Ode to the Jesuits

Anyone who knows me well can tell you that I have an obsession with the Jesuits. I suppose the fascination started with my first encounter with Fr. Joseph Fessio SJ whose passionate words on liturgical reform (among other things)caused my soul to stir. In fact, he was the one who first introduced me to the man and writings of the then Cardinal Ratzinger. I would follow Fr. Fessio around like a silly school-girl with a crush. The poor man couldn't watch a baseball game without me by his side. I even made up a song about him but I won't go there... I am sure, now, he doesn't remember my name (or maybe even my existence - she brushes a single tear off her cheek) but I'll never forget him because it is to this tall, dark SJ that I owe a somewhat unique dimension of my faith. Since then, I have been exposed to only the best Jesuits the order has to offer. Because of this, I have a hard time swallowing the commonly negative generalizations made about the order as a whole. For the history of my encounters with the Jesuits continues with the 5 cataclysmic months spent in Oxford under the spiritual care and guidance of the SJ I love most, Fr. David Meconi. He then introduced me to a Polish SJ named Janusz who took me around my favorite country: Poland!! He spent nearly a week showing me everything concerning JP the Great. The most recent experience I had with the Jesuits was at the last WYD in Cologne, Germany. There was a group of 10 or so SJ's who led us on a pilgrimage dedicated to the Sacred Heart. I will forever be grateful to these men who seem to know exactly how to be in the world but not of it, because they influenced, heavily, the faith of my brother who now shares my appreciation for this particular order. In D.C. I am fortunate enough to know a small handful of saintly SJ's as well. But the story doesn't end here. The Jesuits in heaven take care of me too and occasionally send me small signs to remind me of this fact. For even today, on the feast of St, Francis Xavier, I received a postcard in the mail, from a friend, of Montserrat and the Black Madonna where St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was there on March 25, 1522, visited and hung his military accouterments before the image of the Virgin. It was after that, that he went and spent several months in a cave near the town of Manresa, Catalonia where he practiced the most rigorous asceticism and wrote the spiritual exercises!! Although this doesn't concern St. Francis directly, it does secondarily, in the sense that he was the best friend of Ignatius and became a member of the Society of Jesus. I love all the sainted Jesuits: Ignatius, Francis Xavier, Edmund Campion, Aloysius Gonzaga, and the North American martyrs. They were so manly and holy! So, on the feast of St. Francis Xavier, I beg you to join me in soliciting the intercession of these men for all the Jesuits here on earth, the good and the bad. I'll end with a quote from St. Francis Xavier, "We must be wary of our own strength and trust in God immensely. Let us never show discouragement and never doubt victory." Consoling words as I start my studies for upcoming finals...