The General Congregation has finished, the Delegates have all gone home, the papers have been shredded, the lights have been turned off in the Aula and ‘normal service’ is resuming  in the Society of Jesus. Or is it?

‘Normal service’ - the message of encouragement you sometimes see when there has been a bus breakdown, or an electricity problem or a  train delay. It says: “Don’t worry. Things will get back to where they were”. 

‘Normal service’- what does it mean for us in the Society of Jesus? ‘Service’ – well, we all understand that, we do it every day. It is helping people; serving people; loving people; being part of Christ’s mission.  But ‘normal’?   There is nothing normal about our service.  In fact it is quite extraordinary what Jesuits do around the world.  Even the most seemingly ordinary tasks, such as teaching mathematics in a High School…or doing fundraising ….or writing a paper on economic or political analysis –we are doing this from the point of view of the gospel, we are uniting ourselves to Christ,  we are linking in with what the Trinity is hoping for for the world . When you think about this, our service is quite extraordinary.  There is nothing ‘normal’ about that at all.

And the decrees of the Congregation – they are not about ‘normal service’. They call us back to our roots…and forward to an in-depth way of living. They are not full of ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts’. But they do issue a call. The Decree “Companions in a mission of Reconciliation and Justice” call us to work towards a better integration of our life and our mission.  The image it uses is from when the First Companions gathered in Venice. They were trying to go to the Holy Land. While waiting, they preached in poverty; they met together for prayer and for personal support; they were really a community for mission. It was an integrated whole. It all added up. Personal bonds were powerful; the bond with Christ was supreme; the service was the expression of love. When it became obvious that that desire for the Holy Land was going to be frustrated they decided to go to Rome to place themselves at the service of the Roman pontiff.  

The seminal call from this document is for us, too, to live an integrated life.  Life and mission are joined together, not something separate.  The depth of our lives as Jesuits flows into our mission; our mission reinforces the depth of our personal and community life.  From the decree, each of us can hear again the call to find consolation in trust and in simplicity of life; to evangelise with vigour and compassion; to support each other as companions.

In our meeting with the Holy Father, some of us were expecting a concrete mission.  Pope Paul VI had given us a message to combat atheism.  What would Pope Francis do?  In the end he asked us to pray for consolation, to seek compassion with Christ, to practise discernment. They are the three elements which will renew our Jesuit lives.The message was: “Trust your Ignatian charism, immerse yourselves in your heritage”. 

In this time of Advent, we can take time to pray for those Graces.  In the first week of Advent, we can pray for the gift of consolation. In the second week, pray to feel compassion with Christ and for his suffering people.  In the third week of Advent we can ask for the grace of discernment, to discern better where the Good Spirit is leading us and be able to avoid being led by the bad Spirit. Then, in the fourth week, as Christmas approaches, we can that we pray for an ever deeper love of Christ made man for me.  

Wishing you many blessings in this time of Advent and in this post-Congregation period.

John Dardis SJ
CEP President