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My friends
and family know that I am a Jesuit, that I study, that I live a life
of prayer and dedication to God. Yet the exact nature of this life is
something of a mystery. So I have decided to give the account of a
typical day in my life as a Jesuit.
No Jesuit I
know has ever done just one thing his whole life. Our work is always
growing and changing, as we ourselves do. We are many things to many
people. We are teachers, both in high schools and universities. We
are pastors of parishes. We are researchers in almost any field you
could name, from theology to physics to ecology. We are coordinators
of programs that provide aid to the poor, homeless, refugees, and
different kinds of people who are marginalized. We are spiritual
counsellors and retreats directors. And when we are in formation, as
I am, we are mostly students.
On any given
day, I wake up around seven in the morning in my room at the
Philosophy House. It's an ordinary residential home in Downtown
Toronto, near the University of Toronto. I have enough space for my
bed, my desk, and a bookshelf. The bathrooms are shared but there's
usually enough of them to go around. There are about twelve persons
in my community; we are all Jesuits. There's a kitchen, a dining
room, some guest rooms, a room to watch TV, and of course a chapel
where we have our daily mass.
There is no
determined schedule in the morning. I like to pray Morning Prayer
from the Liturgy of the Hours before I start the day. That involves
reading some texts of the Psalms and doing a slow, meditative
contemplation of the fact that I am a creature in the presence of my
creator, who is my source of love and hope. This usually takes me
about forty-five minutes or so.
After a
shave and a shower I head downstairs to the kitchen and have some
toast with PB & J. Breakfast conversations are always interesting
in a house full of academics. We usually comment on the newspaper. I
dress like any student would – t-shirts or a collared shirt if
something special is going on. There are no uniforms or cassocks,
though I can wear a clerical shirt if there is a special occasion.
After
breakfast I usually head to class. I'm lucky in that I can walk to
school. I carry a notebook and something for lunch on most days. The
classes are mostly regular university classes. I'm completing a
Masters in Philosophy. I pick my own courses subject to the approval
of a program coordinator who makes sure I'm getting everything I
need.
The goal of
Jesuits in formation is to have a strong grounding in philosophy in
order to know how to think. They use these tools to approach all
other problems. It's not just a process of learning facts but a
pedagogy of teaching analysis, communication, problem-solving, etc.
Oftentimes
I'll hang out with the other students after class to discuss things.
It's nice to hear everyone's stories: where they come from, why they
study. Most of my classmates are regular philosophy students, not
Jesuits. I've been kindly invited to a few of their homes. Most of
them are married, just starting out. It's wonderful to make friends
with people my age who share common interests. Most of them are quite
curious about me as a vowed religious as well.
Vowed means
that while I am not yet a priest, I still follow the ancient
religious rules of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Nothing I use is
owned by me, it belongs to the community. I will not get married and
will live my sexuality with modesty and affective maturity. And I
will follow the rules of what it means to be a Jesuit. The rules can
be summed up pretty simply: love God, love your Jesuit brothers and
all people, and love yourself.
When I need
to go somewhere, other than school, I take the subway. If I have a
budget concern I fill in a budget form. If I want to make a change to
my schedule, I think on how it will effect me and the people around
me. We all want the freedom to do whatever we like. But once we have
that freedom, we only ever truly desire to use it to shape our lives
according to the people we love.
When I have
no class, I usually have reading, researching, and writing to do. For
entertainment I like reading web-comics. In the evening, at 5:30
p.m., the whole community gathers in the chapel. We, the students,
are often called upon to serve at the mass, read, or give reflections
on the scripture of the day. We're formed in liturgy over the course
of the year; this makes sense as we'll be leading liturgy ourselves
in the future. After the mass everyone gathers to spend some time
together before dinner, chatting about the day and trading quips and
jokes.
All the
housekeeping chores are divided up among the group. It usually goes
pretty smoothly as everyone is here because we want to be. Thanks
largely to a balance of work and play, an attitude of serving rather
than being served, and humour. We have time for fun and we have time
to really talk and say what's on our minds.
At the end
of the day, I always pray the Examen, a method the Jesuits use to
review the days events and understand the flow of one's own emotions
and habits. We believe that every event, every feeling we experienced
during the day, was a way of God communicating to us. It might be
through happy events or sad. We may have responded well or poorly.
But God works in all situations.
That is what
I do. That's what a day in my life, as a Jesuit, looks like.
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