Saturday, November 23, 2013

A Thorough Jesuit

" Can I refuse to become holy when God Himself entreats me to be holy ? ' Walk before Me and be perfect.' ' Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.' Another great motive for becoming a saint — the wish, the command of God ! I have been called by God to be a member of the Society of His Son. To be a true Jesuit I must be a close imitator of Jesus Christ, an ' alter Christus.' The Society was instituted to glorify the Name of Jesus by its learning, by its zeal, but above all by its holiness. I must, therefore, strain after three things : to become learned, an authority on all subjects, not for self or the glory of self, but for God and the glory of God ; to become a lover of souls ; to become holy, this first and foremost, because the Jesuit without sanctity is no true son of Ignatius. " O loving Saviour, forgive me the past, accept me repentant, help me, for I am going to become with Thy assistance — A Thorough Jesuit and a Great Saint."
Link (here) to the biography of Fr. William Doyle, S.J.

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