Yesterday's saint, Stanislaus Kostka, rather famously ran away from home (or rather, walked away, for more than 300 miles) in order to join the Jesuits. Great things for God were expected of him, and possibly by him, but in the end he became ill and died ten months later, still aged only seventeen, his 'great things' being the quality of his living and loving during his short life. He is a patron saint of students and young people; he can also become a good patron for anyone who might find themselves dealing with fears, doubts and delays as they discern a call to a religious order.
Stanislaus is also the patron saint of novices within the Ignatian family, so this has been a good reminder to pray for those younger women in the Society currently discerning and pondering their call in faith, and preparing for their first vowed commitment.
Our Constitutions say a lot about this stage of formation, but as I reflected and remembered, the only words which came to mind were ones which stood out for me all those years ago when I first read them during my own novitiate: The Eucharist is at the heart of life in the novitiate. Through the celebration of this mystery the novices will gradually understand the grace of their vocation: giving their lives for love. The Eucharistic presence is a continual invitation to the prayer of adoration and offering which will become the attitudes of their whole lives.
Giving their lives for love... Giving my life for love... A grace and an invitation, a challenge, a mystery and a certainty, back in the mid-1990s, since then and now; especially now. In the midst of so much darkness and cruelty, so much which could drag us into hardness and despair, lives given for love - tender, compassionate, generous, selfless and wide-open love - are so very necessary. And yes, such loving is a challenge, and a struggle at times, but fundamentally a grace of vocation; and one I share with women throughout the world.
So I pray for all of us - older and newer members, and novices especially - and for all those discerning whether this is God's call for them. May we all, truly, deeply, understand and live this grace of our vocation, and give our lives, always, in all ways, for love...
Stanislaus is also the patron saint of novices within the Ignatian family, so this has been a good reminder to pray for those younger women in the Society currently discerning and pondering their call in faith, and preparing for their first vowed commitment.
Our Constitutions say a lot about this stage of formation, but as I reflected and remembered, the only words which came to mind were ones which stood out for me all those years ago when I first read them during my own novitiate: The Eucharist is at the heart of life in the novitiate. Through the celebration of this mystery the novices will gradually understand the grace of their vocation: giving their lives for love. The Eucharistic presence is a continual invitation to the prayer of adoration and offering which will become the attitudes of their whole lives.
So I pray for all of us - older and newer members, and novices especially - and for all those discerning whether this is God's call for them. May we all, truly, deeply, understand and live this grace of our vocation, and give our lives, always, in all ways, for love...
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