SPIRIT WOW: THIS IS OBEDIENCE (Part 2)

Getting What You Asked For (and Not) (and Deciding Which is Better); Facing Your Own Frailty; and How to Get Jesuits to Do What You Want.

Previously, in Pop Culture Spirit Wow:

(Yes, I love getting to do a Previously On.)

The vow of obedience used to be like the hokey pokey; now it’s more like two people in a dark trying to listen for Deborah (although sometimes you do just have to put your left hand in)! The Jesuits were manifesting before any of us were in diapers! Nothing lasts, except the equal possibilities of whiplash and happy surprise!

And now, we continue with what it’s like to live under a vow of obedience.

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STATUS REPORT

Are you one of those people who loves a sports draft? Or that moment in a heist movie where they go through all the possible characters they can include and then recruit their members?

The Jesuits have something kind of like this. Right around the 31^st of July—the feast of St. Ignatius, which is our high holy day—most provinces send out a thing called “The Status.” This document includes a list of every Jesuit in the province who is having a change of assignment—which could be anything from a new job to a new residence to going on leave, ahem.  

(Friend of the wow David Gibson noted when Pope Francis was named Pope, the New York Province status listed him as Name: Jorge Bergoglio; New Job: Pope, Rome.)