schogujsj09

Let Us Bless God's Identity To Grow In Us…

Stage of formation –1^st year Regency.

Ignatian assignment submitted to Fr. Lawrence sj.

            How gorgeous, how grand and energizing this experience is, when people learn to understand their identity. It is impossible to overemphasize the immense need human have to be really listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood. Modern psychology has brought it very much to our attention on issue called identity. At the very heart of all the psychotherapy is the type of relationship in which one can tell about oneself, just as a little baby will tell all to her mother, a total transparency should be there while revealing and dealing with identity.

           

Consider the following conversation

I: “I am writing an article , to be called , how can one Understand the Jesuit identity?”

Other: “ Do you want an answer to your question.”?

I: “ That is the purpose of my article to answer the question”

Other: “ But do you want my answer”?

I: “Yes, naturally I do.”

Other:  I am baffled to tell you what my original identity is, if I reveal my identity as something then others may not agree to what I say. This reveals a deep tension and a binding fear and self-doubt, which bind most of us to go forward in search of our true identity. So with this initial sentiment we shall move forward in this article in search of true identity in different ways.

 

No one can independently and freely find his identity in this booming world. We need to be recognized and felt by other people in order to assure our identity. And he who would see his identity clearly must open up to a confidant to others could realize their identity as a unique individual. That is why We Jesuits, then, find our identity not alone but in companionship: in companionship with the Lord, who calls, and in companionship with others, who share this call. Its root is to be found in Saint Ignatius’s experience at La Storta.  There, placed with God’s Son and called to serve him as he carries his cross.

           

While at Manresa, Ignatius had an experience at the river Cardoner that opened his eyes so that “all things seemed new to him”[1] because he began to see them with new eyes.[2]  Reality became transparent to him, enabling him to see God working in the depths of everything and inviting him, initially, to “help souls”.  This new view of reality led Ignatius to seek and find God in all things and search his own identity as son called by His father to do his mission in this world.

 

In Our Jesuit world, Identity (also I entrprise to call it ‘sameness or Jesuitness’ ) is whatever makes a person definable and recognizable, in terms of possessing a set of qualities or characteristics added to that he is given a mission by his superiours as God’s mission  that distinguishs him from everythig else. Or, in Jesuit  terms, identity is whatever makes  a Jesuit the same as well as  different from everything else.That is why  this Manresa experience is part of every Jesuit’s journey to find our own and collective identity.

 

In logic, the identity relation is normally defined as the relation that holds only between a thing and itself. That is, identity is the two-place predicate, such that for all x and y, "x = y" is true if x is the same thing as y. Identity is transitive, symmetric, and reflexive. It is an axiom of most normal modal logics that for all x, if x = x then necessarily x = x.  Can we apply this kind of logic  in our jeutit field. For examble, Fr.Ignatius = Fr. Francis.It is not coorect but we surely say Fr.Ignatius = Fr.Ignatius and Fr. Francis = Fr. Francis. St.Ignatius invites us to be aware of God’s action in places and people they are uninclined to consider: Zacchaeus,[3] Roman centurions,[4] a repentant thief.[5]  So the idea of logical identiy of relation may not fit in our Jesuit Circle becaue Jeuits are same and difrent in many ways becaue of their given  mission.

 

In Meta physics, Metaphysicians, and sometimes philosophers of language and mind, ask other questions: What does it mean for an object to be the same as itself? If x and y are identical (are the same thing), must they always be identical? Are they necessarily identical? What does it mean for an object to be the same, if it changes over time? (Is an apple moring and  the same apple in the evening , are the same ?) a bit mind bogling. We, Human beings need a future (we can’t be just another thing like apple = apple) in which we can take hold of our full dignity (identity); indeed we need an absolute future, a ‘great hope’ that exceeds every particular hope.[6]  But today what is our unique identity as the followers of Jesus today? We ought reach out to persons who differ from us in culture and religion, aware that dialogue with them is integral also to our service of Christ’s mission.[7] In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where he sends us. We don’t look for where our identity fits in. Instead Knowing ourselves to be sent with Jesus as companions, although we are sinners,[8] (Identity as a Sinner) The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.

 

 

In qualitative logic Arbitrary objects a and b can be said to be qualitatively identical if a and b are duplicates, that is, if a and b are exactly similar in all respects, that is, if a and b have all qualitative properties in common. Examples of this might be two pots made in the same pot factory on the same production line (at least, for a relaxed standard of exact similarity), But  we can’t expcet the same from  any two Jesuits though they are from the same jesuit factory,I mean they are given the same formation , because there will be  qualitiative difrence in the them.

