The Greater Glory

[Music] take and receive oh Lord my liy take all my will my my [Music] meor to the and [Music] all our Story begins not once upon a time but about 400 years ago when a wounded soldier conceived a plan it was a very modest little plan in the beginning he thought that he'd gather a group of companions around him and go to Palestine for a life of prayer and service among the holy places his name was Ignatius of lyola he was a an old man of 30 at the time half his life was spent his education had been rudimentary just reading and writing and that sort of thing so in the beginning he never dreamed of founding a great worldwide organization such however and it's interesting to note the fact such was the instrument chosen by God to turn back the tide of the Reformation in Europe and win so many parts of the world for Christ this little group that he planned to take Palestine with him grew in time to a worldwide organization of thousands of Scholars thousands of missionaries known as the society or the company of Jesus more popularly as the Jesuits and the scope Advanced from taking care of a few holy places in Jerusalem to taking care of anything in the whole wide world that promised the greater glory of God a part of that immense scope as wide as the church itself came to be North and South America which had been discovered just a year before Ignatius was born and so we Jesuits came out here full of Hope about 400 years ago 47 years before Jamestown was founded 60 years before the Pilgrims set foot on the celebrated Rock and here we've been ever since part of American History part of the American tradition and so it's natural that people ask us sometimes well just what are these Jesuits and how does a man become a Jesuit in the first place Jesuits are young men who have caught something of the vision of St Ignatius and to come to an noviciate like St Andrew on Hudson ready to exchange the warm and wonderful human Joys they have known for the strange new warmth and wonder of dedication to God now they are called novices beginners who are taking their first steps in the following of Christ for 15 years of tomorrows they will sanctify and prepare themselves through the distinctive routine of religious and Scholastic training that makes a Jesuit for 2 years as they live in monastic silence in hourly obedience to a bell the novices will study the society and the society will study the novices the road ahead is long and arduous when they have settled into their new life the novices begin what is known as the long retreat a full month spent in prayer in meditation and in silence for 30 days the novices follow the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius learning to know Christ more intimately that they may love him more ardently and follow him more [Music] closely under the personal direction of the master of novices they seek to know themselves and to understand God's will for [Music] them alone on a mountain with God the they search their hearts and find the meaning of the life of dedication that lies before [Music] them for the next 2 years they will strive to understand and apply the principles they learned in their long retreat by doing the humble tasks of the community they begin to discover both the cost and comfort of plain hard work they begin to see and be glad that they are called to labor in imitation of Christ the carpenter son the educational standards for the novices are high they must know and learn to speak Latin the language of the Catholic Church in the classic tradition they must read and write Greek modern language studies too are continued in another [Music] ship the devotions of a Jesuit begin and end his day rising at 5:30 he is in the chapel by 6 for a full hour of meditation followed by mass at 7 is daily order punctuated by the Bell is broken up into classes spiritual conferences spiritual reading examination of conscience more meditation study and regular hours of meals work and Community prayers including his recitation of the Rosary it is a long and busy day and it ends always with prayers for their benefactors families and friends both living and dead the noip is truly a test of [Music] dedication and there's still a long long way to [Music] go but the two years pass quickly and almost before before they know it the novices have reached their first great milestone along the road their day of dedication they hear their last mass as novices and just before receiving Holy Communion pronounced their simple Perpetual vows before the Heavenly courts who are called as Witnesses each novice in turn bows himself to Perpetual poverty Chastity and obedience in the Society of Jesus now he is called a junior and moves up to the Junior's wing the physical surroundings are much the same but there will be important differences his future ministry as a Jesuit educator scholar aitor writer or missionary although it seems so distant at the moment will demand a well Tred and thoroughly informed intellect he may wonder how one small head can hold all of this but the early Jesuits knew the capacity of the dedicated mind knew that two years were not too short for the thorough study of the ancient Classics Cicero Virgil and Horus Homer demosthenes Plato and Aristotle in the case of young men whose Hearts were totally consecrated to their work provided the rigorous hours of study were relieved by a daily period of vigorous Recreation energetic young minds could assimilate the modern Classics as well English and Continental mathema ICS and history ancient medieval and modern the junior has learned from the great orators of all time how men's minds are influenced now he must attempt to express his own thoughts forcefully and elegantly and so his course includes elocution and public speaking his first real test comes when he preaches to the community at [Music] dinner both the content of his sermon and the delivery of it are subject to the appraisal of a highly critical audience [Music] in Dramatics and debating he gains further confidence and experience invaluable assets for the future teacher lecturer and priest God's will for the junior is study long quiet hours with his books but he grows in wisdom and understanding through his studies and in grace through his three hours of daily [Music] devotions all in all it is a very happy period of his [Music] life but the time has come to move on to the the next phase of his training three years at the major Seminary such as Woodstock College in Maryland where he studies philosophy and the Sciences as he matures habits of work study and devotion become second nature to him his previous training has provided him with the tools of the scholar here he will begin to apply these tools as a member of a community of Scholars he has a room of his own sharing only with God the Privacy he needs for more penetrating and reflective [Music] study [Music] as a junior he learned to understand how man lives as a philosopher he will learn how man thinks