliction. But having found Jesus Christ in His cross, you have found the roses in the thorns, sweetness in bitterness, all in nothing.

"My constant prayer is that I be given the gift to continue to experience Christ crucified and Risen in myself, in others, in nature, and in the poor in whatever form I meet them – with humility, generosity, freedom, gratitude and love. This what it has meant for me to be a Jesuit for 70 years!"

Bill Ryan, SJ

"I find motivation in a line from Psalm 92: “They still bring forth fruit in old age, they are ever full of sap and green.” I really am curious as to how the rest of my Jesuit life will turn out."

Phil Shano, SJ

"Willy nilly, we Jesuits are part of the rapid and unfathomable change which marks our world. With some trepidation and anxiety, we are letting go to join the dance. We are very often called to set aside parts of our life plans, but we are finding undreamt of opportunities. In the end the tapestry of our lives is richer and more varied than anything we might have imagined. We are discovering inner resources and strengths we had not suspected were ours. New relationships and networks fill out our lives. And when we look back so often what emerges is the conviction that what we are is what we were meant to be, what we are doing is what we were meant to do. Our struggles are not self-enclosed and self-defined, but are part of the only struggle that really counts, that of Christ labouring to reconcile the world to himself and to bring it to its final stature. To join this struggle is a great grace. It is our response to the call of the eternal King."

Jean Marc Laporte, SJ

Encountering imagined and real Jesuits through the skill of novelists, the analysis of biographers, and the personal statements of current members of the Society has been a wonderful and enriching experience. And there is no trite conclusion. Still, something about the journey resides in all the pieces I looked at.  This is the journey that Pope Francis described in his remarks to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications last year: “[T]here’s also an ancient rule of the pilgrims, that Saint Ignatius includes, and that’s why I know it! In one of his rules, he says that anyone accompanying a pilgrim must wal
at the same pace as the pilgrim, not ahead and not lagging behind. And this is what I mean: a Church that accompanies the journey, that knows how to walk as people walk today.” (Address to Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, September 23, 2013) 

It seems I have learned something decidedly Canadian: how to walk in a canoe.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(* Note: the word “savages” appears throughout many early translations. I have used the pronoun “They” to stand in for any reference to First Nations people. The complete Brebéuf “Instructions” are found on pages 118-121 of Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents – Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in North America (1610 – 1791), edited and selected by Edna Kenton, The Vanguard Press, New York, 1954.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The complete “Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography” series included the following items:

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being a Jesuit Means to Me … Santiago Rodriguez, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being A Jesuit Means to Me . . . Philip Shano, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being a Jesuit Means to Me … Greg Kennedy, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being A Jesuit Means to Me . . . Paul Robson, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being a Jesuit Means to Me…. Jean-Marc Laporte, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being A Jesuit Means to me . . . Frank Obrigewitsch, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being a Jesuit Means to Me … Erik Oland, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being A Jesuit Means to Me . . . Bill Ryan, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being a Jesuit Means to Me … Bill Robins, SJ

Keyword: Jesuit, Genre: Autobiography – What Being A Jesuit Means to Me . . . Len Altilia, SJ