DEDICATION OF NOVITIATE CHAPEL
MARCH 19, 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
So, of course, the burning question this morning should be: “How many bishops does it take to consecrate a chapel for a Jesuit novitiate?” With five of us here, together with so many of our brother priests, and so many of you generous supporters of the Jesuits, of the church and of the gospel of Jesus Christ, this celebration is such a loud prayer that God cannot help but incline his ear and turn his face of mercy in our direction.
If I may be permitted to offer a sentence or two of memory before commenting on today’s feast of St. Joseph, I ask us to pause for just a moment and remember Fr. Peter Filice, S. J., who was the one who found this space for the California Province to relocate our novitiate and who, today, along with St. Joseph, Our Lady, Queen of the Society of Jesus and Saint Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, St. Peter Faber, smile on us from their places in the heavenly court from where they continually intercede for us. I also want to bring to mind Frs. Randy Roche and Ed Fassett who were my collaborators on the novitiate staff when we inaugurated the new novitiate here in Culver City in 1992 and who were largely responsible for the transition of Culver City Bible College into Ignatius House.
The extensive renovations to the house and the grounds and the other buildings quickly exhausted the funds which had been designated for the relocation. And so, despite the plaintive pleas from the architect that we destroy the humble and unsightly tool shed which stood precisely where we are now sitting and put up a proper chapel, we were given simple and clear directives from on high: gut it, clean it, paint it, furnish it, use it, and shut your mouth. The biggest argument between those in the office and those in the field, incidentally, was whether, because of the expense, the St. Ignatius window would be installed. As you see, it is here, so you know who won the argument, not so much because of reason or devotion, but because of the persuasive power of whining and threats and tears and everything else in my arsenal. Our late Provincial, Fr. Paul Belcher, because of his extraordinary patience with me during those months, has me to thank because I surely helped him to earn his place in heaven.
So, sisters and brothers, how wonderful it is that we could have this celebration on the feast of St. Joseph, the Spouse of the Virgin Mary, the foster father of Jesus, the Patron of Workers and Guardian of the universal Church. The virtues Joseph modeled have been admired and incorporated into the traditions of both men and women in consecrated life, all of whom we thank and pray for today; and, in fact, Pope Francis, shortly after his election three years ago restored Joseph to the place of prominence he deserves in the history and tradition of the Church.
For the over 50 years of my Jesuit life, I have been particularly drawn to St. Joseph. As a matter of fact, when I was a novice, and learning the method of Ignatian prayer called contemplation, it was Joseph who was the first to lead me from prayer in the head to prayer in the heart.
In the prayer of contemplation, the person at prayer is encouraged to enter into the gospel scene as a participant and to apply the five senses to the events and to interact with the people in the scene. The scene I was contemplating was the Holy Family, under the supervision and protection of Joseph, on the road to Egypt as they were fleeing the monster, Herod. I pictured Mary and the baby Jesus asleep; but Joseph and I were awake and sitting on the ground, keeping watch. Joseph had his head in his hands, but then he lifted his head, looked squarely at me and hunched his shoulders in this manner….as if to say: “Wow, how did I ever get in this situation? I have no idea what this means or where this is going. This is all I know: I trust God and God will not abandon me.”
Right then and there, Joseph won my heart. And he won it, not by anything he said, Joseph doesn’t say a single thing in the Bible, he won my heart because of what he did. He won my heart through his unshakeable faith, through his courageous steadfastness, through his reflex commitment to protection of those he loved and was charged with guarding and providing for, and for his willingness to assume a simple, and even a hidden, role in the grand drama of salvation history.
I find myself drawn to Joseph because, in the manner of St. Ignatius, love, for Joseph, meant primarily deeds. Since there are none of his words we can chew over, exegete and pound into new meanings, we have only the powerful witness of his deeds: the humble submission to the providence of God. Joseph’s fiat was not in his words, as it was for Mary, his wife; Joseph’s fiat was in his deeds.
The novices who will worship and pray here in this space will need to look to Joseph. Like Jesus, the novices will learn from Joseph every spiritual discipline and insight Joseph encountered in his walk with God: wondering what God is doing, being afraid that what God is asking is too much, feeling the loss of one’s own expectations, pursuing the habits of daily fidelity and simple living, watching divinity being revealed in the ordinary. And trusting, always trusting. We sometimes forget that Joseph never heard Jesus preach, he never saw Jesus work a miracle; yet he obeyed with manly courage and, along with Mary, carefully instilled in Jesus all the human virtues that began to distinguish Jesus from others and, thus, draw all others into an encounter with the living God.
Here at the Novitiate of the Three Companions, there are plenty of lives of our Jesuit brothers that novices now and for many years to come, God willing, will strive to emulate: The Three Companions themselves, of course, our Jesuit saints and blesseds: holy men, preachers, teachers, advocates for the poor and marginalized, theologians, parish priests, missionaries, martyrs who continue to embody and enrich our deepest aspirations and our imagination. There are also the exemplary lives of other Jesuits who are not canonized and some who are still living, whose lives are characterized by that burning love for God and zeal for souls which so captivated St. Ignatius.
In the old novitiate, which is to say: when I was a novice, at the end of our evening recreation, before silence descended on the house for the night, we all said a prayer to St. Joseph, to protect and guide us through the night and throughout the years of our vocation. One phrase I remember from that prayer: “Memor esto Societatis, Jesu nomine signate.” It means: “Be mindful of that Society named for Jesus.” It’s a prayer every Jesuit should say every day.
Pray for us, St. Joseph, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.