 

 In numerical logic, a and b can be said to be numerically identical if a and b are one and the same thing, that is, if a is b, that is, if there is only one thing variously called "a" and "b". For example, Fr. Pedro is numerically identical with great St.Bosco in the sense that there is only one person. This relationship is expressed in mathematics with the "=" symbol, e.g., a = b, or Fr. Pedro = St.Bosco. Consequently with this numerical consideration we can come to a kind of perception that together with “obedience, our Jesuit vows of poverty and chastity enable us to be shaped, in the Church, into the image of Jesus himself,”[9] as well as making clear and visible our availability for God’s call. We can’ t be just 1=1, but we the members can be united by our commitment. This committed availability is expressed nonetheless in a variety of ways, according to the particular (identity) vocation of each.  Thus the Society of Jesus is enriched and blessed by the presence of brothers, spiritual coadjutors and professed fathers who together, as companions in one family, we are given the title and identity, enlivened in particular by the presence of those in formation “ serve the mission of Christ according to the graces given to each”.[10] 

 

Social identity It is composed of four elements: Categorization: We often put others (and ourselves) into categories. Labeling someone a Muslim, a Hindu, or a kabadi  player are ways of saying other things about these people. Identification: We also associate with certain groups (our ingroups), which serves to bolster our self-esteem that is identity in itself. Comparison: We compare our identiy  with other groups inentity, seeing a favorable bias toward the group to which we belong. Psychological Distinctiveness: We desire our identity to be both distinct  and positively compared with other groups .In all of this, our aim is to be ever available for the more universal good and  indeed desiring always the Magis, ( Universality and Magis should be our identity not just any other social  identity ) that which is truly better, for the greater glory of God.[11]

 

I am  deeeply concerend with when and why individuals identify with, and behave as part of, social groups, adopting shared attitudes to outsiders, and search for their own identity. I am also concerned with what difference it makes when encounters between individuals are perceived as encounters between group members. We all know that self-identity derived from individual personality traits and interpersonal relationships (personal identity)  Each individual is seen to have a repertoire of identities open to them (social and personal), each identity informing the individual of who he is and what this identity entails. Which of these many identities is most salient for an individual at any time will vary according to the social context.

 

None of us want  to identitfy our selves us fraud , theif , lazy, gloomy, sham, deadly , etc… because of this fear we tend to play diffrent roles by putting up masks and dirty games.Because of these  games one really starts living   different roles and forgets  what his identity is and what his identity is not. It is such a Universal Proplem that an indiviual calls it Human Condition to change his identiy.For example , the man who at times functons as a boss acts to another person as a subordinate or even mere vegetable. He is also cabale of revealing himself as a guru aswell as a diciple.It all depends on how we are programed to act in a particular time that reveals oue identiy as what , who, why we are.We need to comprehend that Being and doing; contemplation and action; prayer and prophetic living; “being completely united with Christ and completely inserted into the world with him as an apostolic body: all of these polarities mark deeply the life of a Jesuit and express both its essence and its possibilities.’[12]

As I go insearch of this identiy

I discover a new identity this wherever I go,

I as a Jesuit move from place to place.

Not really sure where my need is but still I go in search of fulfilling God’s mission on this process, I need to show my identity as a Jesuit.

And accumulate it like my identification and ready to go.
I discover a new identity wherever I go, a different face to Suit yet another juncture.
As a Jesuit, I can be happy and hospitable and also
I can be sad and blank.
I take up a new identity wherever I go, mystified,
I’m not really sure who I am anymore.
I elevate a new identity wherever I go,

If you meet me tomorrow I’m not sure you’ll like me or not.
Meet me the very following day and I’ll be a righteous person,

Meet me next week and I might change my identity because
I select a new identity wherever I go…

Identity signifies involvedness,
Identity identifies with actuality,
Identity is the bearer of all self-importance,
and how does a person identify with identity?

You define yourself based on what? They say, they say…
You’re kind or honourable based on what? Or
You’re a genius and smart based on what? Or
You’re strong and skilful based on what? Or

You are bashful based on what?  or
You are generous or sociable,

You’re innovative,

Yet what is that makes your identity intact
When change on identity has the last impact?

When we Jesuit come to an understanding that,

Our Identity is wrapped up in the image and the likeness of our creator,
because he is our True Identity.

