Bruce Botha, SJ
As a third year university student I had realised that I
was being called by God to service as a priest. I already
knew that I did not want to be a diocesan priest, as the life
seemed lonely and difficult.
I was drawn to a more communitarian lifestyle, one that did
not impose uniformity on their members and enabled them to
grow as an individual in serving Christ. It was in my fourth
year that I met the Jesuits, when they agreed to be the chaplains
of Edgewood College of Education.
I was struck by how down to earth they were, and by their
simplicity. Yet this simplicity concealed the fact that they
were all highly competent and qualified people. They wore
their learning lightly, being men of God before being anything
else.
What finally convinced me that the Society was the right
place for me was the reading that I did around the foundation
of the Society and the companions of St Ignatius. Some of
them were proud, stubborn, arrogant, vain and disobedient,
and despite that were able to do great things for God.
They were able to do these great things because they followed
the way of Ignatius and from him learnt how to serve God despite
their own failings. That’s what I wanted to do and still
want to do, great things for God. |
