A reflection on and response to Michael P.’s postings

I appreciate Michael P.’s engagement of my thoughts posted yesterday. Unlike Michael, I cannot state with such confidence: “that many believers—including Christians—live morally abominable lives, and given that many nonbelievers live morally exemplary lives” so why would I (Araujo) “think that being a believer is a necessary (though) not sufficient) condition of gaining eternity…” Believers and non-believers alike, are sinners. This certainly includes me. The fact that I am a believer is no guarantee of my eternal fate. But I strive, along with many other believers, to respond affirmatively to the call to holiness and the path to God. This is something to which the non-believer has, by self-chosen disbelief, become disengaged. My efforts and those of others who respond to discipleship are called to assist in the effort to evangelize the un-evangelized—and the method to be used is by proposition, by engagement, rather than by other means, as I stated in my post to which Michael has responded.

I am no other person’s judge in matters about eternal life. That is God’s prerogative solely. But, if I am faithful to the call to discipleship and the duties of evangelization, it is my responsibility, as it is that of other Christians, to assist others in seeking God. I may not be a success in the exercise of responsibility, and I may even fail. But that is not what is essential. What is crucial to belief in God is that I must not lapse in my fidelity to the work that I as a Christian have been called to do.

Michael has reminded us in the past about his own Jesuit education [HERE] which seems to have left an imprint on his life. I was two years behind Michael at the same institution he attended and shared in the same education that he did. We had the opportunity to be taught, ministered to, and counseled by a good number of Jesuit priests and a few scholastics. We both encountered these men whose purpose, as stated in the Formula of the Institute establishing the Society of Jesus, is this:

to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine, by means of public preaching, lectures, and any other ministration whatsoever of the word of God and further by means of the Spiritual Exercises, the education of children and unlettered persons in Christianity and the spiritual consolation of Christ’s faithful through hearing confessions and administering the other sacraments. Moreover, this Society should show itself no less useful in reconciling the estranged, in holily assisting and serving those who are found in prisons or hospitals and, indeed, in performing any other works of charity, according to what will seem expedient for the glory of God and the common good.

Several decades ago I responded to the call to contribute to this purpose when I entered the Society of Jesus. I am not called to judge others, but I am called to help others, whoever they may be, to God and the salvation promised by Christ through the Christian faith. When I made my final solemn profession nine years ago, I freely obligated myself

by a special vow to carry out whatever the present and future Roman pontiffs may order which pertains to the progress of souls and the propagation of faith; and to go without subterfuge or excuse, as far as in us lies, to whatever provinces they may choose to send us…

The law of the Society that I freely obliged myself requires this of me: to devote myself as a member of the Order

with God’s grace not only to the salvation and perfection of the member’s own souls, but also with that same grace to labor strenuously in giving aid toward the salvation and perfection of the souls of [my] fellow men.

Moreover, the Complementary Norms applicable to the work to which I have responded also require this of me: to be a servant of

Christ’s universal mission in the Church and in the world of today, [to] procure that integral salvation in Jesus Christ which is begun in this life and will be brought to its fulfillment in the life to come. (Italics are mine)

It strikes me that my responsibilities as a Catholic Christian who is also a Jesuit are not inconsistent with what one of my favorite authors once said:

it is simply not true that according to the position I am presenting here, the moral insight achieved over time by the various religious traditions, by the various historically extended religious communities, has at most only a marginal place in public political debate about the morality of human conduct. Such insight… may play a central role even in a politics constrained by the ideal of nonestablishment.    Michael Perry

RJA sj