Each weekend St. Ignatius specifies a Poor Box collection for a needful cause. This week we are collecting for  Catholic Near East Welfare Agency (CNEWA) - for helping fellow Christians in Iraq. To learn more

Attached is the listing for the music selections at next Sunday's 10:30 Mass.

 

"The Society under the name of Jesus has lived difficult times of persecution. During the leadership of Father Lorenzo Ricci, 'enemies of the Church succeeded in obtaining the suppression of the Society' (John Paul II, A Message to Fr. General Kolvenbach, July 31, 1990) by my predecessor Clement XIV. Today, remembering its restoration, we are called to recover our memory, calling to mind the benefits received and the particular gifts given. Today, I want to do that here with you."

 

Francis went on to speak about Father Ricci. (Ricci had been elected General of the Society in 1758 shortly before Portugal expelled all the Jesuits from its territories. This event was followed by the Jesuits' expulsion from Spain and France and several places in Italy. When Clement XIV suppressed the Society throughout the world, he had Ricci and his staff imprisoned in the dreaded papal dungeon of Casa Sant'Angelo. Ricci was put on trial and was found completely innocent of all judicial charges. He should have been released but was left incarcerated under harsh conditions and died in the papal prison in 1775.)

 

The Pope praised the courageous leadership Ricci gave his brother Jesuits at the time of their greatest trial by encouraging them "to experience the death and resurrection of the Lord. Faced with the loss of everything, even of their public identity, the Jesuits did not resist the will of God; they did not resist the conflict, trying to save themselves. The Society--and this is beautiful--lived the conflict to the end, without minimizing it. It lived humiliation with the humiliated Christ; it obeyed."

 

Francis goes on to point out that "...Ricci comes, precisely in this time of confusion and bewilderment, to speak about the sins of the Jesuits. He does not defend himself, feeling like a victim of history, but he recognizes himself as a sinner...(H)e sees the hand of God's mercy which invites those who submit to the test, not to confide in anyone but God...Of importance for Ricci is that the Society, until the last, is true to the spirit of its vocation which is for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. The Society, even faced with its own demise, remained true to the purpose for which it was founded. To this, Ricci concludes with an exhortation to keep alive the spirit of charity, unity, obedience, patience, evangelical simplicity, and true friendship with God. Everything else is worldliness."

 

The Pope continues to address his listeners by encouraging them, "Let us remember our history: the Society "was given the grace not only to believe in the Lord, but also to suffer for his sake," (Philippians 1:29). We do well to remember this." Then Francis recalls one of the major reasons that inspired Pope Pius VII (1800-1824) to restore the Jesuits. "Pius VII wrote of wanting to restore the Society 'to support himself in an adequate way for the spiritual needs of the Christian world, without the difference of peoples and nations'." He points out that "The Society resumed its apostolic activity of preaching and teaching, spiritual ministries, scientific research and social action, the missions and care for the poor, the suffering and the marginalized."

 

Near the close of his sermon, Francis quotes the words of his predecessor, Pope Paul VI (1963-1978). "I confirm today what Paul VI told us (Jesuits) at our 32nd General Congregation (1974) and which I heard with my own ears: 'Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and extreme situations, in the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, where there has been and there is confrontation between the deepest desires of man and the perennial message of the Gospel, there you have been and there are Jesuits.'"

 

Concluding his remarks, Francis reminds his listeners "The Jesuit wants to be a companion of Jesus, one who has the same feelings of Jesus." He then closes with these final words: "Mary, Our Lady, Mother of the Society, will be touched by our efforts to be at the service of her Son. May she watch over us and protect us always."