The Society of Jesus (SJ) or the Jesuits have been thrust into the limelight anew with the election of Pope Francis, a former Jesuit. As most people would know or wonder, this was unlikely to happen.

 

One, Jesuits are not supposed to accept worldly or temporal honors or titles, as stipulated by their founder himself, Ignatius of Loyola.

 

Two, Jesuits are often “suspect” to the more conservative elements of the Church.

 

Ignatius was very clear with what the Society was all about. Their motto said it all: “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,” all for the greater glory of God. It was a single-mindedness so basic and so fundamental. The means or the strategy was also basic and fundamental, which was to save souls, beginning with one’s own.

 

It was this clarity of vision and mission that allowed the Jesuits great flexibility and variety without deviating from its core, to save souls for the greater glory of God.

 

As some might have heard or read, there is a unique vow the Jesuits take, special obedience to the Pope in matters of mission. This means when the Pope invokes this, there is only one response for a Jesuit, “yes.”

 

So it was for then Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, when he was appointed Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Once he was made archbishop he had to leave the Society, juridically, since his obedience was to the Pope and no longer to his Jesuit superiors. However, once formed according to the Ignatian spirituality, one always remains Ignatian in spirit.

 

Feast of the Divine Mercy

 

Today is the final day in the Octave of Easter and the Feast of the Divine Mercy. This is a great feast that reminds us of the focus of our Christian faith—God’s love, his Divine Mercy is the only thing that matters and it alone saves souls.

 

The novena to the Divine Mercy stipulates that there are no other intentions to be prayed for except what each prayer states, which is to pray for the salvation of souls of various groups of persons through the Divine Mercy.

 

One of my most important learnings in my Canon Law class was to know both the letter and the spirit of the law so that when it came to ministering to people, one is to correctly interpret the law liberally or pastorally. A provision in Canon Law says, “in periculo mortis” all laws collapse; in danger of death all laws collapse.

 

This drives home the message that what is of paramount importance is to save a soul and lead it to the love and mercy of God.

 

As Christ puts it in today’s Gospel, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We are sent, we are missioned to proclaim God’s life-giving and saving love.

 

Defining faith

 

Wilfred Cantwell Smith, a historian of Religion, presents an interesting discussion of what faith is. He points out that the word faith is a noun. The verb that is used is “to believe” and the early Anglo-Saxon word is derived from the German word belieben, which is to hold dear, to prize, to love, to give allegiance to, to be loyal to, to value highly.

 

The Latin word credo is equally powerful and emphatic, it means “to set my heart.” The Filipino word is just as vivid, sumampalataya (to believe) or pananampalataya (faith); to offer with a sense of risk; connoting a total offering with an all-or-nothing stakes.

 

These remind us that faith, to believe, is an activity of the whole person. It is, as Smith suggests, a very relational activity that involves everything in our person. As Christ tells us, we must love the Lord Our God above all and with everything we have.

 

According to the Vatican Radio, the motto Pope Francis chose is the same motto he used as bishop: “Miserando atque eligendo” (lowly but chosen). The report said it was a theme taken from the homilies of the Venerable Bede on the Gospel of Matthew, particularly Matthew the tax collector being called from his table to follow Christ.

 

In his mercy, Christ calls Matthew, which drew a sharp reaction from the religious authorities then. To this Christ proclaimed: “It is mercy I demand, not sacrifice.”

 

“Miserando atque eligendo,” echoes Fr. Horacio de la Costa’s famous writing, “The Jesuits Today.” He opens the document, a decree of the 32nd General Congregation, by asking what it means to be a Jesuit in the changing world right after Vatican II and when the Church was going through a tremendous crisis.

 

Father De la Costa, SJ, responds to the question: “It is to know one is a sinner, yet called to be a companion of Jesus… in his mission to save the world…. a Jesuit, therefore, is essentially a man on a mission. He belongs to a community of friends in the Lord.”

 

In Christ’s message to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, he asked that today be a day of total forgiveness for those who confess their sins and receive the Holy Eucharist. Today, the Feast of the Divine Mercy, this season of Easter, the fullness of God’s love is a grace given us and we are called to be companions of Christ—to know we are sinners yet called to this great and Divine Love and Mercy.

 

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  Indeed, we are “lowly but chosen.”