My Six Weeks a Jesuit Experience
By Juan Trujillo
To know a community is not the same as to read or research it. By doing so, you do not get to know a community, but you get to be informed about it. If you really want to know a community, then you have to go and live with it and experience what it means to be a part of it. Only then can you say you know it. This is what I came to do in the Six Weeks a Jesuit experience. I came to live and experience a Jesuit community and get to know what it means to be part of it. And it worked.
The experience began on July 3, 2008, with a two input-session days. In these sessions, Father Leonard Altilia, S.J, talked about the different dimensions in Jesuit life. The explanation of the three vows, the Jesuits' way of praying, an overview of the Jesuits' Spirituality, and the duties we would have at Martyrs' Shrine were some of the topics discussed. It was fruitful to receive this information because this data became the foundation of most of what we did during the six weeks. At the end of the two days, we had an opening mass in which Conor McCarthy, the other Six Weeks a Jesuit participant, and I were offered to our Lord, so He would accompany us in this experience of discernment and growth.
During the first couple of weeks, the members of the community and I had the chance to gradually get to know each other. Something I appreciated was that I was treated not as a possible candidate but as if I were already a Jesuit. This fact gave me a lot of confidence in sharing who I was with the community. Another thing that struck me was to discover the beauty of the diversity of personalities within one Jesuit community. It was in sharing with the Jesuits that I discovered that. Father Brennan told me everything about his Missions with the native people, Father Kirsten took me in the golf cars around the Shrine and told me the entire story of the place, Father Newman told me all about his travels to Honduras, Father Steve talked about being a teacher in Halifax, and Father Baranowski spoke about his missionary works in Zambia. It was a great chance to listen to their different life experiences as Jesuits.
Some of my duties in the Shrine had to do with serving at masses as a reader and Eucharistic minister, working in the office, and guiding traffic during the busy days of pilgrimage. By doing these activities, I was able to serve people from a Jesuit's apostolic perspective. This was very rewarding for me. Another thing I liked about working in the Shrine was that work time did not exceed four hours a day, so I had a lot of time to pray, discern about my vocation, read, and share with the community.
Martyrs' Shrine was the perfect place to live the experience. The Shrine is located in the countryside, far away from the busy world. This let me be at peace and encounter my inner Spirit. Another great advantage is the closeness to Sainte-Marie-among-the-Hurons, the place where the Jesuit Martyrs lived, and Saint Ignace, the place where Father Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalement were martyred. Being able to live the experience in these holy places truly helped me to open my heart, mind and soul to God's voice.
During the last weeks I had the chance to "collect the harvest." I had more time for meditation and reflection about the various feelings, emotions, thoughts, and spiritual movements I had during the experience. I was able to analyse what the phrase "getting to know" the Jesuits meant for me. Then on August 16, 2008, Father Altilia celebrated a mass to thank God for the opportunity of the Six Weeks a Jesuit and to ask Him to continue blessing Conor and me, in our Jesuit vocation.
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