To a young man who wishes to be a Jesuit, I would say:
Stay at home if this idea makes you unsettled or nervous.
Do not come to us if you love the Church like a stepmother, rather than a mother.
Do not come if you think that in so doing you will be doing the Society of Jesus a favour.
Come if serving Christ is at the very center of your life.
Come if you have broad and sufficiently strong shoulders.
Come if you have an open spirit, a reasonably open mind and a heart larger than the world.
Come if you know how to tell a joke and can laugh with others and … on occasions you can laugh at yourself.
- Pedro Arrupe,S.J.
28th Superior General
Society of Jesus
photo taken at nehemia center-cebu (shs-j out-reach program)
