Apostolic Availability
Introduction
In the Spiritual Exercises No. 23 St Ignatius says, “Free from all things in order to be free for God”. Therefore, in order to serve God we need to be free, then only we will be always available for our apostolic work. What does Ignatius mean to say by “in order to be free”? St Ignatius wrote the Spiritual Exercises in the 16th century and yet they are very relevant for us today, because the present world is materialistic, beautiful, tempting and attractive. So in order to do the will of God we need to be free not only from the material things but also from our own feelings and emotions. I feel that feelings are stronger than the attractions of material things which can lead us astray. Therefore, Fr. P. Arrupe asked us a question, “How can we know for sure if we are men who have reached a mature inner unity, really integrated, for whom all experience of God is action for others and all action for others is such that it reveals to them the Father and draws them close to Him in affection and commitment?” For St Ignatius availability is to remain permanently and joyfully disposable, ever ready to be sent. Even when we take a particular mission, we are undertaking it with great enthusiasm.
Such an attitude is necessary for those who are striving to seek God in all things, to make oneself available at the disposition of the divine will. In a word it is to have faith.
The Hallmark of the Jesuit
We touch here the heart of our identity, the mark that should characterize us as followers of Jesus, namely ‘to be available’. Only with this thorough availability can we aspire and live up to the condition of ‘being sent’ which guarantees our personal integration and true apostolic identity. Therefore Ignatian or Jesuit spirituality is focused on this central objective: to form a man who is available for mission, truly ‘a new man’. A man profoundly free mortified by self-denial ‘to be led more surely by the Holy Spirit’ a pliable instrument in the hands of the Lord, all the more effective for being the more ‘ever ready’ to answer his call. Thus we accept the Vicar of Christ and the Superior who for us represent Christ our Lord, as proof of our availability to him who, Ignatius tells us, is really in command. The Lord thus becomes truly present and real to us. Nothing would be further from the truth than to conceive this Ignatian availability as an alienating and passive attitude leading to instrumentalization and dehumanization of the individual. On the contrary, it builds up and reinforces the person since it closely identifies the individual with Jesus, who was always ‘available’ to the will of the Father. This is why the intermediary, (i.e. the superior or provincial …) who interprets the mission in the name of the Lord, should feel every time the great responsibility of being an interpreter of the will of God and should accept the availability of the subject as something sacred.
This is because we belong primarily to a missionary body, at the disposal of Christ and of his Vicar, and whose principal and main foundation is precisely a complete readiness to obey him. It is evident that this thorough availability is our justification and constitutes our identity as Jesuits. This implies not only an individual but also a common search for the will of God in the context of discernment. And without discernment availability cannot be expected. The availability of a community is not just the result of adding up the availability of each of its individual members, although it would be impossible without this. It includes also the genuine sharing by all in the common search for the Lord’s will and the acceptances of the human intervention of the superior that helps us recognize it at each turn. Availability and discernment need each other: the man who has no inner freedom is conditioned and not really free and incapable of obtaining a clear vision of God’s will. The man who has made no attempt to discern, that is, has not made himself ‘available’ to the will of God seeking him, scarcely has the right to challenge anyone else’s lack of availability. Human error, always possible in the working of obedience “even in what is not well ordered”, does not cancel the merit when the availability of both parties has consciously entered into play.
Questions for All
F Am I really convinced that in order to carry out my apostolic mission in today’s world I need availability and “the means which unite the human instrument with God, and so dispose it that it may be wielded dexterously by his divine hand, are more effective than those which equip it in relation to men?”
F Can I truly claim to be ‘available’ here and now for any appointment, any work, any place, or job or destined to exhaustive and difficult studies that in the responsible exercise of obedience the Society could rightfully ask me to undertake?
F Am I aware that personal openness is an indispensable condition for responsibly seeking God’s will with regard to a mission I share with others and which, in the final analysis, is decided for me by others?
F Am I available with regard to work with others, to accept a subordinate job, to offer a hidden supporting role, and even to learn from those whom we try to serve?
F Am I ready to enter into the process of reflection and revision the Society is asking of me and to co-operate actively and as objectively as possible in the evaluation of my own work, Community, region, Province to which I belong and to adopt as mine the conclusions that emerge?
F Do I feel available and free to evaluate the institution or job to which I am attached, ready to continue in it or leave it, according to where the Society judges the greater service of God to lie?
It would be very sad if we did not dare to ask ourselves these questions through fear of negative of harsh reactions. They seem to be such important questions touching the very essence of the Society conceived by Saint Ignatius under the guidance of the Spirit, that the very existence of such a fear would already be a most serious symptom and an additional reason for careful questioning and reflection before the Lord.
Conclusion
“At daybreak Jesus left the town and went off to a lonely place. The people started looking for him, and when they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving. But he said to them, ‘I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns also, because that is what God sent me to do’ ” (Lk.4:42-43). It is true that we are called to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Therefore we need to be available at all times. There will be temptation to remain at one place because we like that place and the people; but when the Lord calls, we should be ready to move. I need to be detached in order to be free always.
Sch. Mahesh Bagul SJ.