from the writings of Aristotle and Plato of Augustine Thomas aquinus and Suarez he will learn God's wondrous order of reality his quest is for meaning the meaning behind his own life and the life of [Music] others in classes deep discussions often take the place of lectures as a philosopher he studies the nature of reason of the human soul of God he seeks the essence of being of material creation of morality with each passing day he grows in knowledge in understanding and in love for God this is his life for 3 years he is now ready for his next step forward when for the next 3 years he will be a teacher himself his last prayer as a philosopher is a plea for guidance and strength as he leaves the Closter for the first time in s [Music] years he will be assigned to one of the high schools or colleges of the province or to one of the Jesuit schools in the Philippines [Music] after those quiet years of studious silence it can be quite shock but where there is a will of God there is also the way of God now as a Jesuit Regent he will continue to seek that way finding it during these three intensely active years just as he did during the past seven he is an apostle of Christ going forth among his fellow men to work for the greater glory of God could a regent ask for a more fertile field these boys of today are the men of tomorrow he will teach them Latin and Greek English and math and modern language but most important of all he will impart to them the wisdom he has acquired showing them the meaning of God's way in every phase of their daily lives even as he teaches he learns relating his theoretical knowledge to the Realties of human conduct meeting and solving human problems besides teaching a Jesuit Regent directs a number of extracurricular activities here even more than in the classroom he comes to appreciate the warmth and satisfaction of working with the souls of his little flock his Devotion to them is a new and wonderful experience each year brings him closer to God and to [Music] them but there are other satisfactions that are not yet his ministry is reserved to the sacred priesthood as his third year of teaching draws to a close he Longs for ordination he is ready and anxious to begin the final studies that will prepare him for the priesthood [Music] so it's back to the major Seminary for four years of sacred Theology and the cloyed life of a Jesuit seminarian now he is known as a theologian he will be ordained a priest at the the end of his third year of [Music] theology in dogmatic theology he will learn to defend the revealed truths of the Catholic faith in moral theology he will study the precepts of Christian morality and conduct in the pages of sacred scripture he will ponder God's wonderful revelation of himself to men canon law will be the study of church CH legislation ecclesiastical history will unfold the amazing growth and activity of the church through the centuries there will be many other subjects too liturgy and rights archaeology and patristics Hebrew and the teachings of the papal encyclical he penetrates deeply into Divine Mysteries seeking as a mortal the greatest possible knowledge of the [Music] infinite he knows that the fate of many Souls May well rest upon the Perfection of his [Music] understanding in many moments of fatigue or discouragement with his own limitations he prays for the strength to overcome them and dispel his [Music] weariness the days slip by as class follows class and each weighty volume is replaced by one of even deeper [Music] meaning during his years of theology he also learns the rights and ceremonies of the priesthood these are the external signs through which God's grace will come into the souls of men they require long hours of practice at the moment they are mere rehearsals but what a joy they [Music] are so soon will they be the sacraments administered by himself a priest and finally the great day arrives I will go unto the altar of [Music] God he is about to become a priest [Music] indeed [Music] hallelu hallelu hallelu [Music] hallelu the 15th and final year of his training the Jesuit spends a deteran ship Like Our Lady Of Martyrs at Orville New York ground forever hallowed by the blood of the first canonized American Martyrs St Isaac J St John lond s RI Gil he becomes a novice again for a year of prayer meditation and work studies the spiritual exercises of St ignacius with a new purpose he has grown to know and love them in his own Retreats now he prepares himself to give the spiritual exercises to [Music] others and then the day Dawns that is different from any other in his life the 15 years of tomorrow's that seemed so long to the novice have become yesterday's the future he has dreamed about and prepared for is suddenly today through all the years of his studies he has been readying himself for a call and now the call has come where will the Battlefront be his assignment his status as the Jesuit familiarly call it is posted on the bulletin board there in a single sentence is his immediate future where and how he will begin his lifetime of dedicated labor for God's greater [Music] glory his call may be to the university to one of the 41 American Jesuit universities and colleges with their five schools of medicine eight schools of engineering 13 law schools 16 Business Schools 16 schools of industrial relations and the other Myriad facets of higher education wherein lies America's strongest defense against [Music] communism or the young priest's call may be to one of the many high schools of the American Jesuit at least one in nearly every large city of the United States his call may be to literary or editorial work to become an apostle of the press following in the long line of Jesuit authors or in the editorial offices of one of the many Jesuit Publications that carry the word of God across the world in New York alone the Jesuits publish America the Catholic mind thought Jesuit missions the messenger of the Sacred Hearts his call May beckon him overseas to the vital field of the foreign missions to take his place in the vast Army of Jesuit missionaries 5,000 of them stretching into every every Outpost of the world the largest foreign missionary order of men in the Catholic [Music] Church his call may take him to pastoral work in a busy Jesuit Parish or to conduct the spiritual exercises in one of the many Jesuit Retreat houses where Catholic Layman find spiritual strength and refreshment in meditation silence and closer communion with [Music] God he may be called to be a chaplain with our armed forces or in a hospital where souls in pain need the comfort of Christ where deep insight into human nature and understanding of God's will is necessary to console and strengthen those who suffer but wherever the call leads wherever there are souls to be saved for Christ wherever there are battles to be won for the church these young men will follow prepared in the Jesuit tradition to strive forever for the greater glory of God my PR [Music] anding all for