Hence, all frontier ministries have to be saturated with the spirit of the One who breathes a joyous promise of victory from the Cross of apparent failure where he is exalted in glory; this faith guarantees a sense of humor in an otherwise harsh situation. Jesuits without a sense of humor – without the ability to laugh at themselves as much as at the failures and foibles of the church – cannot be in the frontier. This is the meaning of hope which accompanies faith in every life of love.
The holy Jesuit whom Ignatius defined as a mortified Jesuit [rather than as a mere praying Jesuit [ is therefore a crucified man full of hope and humor. He alone is qualified to be at the frontier. When he asks himself the Triple Question of the First Week, he should have before him the medieval artist’s “Crucified Christ with the smiling face” (which makes Christ say: I have done it! It is accomplished!), an image still preserved in the Cistercian Monastery in Lerins. Another sculpture of the same genre can be seen at the Xavier Castle. In this smile of the crucified one “lies” the non-existent boundary between the Third and the Fourth Weeks of the Spiritual Exercises!
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