JesuitSpeak VII

By: Fr. C. Hightower, S.J.

Contemplatives-in-Action

For a Jesuit, contemplation and action are not distinct and disparate realities, but rather simultaneous phases of a single action.  The first Companions were radically service orientated.  They avoided individualistic piety while also avoiding mere humanistic activism.  Ignatian spirituality, when practiced completely, frees one totally for the secular, exactly because it anchors one absolutely in Christ.   

The Apostolic works of the Society of Jesus are meant to be expansive; they cannot and must not become rigid, but demand continual reassessment and imaginative input.  A Jesuit, along with any and all who share in this mission, use all the gifts and graces available to express  one’s relationship with first Christ, and then, the Church.  To do this, one must be open to the movements of the Spirit. 

Ignatius, originally, directed the Society’s efforts towards whatever reached more individuals and therefore did more universal good.  At Gonzaga, we do this by educating students to be active participants in the Kingdom of God.  We want our students to be reflective of their interior lives, to listen to the Spirit, to understand Salvation History; then, and only then, will they be characterized as Contemplatives-in-Action.