To the Band of Brothers: November 6, 2020

Fr. Willie ‘87
Good morning!

Not to beat a dead horse with a stick, but a thought came to me yesterday as we celebrated the feast day of all Jesuit saints and blesseds of the Society of Jesus. As I mentioned in yesterday’s email, there are 51 saints and 150 blesseds. We posted on social media the image of a painting depicting all of them. That’s when the idea came to me.

I remember a couple of years ago when I was in New York visiting our alumni, I took advantage and visited one of the museums that I never went to when I was a student at Fordham University. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is located in the heart of Manhattan and boasts a huge collection of art from some of the most important and well-known artists of the modern era. I admit I am not much of a fan of modern art, but the opportunity to visit the museum and take in a little culture was too great to pass up.

As I walked through the different galleries, I was particularly struck by two pieces that hung side by side on the fifth floor of the museum. One of the pieces was called Three Women at the Spring, the other titled Three Musicians. The first was a somewhat realistic portrait of three plump women chatting away near a spring of water. The second one, on the other hand, was a completely abstract depiction of three musicians with their instruments and a dog sleeping at their feet.

I stood there for a long-time marveling at the contrast of both these paintings. What impressed me most was that both paintings, one radically different from the other, were painted by the same artist. Pablo Picasso painted both of them in the summer of 1921. I have never been a big fan of Picasso, but that one experience helped me to appreciate how radically creative he was and how powerful and different his works were and continue to be. He was such a mastermind!

So, this brings me back to yesterday. The celebration of all the Jesuit saints and blesseds recognized the men, who throughout the history of the Society of Jesus, lived their lives struggling daily to give witness to the gospel by what they said and did. Like Picasso’s paintings, what is really impressive is not only how powerful their lives were, but also how powerfully different.

For example, think of someone like St. Francis Xavier, S.J. He traveled the world preaching the gospel. From pearl divers in India to the Imperial Palace of Japan to the pirate-infested coast of China, he labored tirelessly, day and night, so others could experience the wonder of Jesus. Then there’s St. Alphonsus Rodríguez, S.J.  A Jesuit brother from Spain who spent his whole life as a simple doorman at the Jesuit college of Majorca, but whose spiritual insight and guidance of young Jesuit seminarians was so powerful, Jesuits from all over the world sought his counsel.

These two saints, like Picasso’s paintings, are drastically different but have the same creator. But unlike Picasso, God’s creativity and ingenuity are not over. To this day, He continues to produce powerful works that are also powerfully different. What a genius!

So, here’s a suggestion: with such a large number of Jesuit saints and blesseds of all sizes and colors, choose one (or two) for special devotion. Choose one who you can relate to because his story, his culture, and accomplishments, resound with your own life and your own concerns. Choose the one you may not relate to because he practiced a virtue that you struggle with and need to work on. Spend some time marveling at their lives and at the Artist of such creative genius that made them.

Auspice Maria
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BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow.  Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.