Prayer: Michael J. Buckley, S.J.

What did Ignatius envisage as the Jesuit priesthood? A prophetic priesthood, one which was concerned to speak out the word of God in any way that it could be heard, assimilated, and incarnated within the social life of human beings, a priesthood which spoke with the religious experiences of human beings and - as did the prophets of the Old Testament - coupled this care for authentic belief with a concern for those in social misery: the ministry of the word, the ministries of interiority, the ministry to social misery. This is not an arbitrary collection of concerns. The preaching of the word very naturally tends to the ministries of interiority by which the word can be heard, and this tends very naturally to the ministries of justice through which it can be lived and shared with others in the historical living out of human life.... A Jesuit priest is ordained because he gives himself over to this call, because he is consecrated by the Church for this mission of the Church - a service of the word that gathers into its unity all the moments of his life.