Probably our most decisive formation occurred at home when our mothers and fathers encouraged us to take our first steps. Jesuits are no different from anyone else in our stages of growth. We are each responsible for the values and patterns of behaviour we appropriate to ourselves. Yet since much is demanded of them, a Jesuit’s personal formation is necessarily long and deep.
The biggest expectation we have of ourselves and of our brothers is that we offer selfless service to people. The booklet opens with a quotation of Fr Arrupe to some religious: “What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything.” Thus the tone is set. The “inner law of love” guides this document as it does the Constitutions of Ignatius.
“Mediocrity has no place in Ignatius’ world view,” former Jesuit General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach famously said. The Jesuit mission is demanding. We place high demands on ourselves and on one another. So our preparation for mission is consequently thorough. The Profile of a Formed Jesuit in Asia Pacific sketches the expectations that Jesuits have of themselves if they are to live their mission today.
This document offers guidelines and a checklist of characteristics, personal qualities and skills that each seeks to integrate in his life as he grows in the lifestyle of a “contemplative in action”.
There is no “one size that fits all”. Developed over the last couple of years by a team led by Fr Mathias Chae, the JCAP Formation Delegate, the “Profile” places in the hands of each Jesuit, young and old, a valuable tool that outlines the interrelated dynamics of the human person on the road to being a “contemplative in action”.
Mark Raper SJ
November 19, 2011
For find out more about A Profile of a Formed Jesuit for Asia Pacific, read “Forming Jesuits for Asia Pacific”.