Notes on the Feast of All Saints and Blessed of the Society of Jesus.

Today Jesuits around the world celebrate the Feast of All Saints and Blessed of the Society of Jesus, a commemoration of all Jesuits who have been canonized or beatified. As the description of today's celebration given in the Supplement to the Divine Office for the Society of Jesus states, this feast helps us "to understand the unity of the Society more clearly and live in the spirit of that unity more deeply." The Supplement further notes that this celebration "recalls the memory not only of those who have already received the Church's official honors but also of those many others who have labored with Christ for the salvation of men and who, following him in his sufferings, have entered with him in glory."

Many Jesuit provinces and institutions mark today's feast with special events intended to promote vocations to the Society of Jesus. I made my contribution to this important work by speaking in sophomore and senior theology classes today at Fordham Preparatory School, not far from the building where my philosophy courses meet. I enjoyed the opportunity to share some of my own story with the students I encountered at Fordham Prep, and as always I came away very impressed with the serious and thoughtful questions that the students posed in response to my presentations.

My experiences interacting with college and high school students since I entered the Society suggest to me that many Catholics in their mid- to late-teens have a spiritual depth and commitment to their faith that I (and most of my contemporaries) did not have at the same age. My encounters with members of the "millennial generation" give me great hope for the future of the Church. My prayers on this feast day are for today's young Catholics, particularly those God may be preparing for a vocation in this least Society. AMDG.