The Pope’s Approval
30. The Society of Jesus is approved
There was a feeling in Rome that with such a great number of religious orders in the Church, and most of them needing reform, now was not the time to create another order. However, after giving approval to the general plan for the Society of Jesus in what was known as “The Formula of the Institute” in 1539, the official approval came a year later. Ignatius sought the influence of cardinals and kings to encourage Pope Paul III to approve of the Society of Jesus. Many in authority had been impressed by these educated young priests and brothers with a boundless enthusiasm to do great things for Christ. Men who lived in great personal simplicity and reached out to the poor and needy and at the same time began teaching at many of the great universities.
Lyrics
We walk the world as poor men walk; we have no lasting home.
We walk the world as Jesus walked; we feel the naked earth.
We hear the sounds of poor men’s cries, the broken hopes, the dying sighs,
Jesus our Lord cries there, Jesus our King, in the sound of poor men’s needs.
We’re alien in our native lands, outsiders in our homes;
A spirit deeper than this world’s works in our deepest souls.
He leads to places dark with death, the very air would choke your breath,
Jesus our Lord breathes there, Jesus our King, through the choking air of death.
We’re pilgrims to a world beyond, we bridge until we break;
We dance like children to his tune, we lift his world awake.
We see his rainbow, seek his land, each dawn reveals his outstretched hand:
Jesus our Lord lives here, Jesus our King, with each rising dawn he comes.
A thought to ponder
We should not be afraid of using power and authority; but as Jesus warns in today’s passage from Luke, that we need to be careful we don’t enjoy them for the control they give us over other people.
Christians need to retain humility and use our powers, skills and abilities to serve others.
Considering your own life, what brings you the enthusiasm of the early Jesuits or the seventy disciples of Jesus? Are you using your own powers and skills to the full?
Scripture for the Day
As a way of praying today’s Scripture we suggest Imaginative Contemplation.
Luke 10:17-22 NRSVACE
The seventy disciples returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’
He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.
See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions,
and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you,
but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
Music for Today
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord by Andy Park