On the Society

Many readers may know that my family and I are followers of the Society of Jesus, colloquially known as the Jesuits.  My fiance and I attend a Jesuit Church and often seek them out wherever we go.  Throughout the blog, I'll undoubtedly reference them, but I wanted to introduce them in light of a recent event that is unfortunately all too common among Catholics of late - a general disparagement of the Society.

The modern Jesuits are often criticized as being too liberal whether it is America magazine to the Social Justice that often finds its way into their homilies.  To some extent, I understand where this is coming from and to those that know me, a political Conservative, the irony is thick enough.  But I think that it is in that that I find the reason why I am attracted to them.  Church should always challenge you.  A preacher that gives the same homily once every three years does his congregation no favors (though I would not pretend to understand the pressures that they are under in the modern era).

Further, importantly is the way they challenge me mentally.  The Society (and those that follow them) are some of the most educated people I have ever met.  They see connections that most miss, their homilies tend to be 10 minutes of religious gold, and most importantly, when I talk to them, I feel like they know more about Catholicism and Philosophy than I do.

The Society I know is the one started by my patron, St. Ignatius de Loyola.  It's an Organization that Chris Lowney in Heroic Leadership points out is run around the principles of heroic leadership, always aiming for the Magis; ingenuity, thinking outside the box; self awareness, knowing what can and cannot be traded; and finally, love, the ability to see people in the best possible light.  This is the idea that Ignatius had - the insight to reject the practices around him and tell his people to get out there.

For St. Ignatius God was not an impersonal being infinitely removed from us that we have to worship in Church.  Rather, He was a friend, a close companion, someone you talked to not in a ritualized prayer, but like someone you knew, someone you had highs with, someone you got angry at.  It is this aspect, the God-man that meets us everyday in every moment where we are that dictates what we in turn must do (if we are to imitate Him). We must turn and meet others where they are calling them as CS Lewis states in The Last Battle to come higher up and further in.