St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, did not invent consolation. But through a gradual conversion experience, God led him to wonder about the connection between this sense of interior peace and God’s action in his life. What was God trying to tell him?

After being wounded in a useless, if honorable, skirmish on wall of a small castle in northern Spain, Ignatius the career soldier, lay in bed with time to think about what he really wanted in life. As he thought about continuing as a soldier and doing great deeds in the battlefield he was filled with passion and excitement. When he thought about giving his life to God and following in the footsteps of the Saints he was filled with the same sorts of feelings. What was he being called to do with his life? What did God want him to do? Both choices seemed good to him.

Gradually over time Ignatius began to notice that the excitement he felt when daydreaming about being a famous soldier would change into dryness and a sense of pointlessness. But when he imagined himself poor, chaste and obedient, serving God as a saint, he felt the same initial excitement but then the feelings changed into ones of peace and rightness. It was not simply happiness but rather a sense of being on the right path.

Ignatius would eventually define this feeling as consolation “an increase of faith, hope, and love and all interior joy” and further that “the soul is filled with peace and quiet in its Creator and Lord.” Ignatius began to realize that this was how God was confirming him in his desires to change his life, to quit being a soldier and follow Christ. This was the moment that changed everything for him.

Ignatius did not stop there of course. No. He continued to pay attention to how God was calling him in his everyday life. The choices of discernment continued to present themselves. Ignatius developed an entire set of rules for discovering the will of God in different circumstances and for different sorts of people. But it all began here with Ignatius trusting that a loving God was gently drawing him towards Himself. And Ignatius listened. How is God drawing us today? How are we listening?

1. Where are you currently missioned and how's it going?

The Province missioned me to first studies in Chicago at Loyola University. The campus activity and the context of Chicago are worlds away from the novitiate. Concentrating on my mission here reminds me of Aladdin’s task at the beginning of the Disney movie. Rooms of treasure are everywhere but I am only supposed to get the lamp. If I’m to be a real son of Ignatius, I feel I have a lot to learn yet during first studies.

2. When was the first time you thought about being a Jesuit

It never would have occurred to me early on because I had no idea priests were even human. But when I was nineteen I lived for a few months at my sister parish in El Salvador. While there a Jesuit novice from Panama told me that he hadn't stop liking women when he entered the novitiate and that complicated things.

3. How have your friendships changed or stayed the same since you entered the Portland novitiate?

Before I entered I had support from a few loyal pillars. In some ways I am less mysterious to them since entering. They heard a lot from me through letters during the novitiate, although not so much now since I am more immersed in community life here. Still, old friends have a curious way of making it to Chicago.
In the Society, friendship is nuanced and multifaceted, instant and long brewing, proximate and distal. I find that the more I lean out the more I am caught and held. Generational gaps, ethnic heritage, and language barriers—in these I have found the source of amazing consolation. Men who affirm me, challenge me, and make me laugh with joy!

4. Is there a particular author, artist, musician, etc. that has resonated with you in these years?

When I am on retreat I like to listen to Silvio Rodriquez because ‘Ojala’ brings me back to the UCA rose garden. The memory reconnects me to the people whose hospitality evangelized me.

5. What's the biggest surprise so far?

It was a surprise to discover that my BA in philosophy allowed me the opportunity to pursue Arabic while I am here in first studies as a complement to theology preparation. And when I was asking permissions for summer plans I never expected that I would be encouraged to go Amman, Jordan this summer!

6. Is there anything you would want to tell a man considering the Jesuits?

Let’s say that the man has a serious relationship yet he finds himself fascinated by a Jesuit he knows. He likes to read and after stealing some time to privately read The Fifth Week he thinks that he has recognized something. In that case I would ask him to name the affinity and dare him to explore further. He is already asking himself the dangerous questions about the meaning of his life. Others have been there. The Jesuits he has read about are not fiction, like the apostles, they became REAL when they followed the call.

Read Chris' undergrad reflection of El Salvador

The Philippine Jesuits

The Jesuits of Chile

Jesuits of North-West Africa

The Jesuits of Spain

The Jesuits in Britain

Jesuit of the Ukraine

Korean Jesuits

Jesuits in Missouri

Jesuits of Ecuador

Indonesian Jesuits

excerpt from speech given at Catholic University on April 17, 2008

...God's desire to make himself known, and the innate desire of all human beings to know the truth, provide the context for human inquiry into the meaning of life. This unique encounter is sustained within our Christian community: the one who seeks the truth becomes the one who lives by faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 31). It can be described as a move from "I" to "we", leading the individual to be numbered among God's people.

This same dynamic of communal identity - to whom do I belong? - vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.

From this perspective one can recognize that the contemporary "crisis of truth" is rooted in a "crisis of faith". Only through faith can we freely give our assent to God's testimony and acknowledge him as the transcendent guarantor of the truth he reveals. Again, we see why fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning. Yet we all know, and observe with concern, the difficulty or reluctance many people have today in entrusting themselves to God. It is a complex phenomenon and one which I ponder continually. While we have sought diligently to engage the intellect of our young, perhaps we have neglected the will. Subsequently we observe, with distress, the notion of freedom being distorted. Freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in - a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would ultimately disregard the very truth we need in order to understand ourselves. A particular responsibility therefore for each of you, and your colleagues, is to evoke among the young the desire for the act of faith, encouraging them to commit themselves to the ecclesial life that follows from this belief. It is here that freedom reaches the certainty of truth. In choosing to live by that truth, we embrace the fullness of the life of faith which is given to us in the Church...

Visit the Official Site

click here to jump to our youtube page