The second round of today's news from the Vatican ( see previous post today here.)
Today, January 3rd, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for The Feast Of The Most Holy Name of Jesus at the Jesuit Mother Church in Rome, along with 300 fellow Jesuits, and gave thanks for the New French Jesuit Saint Peter Faber/Pierre Favre.
Click here also. Extract - "In his homily, Pope Francis spoke of the particular way in which the Jesuit Order is marked – and desires to be signed - by the name of Jesus: “To march,” he said, “beneath the standard of His Cross.”
Pope Francis went on to explain that this means sharing in and having Christ’s very own sentiments. “It means,” he said, “to think like Him, to love like Him, to see [things the way He sees them], to walk like Him – it means doing what He did, and with the same sentiments He had, with the sentiments of His heart.”
The canonisation of Peter Faber was announced by Pope
Francis on 17 December. Pierre Favre, was the first companion of St. Ignatius
of Loyola – for this reason he is known as “the second Jesuit” – and one of the
founders of the Society of Jesus, of which he was also the first priest. The
tombs of St. Ignatius and St. Pierre Favre are located in the Church of the
Most Holy Name of Jesus.
Pope Francis dedicated his homily to the new saint, and said
that he was a “restless” man of “lofty desires”: “it is necessary to search for
God to find Him, and to find him in order to seek him again, and for ever. Only
this restlessness brings peace to the heart of a Jesuit, a restlessness that is
also apostolic, so that we never tire of proclaiming the kerygma, of
evangelising with courage. And it is restlessness that prepares us to receive
the gift of apostolic fruitfulness. Without restlessness, we are sterile”.
“And this was the restlessness of Pierre Favre”, continued
the Pope, “a man of lofty desires, another Daniel. Favre was a 'modest,
sensitive man with a profound inner life. He was endowed with the gift of
making friends with people from every walk of life'. However, his was a
restless, indecisive spirit, never satisfied.
Under the guidance of St. Ignatius he learned to unite his restless but gentle – indeed exquisite – sensibility with a capacity to make decisions. He was a man of lofty desires; he took charge of his desires, he recognised them. Rather, for Favre, it was precisely when faced with difficult tasks that he demonstrated the true spirit that sets into action”.
“An authentic faith always implies a deep desire to change
the world. And this is the question we should pose ourselves: do we too have
great visions and zeal? Are we bold too? Do our dreams fly high? Are we
consumed by zeal? Or are we mediocre and satisfied with our theoretical
apostolic plans?
Let us always remember that the strength of the Church does
not reside in herself or in her organisational capacity, but is instead
concealed in the deep waters of God.
And these waters agitate our desires, and our desires expand our hearts. It is as St. Augustine said: pray to desire and desire to expand your heart. It was precisely in his desires that Favre was able to discern the voice of God.
Without desires, one cannot go forth, and this is why we must offer our desires to the Lord. In the Constitutions it is said that we help our neighbours with the wishes presented to the Lord God”.
And these waters agitate our desires, and our desires expand our hearts. It is as St. Augustine said: pray to desire and desire to expand your heart. It was precisely in his desires that Favre was able to discern the voice of God.
Without desires, one cannot go forth, and this is why we must offer our desires to the Lord. In the Constitutions it is said that we help our neighbours with the wishes presented to the Lord God”.
Favre, affirmed Pope Francis, “had the true and deep desire
to open up in God”: he was completely centred in God, and for this reason he
was able to go everywhere in Europe, in a spirit of obedience and often on
foot, to enter into dialogue with everyone, with gentleness, and to proclaim
the Gospel.
I think of the temptation that perhaps we experience, to which many people succumb, to link the proclamation of the Gospel with inquisitionary bludgeoning and condemnation.
No, the Gospel must be proclaimed with gentleness, in a fraternal spirit, with love.His familiarity with God led him to understand that inner experience and apostolic life always go together. He writes in his Memorial that the first movement of the heart must be that of desiring that which is essential and originary, or rather that priority must be reserved for seeking God, our Lord.
I think of the temptation that perhaps we experience, to which many people succumb, to link the proclamation of the Gospel with inquisitionary bludgeoning and condemnation.
No, the Gospel must be proclaimed with gentleness, in a fraternal spirit, with love.His familiarity with God led him to understand that inner experience and apostolic life always go together. He writes in his Memorial that the first movement of the heart must be that of desiring that which is essential and originary, or rather that priority must be reserved for seeking God, our Lord.
Favre experienced the desire to let the centre of his heart
be occupied by Christ.
Only when centred in God is it possible to go out towards the peripheries of the world! Favre journeyed without respite even to geographical frontiers; indeed, it was said of him that he appeared to have been born never to stay still in any one place.
Only when centred in God is it possible to go out towards the peripheries of the world! Favre journeyed without respite even to geographical frontiers; indeed, it was said of him that he appeared to have been born never to stay still in any one place.
Favre was consumed by the intense desire to communicate the
Lord. If we do not have the same desire, then we need to pause a while in
prayer and, with silent fervour, ask the Lord, through the intercession of our
brother Pierre, that we might again experience the fascination of the Lord who
led Pierre in his 'apostolic follies'”, concluded Pope Francis.
Related articles
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More excellent information on Peter Faber from William Ockham here and great to see my friend Claire Bangasser mentioned in William's post, ( one of my favourite writers too !) for her gift of a document on the Spirituality of Peter Faber by Severin Leitner.
- Click here for a homily for the Feast of St Ignatius Loyola on 31 July, 2013, given by Fr Michael Holman SJ who describes his visit to a chapel just outside Rome that Ignatius himself visited in 1537. As he prayed there, the founder of the Society of Jesus had an experience that informed his own mission; an experience which would in turn, shape the identity of his companions and all those in Ignatian orders today.
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