Seeking the Face of God

Here is a bit more from "Seeking the Face of God":

In seeking God, we quickly realize that no one is self-sufficient. Rather, we are called, in the light of faith, to move beyond self-centredness, drawn by God’s Holy Face and by the “sacred ground of the other”, to an ever more profound experience of communion.

Through Baptism, every Christian and every consecrated person is called to undertake this pilgrimage of seeking the true God. By the working of the Holy Spirit, it becomes a sequela pressius Christi – a path of ever greater configuration to Christ the Lord. This path finds notable expression in religious consecration, and, in a particular way, by the monastic life, which, from its origins, was seen as a specific way of living out one’s baptism.

2. Consecrated persons, by virtue of their consecration, “follow the Lord in a special way, in a prophetic way”. They are called to recognize the signs of God’s presence in daily life and wisely to discern the questions posed to us by God and the men and women of our time." 

We can reflect on this and I am sure that our General Chapter which is now in its fourth week in Italy is struggling with ways to discern God's presence in the world today and to respond to the calls God is making known to us for the Society of the Sacred Heart. 

This Sunday is the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. Last Sunday, the Pope celebrated the feast early at the Generalate of the Jesuits in Rome and actually wrote out a message for our General Chapter in Spanish. He asked the Lord for us to have both courage and patience to unfold life; he also asked us to pray for him and signed it affectionately, Francisco.