A Unique Life Father Provincial Francis
De Melo speaks to the newly professed
The
day after you join, on 21 June, you will see Arun, John,
Joseph, Lloyd and Raju take their First Vows as
Jesuits. What is this life they have chosen and why the
vows?
God has created us with powers and
possibilities that have taken over 12 thousand million years
to evolve. So, what do you get at the end of that?
That’s what you’re here to discover. Your
vow of Poverty is throwing away the clutter that cramps the
magic creativity of your life. Obedience is aligning your
talents wholeheartedly with the team so that your work
has a power that is way beyond what you can do alone.
And Chastity is opening your life to the
tenderness of warm relationships with all. You will
discover that in whatever situation you are put, your life is
bounded only by the limits of your imagination. A Jesuit is
therefore called to be in peak physical, mental and spiritual
form so you don’t limit your joy of exuberant living,
the ‘perfect' that Jesus is talking about. Life in all its
fullness.
To get there you will need both a burning
spirit of adventure and a gentle patience with
nature’s pace. Reaching your goals will naturally bring daily
demands of discipline but you will not feel the, in the joy of
working out your vision. What vision? A way of being
that will clarify for you in the silence of our Ignatian
Spiritual Exercises, and then in your daily prayer –unfolding
into blazing colours the special person you are.
If, like Ignatius, you spend time
wondering at miracles from flowers to stars, if you are
open to each moment with Ignatian indifference rather
than being stuck in rigid plans, if you grow slowly but surely
with the Ignatian magis – each day a little more – you
will find a life beyond your dreams. Years of vibrant work
will not burn you out, searing pain will only draw out more
from you, and you will come to understand why Jesus said He
had come that our joy may be complete.
Welcome to our hand of mystic activists –
the Jesuits !
Events
The
day after you join, on 21 June, you will see Arun, John,
Joseph, Lloyd and Raju take their First Vows as
Jesuits. What is this life they have chosen and why the
vows? 
If, like Ignatius, you spend time
wondering at miracles from flowers to stars, if you are
open to each moment with Ignatian indifference rather
than being stuck in rigid plans, if you grow slowly but surely
with the Ignatian magis – each day a little more – you
will find a life beyond your dreams. Years of vibrant work
will not burn you out, searing pain will only draw out more
from you, and you will come to understand why Jesus said He
had come that our joy may be complete.