Necessary Tensions, necessary Sacrifices!
Anthony de Mello in Awareness tells the story of a woman who once told him that when she was a child, her Jesuit cousin gave a retreat in the Jesuit church in Milwaukee. He opened each conference with the words: “The test of love is sacrifice, and the gauge of love is unselfishness.” That’s marvellous! I asked her, “Would you want me to love you at the cost of my happiness?” “Yes,” she answered. Isn’t that delightful? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? She would love me at the cost of her happiness and I would love her at the cost of my happiness, and so you’ve got two unhappy people, but long live love! (de Mello 8). At the heart of this story is the understanding that love is costly, meaning that choosing to love entails necessary sacrifices. For the woman and Tony de Mello, it would cost them their respective happiness. So, necessary tensions require necessary sacrifices, with tension understood as situations in which different needs or interests of community members cause difficulties. My brothers, I invite you to reflect with me on necessary tensions, necessary sacrifices!
This week, we have been reflecting on Chapter IV of the State of the Society of Jesus: “The Necessary Tensions in Our Life-Mission” (De Statu Societatis 64-79). In the text, Fr General tells us that “tensions such as being and doing, contemplation and action, prayer and living prophetically, being totally united to Christ and completely inserted in the world are inherent in the charism we have received through Ignatius and the founding group of the Society of Jesus” (DSS 64). We can add other tensions such as the community life and the individual life, the interest of the individual and the needs of the province, transparency of the inner life and the right to privacy, Jesuit vocation and lay vocation, social prestige and poverty, inter-cultures and diversity, inter-generations and digital natives, clericalism and simplicity, careerism and altruistic service, care of the apostolate and care of the individuals. The list goes on. We cannot entirely do away with tensions, neither can we entirely do away with ourselves because the two are inextricably linked. They are “necessary tensions” because they are characteristic attributes of existence.
It is okay to have tensions because they are “inherent in the charism we have received” (DSS 64). It is okay to have tensions because we are weak humans. It is okay to reflect on necessary tensions because the epochal changes taking place require discernment in common. It is okay to have community members with different needs or interests because they are unique in themselves and contribute that uniqueness to the community and apostolate. It is okay to have a rich diversity of community members because Jesus calls us to Himself, to ongoing qualification. It is because of Jesus that we are gathered together in a community and designated the Society of Jesus. When we have Jesus Christ at the centre of necessary tensions, then they become necessary sacrifices we make for Jesus Christ who continually calls us in our weaknesses.
The apostles in the Gospel of today understood that necessary tensions will always be there, but by listening to Jesus Christ all tensions become necessary sacrifices everyone makes for the eventual kingdom of God. The Gospel text tells us that Jesus called to Himself the twelve and began to mission them, two by two (Mark 7:6). In other words, Jesus calls and missions the apostle, the same way He calls every one of us to Himself; and then missions us to live in communities, as He missioned the twelve in pairs. Jesus understands that it is by living in communities that we can bear much fruit because we are stronger as one and necessary tensions do not stand a chance when we are undivided, as He is one with the Father (John 17:21-23).
Necessary tensions are like a sage who points at the moon, but what most people see is the finger. Tensions show us that we are weak and point us to Jesus who calls us to Himself and asks us to make necessary sacrifices. In the Gospel text, Jesus tells the apostles “to take nothing with them except a staff and sandals – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals, but not to take a spare tunic” (Mark 6:8-9). These were the necessary sacrifices that the apostles had to make as they went about preaching the gospel to all nations (Mark 13:10, 27; 16:15). Imagine the necessary sacrifices that Ignatius and the first companions had to make to save souls for Jesus Christ.
My dear brothers, necessary tensions will always be there and it is okay to have tensions. Where these tensions push away religion and Jesus Christ, necessary sacrifices are required. So, in our Life-mission, we must not push away Jesus Christ because secular tensions are engaged in this act. And like the apostles, we are invited to make necessary sacrifices for the eventual kingdom of God. May the Lord bless His words in our hearts both now and forevermore. Amen!
By Ikpodon Michael SJ