 

In the Deliberation of the First Fathers, found the will of God together, although, “among us, weak and fragile” and coming from places which were so different, there had been such “diversity of opinion.”[13] What enabled them to find God’s will was their “decision and alertness to find a completely open way and to offer them fully to it for the greater glory of God.”[14] Thus they began a narrative, they lit a fire, which, whenever people encountered the Society in subsequent generations, was handed on, enabling the personal histories of generations to become embedded in the Society’s history as a whole. This collective history (identity) formed the basis of our unity; and at its heart was Jesus Christ.  Despite the differences in the identity, what unite us, as Jesuits are Christ and the desire to serve him: not to be deaf to the call of the Lord, but “prompt and ready to do his most holy will.”[15]

He is the only one who truly knows us
because he is the one who created us.
His nature and character is what our identity is,

Who we really are and he is the one who brought us to this far.

 

 We struggle with our Identity, it’s because we are not walking with who created us…Our mode of proceeding is “to trace the footprints of God everywhere, knowing that the Spirit of Christ is at work in all places and situations and in all activities and mediations that seek to make him more present in the world.”[16]
As our True Identity begins to unfold we will see the Noble Position we hold. (Ignatius to St.Ignatius and Saul to Paul) we are Chosen, Holy and noble and that's part of our True Identity. The Father made us in the image of himself and not in the image of someone else…

There fore we have no need to travel in the pathway of any another,
and don’t walk in the image of someone else,

It is necessary for us to examine ourselves critically (the critical search should lead us find our own identity) to in order to remain mindful of the need to “live faithfully this polarity of prayer and service”.[17]

Don’t need to have identity role models, just be safe in yourself.
Be who you are, walk in your True Identity
Take St.Ignatius spiritual exercise seriously, Win The Earth and Walk in your ability
because that's the way God created us...That's your true Identity…
God designed us in a unique way, no one can do what we do
and that's why and how God has made us.
We are Original; no one can be what we are, even if they try to facsimile you.
We are here to be and to do the best of us,

We are sent to save the souls in our mission and to save our souls,
We are in mission to heal the broken hearted.

We are representatives of Christ
and God has given the identity as Jesuits to save some one's Life,
we are here to continue the vocation that Jesus has started
and the bring magnificence to The Father.

 

To act uniquely and do God’s will here is an example of The Christ’s way of acting provides the pattern for how we must act in “the service of his mission.”[18] He preaches the Reign of God; “indeed it is given with his very presence.”[19] And he shows himself as having come into the world not to do his own will but the will of his Father in heaven.  He approaches situations by kenosis and self-forgetfulness, “seeking not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[20]

 

God has called us to preach the Good News, and Our Jesuit identity is relational; it grows in and through our diversities of culture, nationalities and languages, enriching and challenging us.  This is a process that we enter upon as we join the Society and we grow in it every day.  As we do so, our community life can become attractive to people, inviting them and above all the young to “come and see”,[21] to join us in our vocation and to serve with us in Christ’s mission.  Nothing could be more desirable and more urgent today, since the heart of Christ burns with love for this world, with all its troubles, and seeks companions who can serve it with him. Here we discover a true kind of relational identity.

 

God has created the world with diverse inhabitants and given us diverse identity; all this is good.  It expresses the rich beauty of this lovable world  “people working, laughing, and thriving together;”[22] signs that God is alive among us and given altered identities and us different roles.  However, diversity and different identity becomes problematic when the differences “between people are lived in a way that promotes some by excluding others, people fighting, killing each other, and bent on destruction.”[23] Because of their petty so called identity crisis as rich and poor, etc… God and humanity suffers in and with the world and wants to renew it; our mission is here in particular. This is where we have to discern it, according to the criteria of the “magis”[24] and the more “universal good”.[25] There are new challenges to our identity as Jesuits today.  We live our identity as companions of Jesus in a context where several identities, multiple images, the innumerable faces of a fragmented culture, diverse way of life. Compete for our attention.  They seep into us and, take root in the fertile soil of our natural desires, and fill us with sensations that flow through and take control of our feelings and decisions without our knowing it.  But we know and proclaim one image, Jesus Christ, true image of God and true image of humanity, and he is our true and only identity.

The brute has no power over us, and it can no longer damage our identity because we are Gods sons and intend to only God’s mission…
So let us bless God's identity to grow in us…                                   with prayers,

                                                                                                        Anand Antony sj