The Kind of Jesuit You Want to be

The Kind of Jesuit You Want to be

After reading the article entitled "Reading the Letter on the Social Apostolate" by Bartolomeo Sorge, SJ (See.http://www.sjweb.info/sjs/pjold/pj_show.cfm?PubTextID=933), I am personally interested to become a Jesuit missioned in the social apostolate. I think it is a quite big challenge for every Jesuit and those interested in Jesuit Life to promote justice and propagate faith among the poor. At first, when I joined the Society of Jesus, I never thought about the social apostolate. In other words, I am more interested to work in the colleges, parish and spiritual service apostolates. However, day after day, my mind was changed by some experiences I got in the Society that made me very concerned about the problem of poverty. Poverty is not only the church’s problem, but also the country’s problem.

In my opinion, we, the Jesuits, have to intervene and deal with this problem in order to support both our church and nation. It is according to our sense of unity of the church or sentire cum ecclesiae. I am inspired by Indonesian first native Bishop, Mgr. Albert Soegijapranata, SJ. He said, “If you want to be 100% Catholic, you must be 100% Indonesian first”. This is like an invitation for all of us to participate in solving the problem of poverty. It must be not easy and occasionally we are stressed because this problem is really complicated. That is why as a young Jesuit, I feel enkindled to be down-to-earth by promoting justice and propagate faith among the poor. In brief, I am ready to be missioned to the poor in the social apostolate because it is my ardent desire. How about you?

Yours in Christ,
Siwi