Formation and Mission
When I look back the past 50 years in the Society of Jesus, I feel grateful to the Society – All I am and all I have achieved I entirely owe to the Jesuit Order. If I could summarize my life so far, I could do that in two words: formation and mission.
Formation, in my opinion has three aspects: i. Formation for mission; ii. Formation in mission; and iii. Mission in formation. The first we have been discussing in the past; the second we are talking about now; and the third would dawn on us sooner or later.
The best part of my formation took place in the Pre-Noviciate and the Juniorate – There I got the principle and foundation of my Jesuit life. The rest of my training and formation in India, Germany, and the USA is like raising up the edifice. Picking up atomic habits and becoming familiar with micro-management in my formation are like interior decoration of the building. My formation motivated me, as James Clear says in his book Atomic Habits (2018). The Society taught me to start with very easy things, then getting into easy matters, further into a little difficult events, on to more difficult phase, and finally even the impossible thing to achieve. Take for example, writing: You begin writing one sentence a day, soon you could, with ease, write a paragraph, you could go on to write a page, next you would be able to write a short paper, and finally you could end up authoring a book. This is known as the two-minute rule: You want to run a marathon – All you need to start with is put on the running-shoes and tie the strings, then just take 10 steps, further you could walk a few hundred meters, then running a Km may not be difficult, eventually you could run the marathon with ease. All because of habit building which started from atomic habits but with remarkable results.
Once you are well founded in habit formation, then comes the micro-management. You need to practice professionalism whatever work you choose to do or whatever work is entrusted to you. My micro-administrative position in the high school was as first line-monitor, that is, keeping the fellow students in line to go to the Mass or when we went outing. Then I became the study monitor to ensure that all students study without any distraction. In the Society, I was appointed beadle in the Pre-Noviciate, Noviciate, and Juniorate – In these places I learnt typing well and now I could save a lot of time in writing and I could gain proficiency in my work.
So, when I look back I see that the Society offered me a number of opportunities and all I did was to grab them and make use of them and gain expertise. And one final word: find your own vocation within the greater vocation of the Society. The Society might assign or entrust you with various missions, but you develop your own vocation which cannot be snatched from you. In my case, I began reading and reflecting, and today I enjoy writing – I feel I could combine my expertise in religion and science. This will be with me and always mine, whatever mission is assigned to me. And this vocation within vocation would keep you fit and would make you happy. Let us make the best use of all the opportunities for our formation and for the mission later. You would, at the end of the day, realize, the Jesuit life is i. critical thinking; ii. decision making based on discernment; and iii. owning responsibility for your thinking and action.
One other factor that would keep you sane and humane is building up friendship – lasting and meaningful friendship. It is our friends, both in the Society and outside, who keep reminding us of our mission and they would often give us course correction, as and when needed. Happiness is what matters most in life and let us lead a happy and meaningful life always.
Francis P Xavier SJ
15Feb2022