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BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE THÉOLOGIE4 novices jésuites Le 20 août dernier, en l'église du Gesù, l'église des jésuites du centre-ville de Montréal, quatre jeunes hommes se sont engagés à vivre la vie religieuse dans le cadre de la Compagnie de Jésus. Depuis trois ans en effet, un noviciat interprovincial – des deux Provinces jésuites du Canada français et du Canada anglais – a été ouvert sur la rue Gatineau, à Montréal. Cette année, les quatre voués sont membres de la Province du Canada anglais. Ce sont : 
• Edward Penton • Daniel Leckman • Adam Hincks • Eric Hanna
On trouvera ci-après l'homélie proposée par leur supérieur et Père Maitre, Homélie de la célébration eucharistique des vœux, août 2011 Par Erik Oland, SJ Adam, Daniel, Eric and Ted – thank you. Thank you for who you are, for hearing, listening to, choosing and answering God's call to each of you to enter the Society Jesus….. for your response to God “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” You are completing today a two year journey of prayer and study, challenging work and deep searching – all of which has helped you to refine your call and to ask to be received as vowed members into the Society. Merci aussi pour avoir choisi des si belles lectures. Quelle abondance de choix, de beauté, de thèmes, d'inspiration – l'appel de Samuel dans toute sa naïveté et sa spontanéité; le chapitre 12 de la lettre aux Romains avec l'invitation de s'offrir tout entier, corps et âme; les Béatitudes.... qui sont le modèle de la perfection chrétienne..... trop de richesses pour une homélie de 10 minutes.... mais je me lance tout de meme! As I began to think of what I might say today I was drawn to the website of the late John Veltri, sj (Orientations for Spiritual Growth) and among the riches I found there was a prayer by Henry Viscardi (advocate for the disabled died in 2004 age 91)…. It reminded me so much of the Beatitudes that I decided I would use it to punctuate this reflection. The prayer begins thus: J'ai demandé à Dieu la force de réaliser de grandes choses. On a fait de moi un être faible, pour que je puisse apprendre humblement à obéir. * I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. Important words for those of us who have pronounced or will pronounce vows of the evangelical councils. Important words for all believers for they remind us that our spiritual life is (or should be) more one of self-emptying and self-offering than one of making demands (not to say that petitions are out of place but that petitionary prayer should not take the place of the more fundamental disposition of self offering before God). Ce qui ne veut pas dire que la prière de demande n'a pas sa place. Mais cette prière ne doit pas prendre la place du plus fondamental : l'ouverture la plus grande possible à Dieu. Parce que nous ouvrir à Dieu nous rend capables de nous ouvrir au monde et d'être ouverts devant le monde (ces deux attitudes ne peuvent pas être séparées si l'ouverture envers Dieu est vrai). For to be open to God also gives us the capacity to be open to the world and before the world (these two things cannot be separated if ones sense of openness to God is true). Je suis allé à l'Oratoire St-Joseph pour assister à la messe, dimanche dernier, et j'ai entendu une excellente homélie sur l'amour non-discriminatoire et universel qui est au centre du message de Jésus (Jesus' message of non-discriminating and universal love). L'homélie aurait pu porter sur les Béatitudes qui nous présentent ce message radical de remise de soi dans toute sa complexité. The Beatitudes present us with its message that says ‘things, events, life plans and so forth are all neutral when compared with the deeper, inner disposition of God's action in and through us.... I asked for health, that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise. * J'ai demandé la santé, pour que je puisse faire de plus grandes choses. J'ai reçu en partage d'être infirme, pour que je puisse faire mieux encore les choses. J'ai demandé des richesses pour être heureux. On m'a donné la pauvreté, pour que je puisse être sage. In essence, I'm trying to say that this prayer by a man who committed his life to working with the handicapped meets the Beatitudes in that the one (the Beatitudes) lays out the plan to be prayed with, taught, learned and lived, while the other implies in no uncertain terms that if I think I have things mapped out and fixed, well, God is going to find a way eventually to turn those plans upside down. The importance of inner disposition/spiritual poverty is at the core of self-giving and central to the Christian life. It has a particular immediacy today when four of those among us will pronounce perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Ce message porte sur la disponibilité intérieure / la pauvreté spirituelle qui est au cœur du don de soi (qui est au centre de la vie chrétienne). On le reçoit aujourd'hui dans son immédiateté, en présence des quatre d'entre nous qui prononceront tout à l'heure les vœux perpétuels de pauvreté, de chasteté et l'obéissance. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of others. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. * J'ai demandé le pouvoir, pour être reconnu des autres. On m'a donné la faiblesse, pour que je puisse ressentir le besoin de Dieu. The theme of Beatitude is also one of non-discrimination and universal love; how we as Christians seek to open ourselves to God's will, to God's guiding hand; how we journey from the initial call (Samuel), to the offering of self and specificity of gift (Romans) and to the living out of that call in the particular giftedness of the individual and community (such as the Jesuits)… To put it simply: God calls, we respond, God gives us certain gifts, we recognize and hone those gifts AND, as we progress, we become more and more available to be God's instruments, unencumbered by desires for personal gain and more open to see the world as through God's eyes – sub specie aeternitatis - "sous un regard d'éternité"… "from the perspective of the eternal" It is a tall order; for this capacity to view all with non-discriminating and universal love, It is a life long apprenticeship. I am reminded of the words of Jesuit Fr. General Adolfo Nicol á s given at our recent congress commemorating 400 years of Jesuit presence in Canada. After speaking of our Jesuit universal vocation that flows from the universal dimension of the Gospel and of the Church that bears this Good News, Fr. Nicolàs goes on to say: “These are nice words, but the living out of such radical gratitude and love is demanding because it stretches us beyond ourselves. But it is also terribly exciting because it fills us with joy precisely as we are stretched beyond ourselves to love more freely and more deeply.” And “Key to universality is availability. But a new kind of availability is needed today. While the rock-bottom core must always be a fundamental attitude of “Here I am, Lord, send me” (Speak Lord your servant is listening), today we must also be able to say, “Here we are Lord, send us”. (Speak Lord your servants are listening)… Alors que l'universalité de la vocation jésuite inclut la liberté d'être missionné, et même d'aller jusqu'aux extrémités de la terre, l'universalité de la vocation ignatienne, que ce soit dans ses versions jésuites ou laïcs ou dans celle des autres religieux, c'est toujours la magnanimité et la liberté de répondre à l'appel de Dieu et de modifier en conséquence, de «déplacer» les frontières qui pourraient ne pas être géographique.... ” And so we can speak of a ‘beatitude' of mission and a ‘beatitude' of community; seeking that corporate response and corporate solidarity with the one who showed the path of self-emptying universal love – Jesus. Adam, Daniel, Eric, Ted… may you each be given the abundant grace to fulfill this open-ended mission on which you are embarking today… may you be given life and every thing you hope for…. may you be richly blessed. (I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am most richly blessed.) Que dit un novice jésuite, quand il prononce ses premiers voeux?
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