Loyola 2005: Meeting of Major Superiors Bulletin n. 1, November 27, 2005
CHRONICLE: SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2005
The snowfall has stopped and patches of blue skies were visible when at 5:03 p.m. the Secretary of the Meeting of Major Superiors, Fr. Lisbert D’Souza, opened the preliminary session. After a few words of welcome by the Provincial of Loyola, Father General made an introduction to the tasks in the days ahead.
He announced that in his speech of tomorrow he will offer an overview of the apostolic activities of the Society to be discussed by the participants in the next days: supraprovincial cooperation, global preferences, collaboration with non-Jesuits and the formation of ours at the supraprovincial level are some of the topics he will take up. He said that he expects to receive at the end of the meeting a list of recommendations that will help him in the governance of the Society and be useful for the next General Congregation. In this connection he announced that the Provincial Congregations will have to be called before the beginning of March 2007 with a view to convoke the General Congregation early in 2008.
After the introductory remarks of Father General, the Secretary explained the immediate tasks of the participants: to get together by Assistancies and elect a member each for the Steering Committee. Also they should submit names to be considered for the Committee in charge of drafting the recommendations.
Sharply at 7:30 p.m., the participants entered the Basilica in procession to begin the inaugural Eucharist presided by Father General. Assisting Father General at the main altar were the Secretary of the Society (Fr. Francis Case), his predecessor (Fr. Gabriel Codina), the most senior member of the meeting (Fr. Federico Sanfelíu of Ecuador), and the youngest of the Provincials (Fr. Lukács János of Hungary). The readings of the Mass were in English, French and Spanish.
HOMILY OF FATHER GENERAL
HOMILY OF FATHER GENERAL OPENING MASS
26 November 2005, 19.30h
1st Sunday of Advent
Mark 13, 33-37
In this house where St. Ignatius first saw the light of day and where he also discovered our way to God, we are beginning this meeting of all the Major Superiors of the Society of Jesus. We are in union with the whole Church in this season of Advent as we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation and birth of Our Lord.
This evening’s Gospel describes well the expectations that we experience with full hearts as servants of Christ’s mission. The Lord recounts how he, the master of the house, goes abroad, to return surely, but at a time that is still not certain. His return might surprise us at any moment, morning or evening, cockcrow or midnight. It is for us, his servants, to stay awake, remain vigilant and not fall asleep. Now, in the spirit of the master of the house, to be vigilant in no way signifies to be idle, to fold one’s arms and do nothing further to build this world of ours, with the excuse that in any case the Lord will soon come with his new heaven and new earth.
Doubtless, the Kingdom, the house, rests in the Lord’s hands. But the Gospel indicates clearly that before the master of the house went away, he handed over all responsibility to us, for our serious work. This task entrusted to us is not meant to help us pass the time usefully or to keep ourselves sensibly occupied. It is the Lord’s desire that he have need of us to make ready his coming in the fullness of his glory. It is thus that St. Ignatius imagined the whole activity of the Society of Jesus. He expects that his companions would be steadfast and bold in whatever they undertake for the Divine service, full of zeal for the salvation of human beings so that they may arrive at their final destination from the hand of God our Creator and Lord (cf. Constitutions 156). At times we call this end Beatitude (163). In every case, this aid to our neighbour is for the Glory of God (765).
In this way, the Society of Jesus forms one body that is ever watchful since, as St. Ignatius writes, they should keep in view God our Creator and Lord (Const. 547), working for his greater service and glory. But this one body itself, on the path toward its fulfillment in the glory that it looks forward to, takes on fully the mission received from the master of the house. It turns its eyes toward human beings, where the greater glory of God wishes to shine forth. And then this one body, entirely oriented toward God, will be apostolically oriented in every activity toward those near and dear and those far away. In keeping with the words of the Gospel, Ignatius longs to serve; but even more, he ardently wishes that “his Divine and Supreme Majesty would make use of this least Society” (190) to lead all men and women from this earth of his to his glory. Thus St. Ignatius calls us to a genuine mystical experience in our contemplation of the mysteries of Christ’s life, which opens out into the spirituality of active and loving service of God for the true life of the world. Being watchful servants of Christ’s mission is less a matter of looking forward to the kingdom as a future reality, as it is of regarding ourselves as drawn into the apostolic life by this kingdom already begun and at work in us and realizing its fulfillment through us, until the Lord comes in his glory.
By the intercession of our Lady and the prayers of St. Ignatius, may this meeting in Loyola transform and renew each one of us and the entire Society of Jesus “so that we may be good and faithful in proclaiming the Gospel and in sowing the Word of God in the Lord’s field” (30) until he comes.