On the vigil of the Feast of St Alphonsus Rodriguez on 30 October, the vocation promotions team of the Indonesian Province organised a special virtual Coffee Talk with Jesuit Brothers (Ngopi Bareng Bruder Jesuit) attended by the brothers, priests and lay people.
The forum centred on how the triptych of Jesuit life – identity, community, and mission – is experienced by Jesuit brothers. Brothers David, Marsono, and Sarju generously gave their take on this topic, drawing from the inspiring life of St Alphonsus Rodriguez, and the lives of senior and deceased Jesuit brothers. Fr Sindhunata reflected on the brother’s role in the history of the Society of Jesus, and his encounters with many dedicated and humble brothers. Suprih, a Jesuit brother and puppeteer, appeared in a recorded video explaining Wayang Wahyu, the Gospel in Javanese culture, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the close of the forum, everyone prayed the prayer of vocation to the brothers.
Throughout the conversations, though, the group kept returning to the question on the identity of Jesuit brothers. It was evident that many lay people do not understand the vocation of a Jesuit brother, or what separates them from priests (other than the matter of ordination, of course). Br Marsono admitted that answering the question is not an easy task. Although the Indonesian brothers had tried to formulate their collective identity, they all still had various answers when the question was made more personal: “What is a Jesuit brother for you?”
Fr Sindhunata noted the unique qualities he found in his encounters with senior brothers. These are totality and humility – two qualities that are closely related to each other. “Sometimes Jesuit priests need to learn from the humility of Jesuit brothers,” he said, “how brothers consider themselves limited tools of God, hence they depend on God more totally than we do, who at times consider ourselves capable of handling everything.”
Perhaps the richness and the depth of the Jesuit brothers’ identity cannot be fully captured in words. It is meant to be felt and understood through a personal encounter, just as how the guest of Montesion College encountered the life of service of St Alphonsus Rodriguez. Only through this can we understand Fr Sindhunata’s interesting depiction of the Jesuit brothers: that they are one side of the Society’s pair of wings. It should flap well and strong and in harmony with the other wing so the Society of Jesus can fly towards its apostolic destination.
Lambertus Alfred SJ is an Indonesian scholastic studying philosophy in Jakarta and part of the Hermanum College Jesuit community.