schogujsj09

Called to Lead a Life that Springs Forth from Prayer

 

ecently the provincial of the Jamshedpur Province of the Society of Jesus visited the scholastics of Satya Nilayam. He shared with us the attack on Christians in Orissa and the situation there. In his sharing, he spoke of a particular diocesan brother who shared about his traumatic experiences in a psychological workshop organized by the Jesuits for the affected religious. The brother shared that he was the regent and was in charge of a boarding house in one of the schools in Khandhmal. The morning after the burial of Swami Saccidananda, attacks began on Christians in various places of Khnadhmal district. A mob reached the boarding house where this brother was. The regent was alone with the boys as the parish priest was out of station. The mob caught hold of a few Christian boys, forcefully shaved off their heads and ‘made them Hindus.’ They then warned the brother that they would kill everybody there if they would find the brother on their return. That very morning, all the senior boys left the boarding house leaving the smaller ones with the brother. The boys in the boarding house requested the brother to leave, or else his life as well as the lives of the children would be at risk. Though his conscience willed otherwise, the brother finally agreed to leave after constant urging from the boys.

 

He left the boarding house but instead of going away, he climbed a hill behind the boarding house and hid himself to see what would happen. Later at night he came down the hill to the boarding house, took all the boys along and fled the place. The group walked hours at a stretch through the forest, crossing rivers, etc. Early in the morning while they were crossing a river, they were spotted by Bajrang Dal activists. They ran back to a village nearby and asked an old lady to hide them. The kind lady locked them in her store room. A few minutes later, the activists came that way, shouting slogans and searching the entire village. Upon failing to find them, they took a gas cylinder and set it alight. The cylinder was placed right in front of the store room where the children and the brother were hiding. Seeing through the key hole, the brother thought that their end had come. He then prayed to God to save the lives of the kids, if not his. Then, all of a sudden a strong gust of wind put the fire out.

This incident has been very inspiring to me. The brother had many qualities which we need to emulate. Qualities like reliance on God, love for the suffering people, prudence, industriousness etc. We as scholastics in formation need to acquire these qualities which I explain in details below.

 

Prayerfulness

 

What I consider the most important aspects in the life of a scholastic is his prayer life or spiritual life. From one’s prayer life springs forth all the other things that are required in the religious life. In order to have a proper spiritual life, first of all, we need to put God - the person of Jesus at the centre of our life. Our daily prayers, spiritual direction, examination of conscience, daily holy Eucharist, etc. are a help to that. Christ should be the centre of our life and that’s where our identity as Jesuits comes from.

 

Being in the world but not of the world

 

The fact that we are living in a world which gives utmost importance to money, power, position, etc. cannot be denied. It is becoming more and more secularized and faith has almost lost its place in it. In such a world to be followers of Christ is not easy. But, that’s our call – to imitate Christ. Therefore it demands that we do things differently from the people of the world, in a way that will look foolish to others. There is always a tension between being in the world and being a part of the world. The values of Jesus which we follow by taking our vows should always be close to our life. We need to put our reliance on God and not on things like money and power. Though we require them in our daily lives, we should never compromise with the values of Jesus for these worldly things. A spirit of Ignatian indifference is a must with regards to these things. By practicing it in our daily lives we can show to the world that it is possible to be free, strong & powerful even when stripped of everything and forgotten by all.

 

Love for the poor and the suffering

 

There are also other realities of the world which we cannot deny – that of ethnic wars, communal violence, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, corruption, injustice, etc. Attack on Christians in Orissa & Karnataka, terror attack in Bombay, etc. in India and the situation of the millions of refugees all over the world, fights in Iraq, Palestine, Srilanka, etc. at the global level are instances just to name a few. Times when our lives themselves are in danger, to follow Christ in His footsteps is not easy unless we love Him and in Him the needy more than our lives. We can show our love for Jesus in this world by joining the side of the oppressed & not the powerful, be it the attacked Christians in Orissa & Karnataka, Muslims in Gujarat or the millions of refugees across the world. There is also the need to be prudent at all times. We should read the signs of the times and act accordingly.

 

Spirit of ‘magis’

 

There is also the need to work hard in all that we do. A sense of mediocrity has set in our lives. We need to fight it and do the best that we can in all that we do. If not, we are going against the charism of the Society and our founder St. Ignatius. Thus we can be a Jesuit (in name) and yet not be a Jesuit (in spirit). We, therefore, need to strive towards achieving ‘magis’ in all that we do. Striving for ‘magis’ in all we do is not for ourselves and our glory but for others – whoever it may be - and for the greater glory of God for whom we act as mediators. During formation it’s our duty to study well so that we can be fitting instruments in the hands of God to be sent on mission as & when the need arises.

 

Integrated life – A Contemplative in Action

 

Our prayer life is to be seen in relation to the other aspects of life and is not to be compartmentalized and seen in isolation. Our everyday life and dealings in the community, with the world around, etc. are indications of how our prayer life. Our prayer life and the life outside prayer should complement each other. It will not be possible for a prayerful person to live an immoral life. So prayerlife should lead us to find God in all things, to be a Contemplative in Action. And we should ever work towards this goal in all commitment and sincerity. This is difficult but not impossible.

Each one is responsible for his life especially his spiritual life. Others can only be a mere help to one in one’s decisions. Because I firmly believe that one’s spiritual life is a relationship between God and the particular individual and nobody should come in between this relationship. (The creator directly deals with the creature)

   By

  Sch. Jobin Joseph