Editor’s Note: Jesuit life can seem opaque from the outside. “Inside Jesuit Life” is a new TJP series that invites Jesuits to share their stories of daily life in the Society of Jesus, how they live out their missions, and why they love their vocation.
I’ll never forget the look on my mom’s face the first time I said I was “going home” to a Jesuit community. To help paint a picture, all you need to know is this: she literally has a throw pillow that reads, “Home is where your mom is.”
Both of my parents have since come around to the idea, and have even visited me in many of the places that I’ve called home as a Jesuit. During my first two years in the Society of Jesus, I lived in ten states and one foreign country for a month or longer. I’ve since experienced a little more stability: two years in one community and two more homes during a six-month stint abroad.
There’s an old saying familiar to Jesuits that goes back to one of St. Ignatius’ most-trusted companions. When Fr. Jerome Nadal traveled the world visiting the earliest Jesuit communities, he encouraged his “friends in the Lord” to embrace their missionary call by saying, “The road is our home.” I’ve encountered various interpretations of that sentiment over the years.
The first time I traveled out of the country as a novice, an Ecuadorian Jesuit received me at the novitiate in Quito and said, “I’m not going to show you around. This is your home.” What at first felt like a jarring lack of hospitality quickly made sense: he wasn’t my host – what he had, we held in common.
One of my best friends is willing to call any community home so long as his name is posted on the door. It’s a custom that I’ve experienced in just about every Jesuit house – one that is extended to community members and guests alike. It’s a way of saying, so long as you’re here, all this is yours.
Everyone has their own way of settling into a place: I’ve seen some guys mark their territory by taking a nap on a very public couch, others by walking around with their shoes off. There are little expressions that claim I’m here now. What we have, we hold in common.
I’d be willing to bet, though, that if we asked Jesuits to really dig deep and name what makes them feel at home in a community, they wouldn’t point to the same set of paintings that seemingly hang in 95% of our communities worldwide. Nor would they mention the bulletin boards and napkin boxes that are staples in our somewhat strange, shared life. They’d point to what it is that we hold in common and what makes us who we are.
What makes a Jesuit community home is the fact that each man who resides there has a personal relationship with Jesus that he has developed through the Spiritual Exercises and that he allows to touch his daily life. That manifests itself in countless ways: listen to one of the brothers in my generation share about just how present he sees the Lord in sports, or glimpse another mimic God’s ministry in the world as he conducts a choir. See the joy on my fellow scholastic’s face as he cares for Christ by grilling burgers for his housemates. Hop in a kayak with another and catch him marveling at the Lord’s fingerprints in nature. Watch one put his prayer experiences into dance, and another use his voice to sing in multiple languages about God’s glory. Hear one more speak with the grace of the Holy Spirit as he talks about his love of Dunkin Donuts and teaching children about the life of Christ.
Jesuit community life ought not to be romanticized. It’s often odd, and every now and then, a day can be quite difficult. But when a guy voluntarily chooses to open up and share what makes him him, it’s remarkably special, and it certainly feels like home.
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Picture: Joe’s novitiate class at their profession of first vows in the Society of Jesus, August 2023. Courtesy of the author.