Rick Ralphson, SJ

Jesus entered his hometown synagogue and proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor […].” The eyes of all in attendance looked intently at him – and then praised him; however, they later tried to throw him off a cliff! (Luke 4:16-30).

I begin with Jesus’ mission not because my students look intently at me during class, or because they praise me, or even because they have tried to toss me from the school’s roof, but because Jesus’ mission of total self-giving is both good news and the foundation of priesthood. Just as Jesus pours out his entire life from womb to tomb – and everywhere at all times since – so must I, a Jesuit, share all of myself with others to participate in the building of God’s kingdom.

My students teach me how to live this mission of self-gift.They struggle with the Scriptures and wrestle with difficult ethical questions. They pour out their concerns for family members, pack the chapel for weekly liturgies, and journey with the marginalized from Milwaukee to Ecuador. Two brief stories illustrate how regency has taught me about priesthood, about complete self-gift.

First, during a Kairos retreat, I gathered around the altar with 50 seniors who had just spent three days sharing everything about themselves. During our prayer I fixed my gaze on the crucifix above the altar, and I realized that just as Jesus shared his entire life and death with us, these seniors were doing the same. They were teaching me how to be priest.

Secondly, I have accompanied two groups of students to the Dominican Republic. We have worked on sanitation projects ¨C a fancy phrase for digging 25, 9-foot deep latrines in the scorching sun with a pick and a shovel. One day, while working, a student offered the group two refreshments. Each person took his two sips, except the local Dominican campesino who took one sip, walked to his house, and shared the other with his mother. Such generosity revealed that there is no other way to live as a person ¨C much less a priest ¨C than to share completely, without hesitation.

Regency has taught me how to be a priest ¨C really learning how to share my life as completely as Jesus has poured out his life for us. Good news indeed.

Tom Neitzke, SJ

Servant leadership is how I have come to know and understand priesthood. Up until this year, much of my formation involved living and working with and among those who are most vulnerable and in need. I have served in homeless drop-in shelters in St. Paul, worked to find housing for poor and homeless families in Minneapolis, lived and cared for mentally handicapped people in Clinton, Iowa, taught and learned much on a pilgrimage to New Mexico, labored with the poor in Belize, Central America, and accompanied the sick poor as they sought treatment at Cook County hospital in Chicago.

This list does not adequately describe the thousands of conversations, moments of grace and learning that I have experienced along the way. I have learned much about myself and the world which we are privileged to be a part of at this moment in history.

Now in my regency as a teacher and assistant dean of students at Creighton Prep in Omaha, Nebraska, I pass on what I have experienced to a group of young men who arecharged to make this world a better place. In this fortunate position, I am constantly reminded that we are all works in progress, and that God is by no means finished creating us and challenging us to become the people He dreams us to be.

The young men at Prep teach me much about who I am and what I want and need to be. I am inspired by their faith in action, which is grounded in love for one another and the larger community. They do not see themselves as forming Mr. Neitzke, SJ into a priest. But even without realizing it, they do.

They do so when they challenge their faith, and we dialogue to bring understanding; when they share their life story in prayer with me in CLC and on retreats; when we go out and do service, not for credit but because they really believe that they should be and are men for others; when they make mistakes and through their tears realize wha they did and have genuine sorrow; when they laugh and play and act like adolescent boys; when they finally grasp the concept that I have been teaching for weeks; when they fail my tests; when they drop in my office to say hello and talk about their weekend.

Without them knowing it explicitly, these occasions during my Regency are forming me and confirming my call to priesthood as a servant leader within the Society of Jesus.

Phil Cooke, SJ

In my view, being a Jesuit and a priest involves trying to love others authentically, as Christ did – and to express that love as completely as humans are capable. Having spent the past three years at Red Cloud High School as a teacher of Lakota youth and as a Jesuit scholastic progressing toward priesthood, learning how to love in that way continues to be my biggest challenge.

At the center of this challenge are students like Maria. I first taught Maria at the start of the 2002-03 school year, a time when she seemed to be innocently moving through the growth pains of adolescence. By the start of her junior year, however, her face was like stone, and her heart seemed to harden. I learned later that Maria, like so many young Americans, was abusing drugs and alcohol. She started rebelling against everyone, including me, calling me names, acting aloof, and becoming generally unpleasant. The respect and trust we shared had suddenly disappeared. I found myself wanting to give up on her.

I remember, however, last year praying for Maria in our chapel on a spring morning. I cried out to God: “Lord, I don’t know how to love Maria anymore. Please help me.” In that moment, I began for the first time to understand love byrealizing I did not know how to love – and that is the paradox.

Even though I am not a parent, I think about my own parents and all the parents in the world who struggle with how to best express their love for their children in the most difficult or darkest times – times when love is needed most. Praying for Maria helped me realize I must enter into the darkness of Maria’s life, and my very own darkness. I must face the fear of rejection, humiliation and vulnerability and love anyway.

It strikes me that the best way to learn how to love is to ask and beg God to love us, so that God may enter us. Then, and only then, do we become an instrument, like Christ, and can we truly love without fear of humiliation and rejection or concerns for our own vulnerability.

Maria is just one example of the many students on the reservation who struggle with addiction, emptiness and life itself. She and the other students have challenged me to truly love, even when it is so awfully hard.

So, within my regency I am learning what it takes to be like Christ while becoming a priest. It is deciding to love by realizing and understanding that alone I do not know how to love ¨C that I need God's help to express love in as authentic and Christ-like a way as possible.

Matt Walsh, SJ

Jerusalem is a long way from Pine Ridge. Milwaukee is a long way from Pine Ridge. Even Omaha is a long way from Pine Ridge. Yet there is a connection among all these places. The Lakota way teaches that we are connected to the land and that we are all relatives. My faith lets me know that the work I do here is apostolic and thus connected to the Church throughout the world as well as to the earliest beginnings of the Catholic tradition. I’m tryingto do the same thing the apostles did in their time: preach the Good News. I do that as a teacher in the Spiritual Formation Department of Red Cloud High School. Four times each school day about 20 sophomores come to my room looking to learn something about Sacred Stories from the Lakota tradition and from Scripture. I also try to teach them that their own stories are sacred and connected to the larger sacred story of creation.

What was originally Holy Rosary Mission is now Red Cloud Indian School. We still have the same mission ¨C to bring the good news to the Lakota people ¨C but we realize that the Lakota have some news for us: the Spirit is active here so pay attention, learn again how to listen as a child listens; pray with the people.

I'm learning anew the lesson I learned in Honduras six years ago. The lesson is to listen, to be still and know that I am in the presence of the Great Spirit, whether in the classroom with students or running up the Manderson Road. Of course, it's not as simple as just listening because there is much work that needs to be done, but this is my touchstone and first step.

Regency has been a time for me to work and live as a public minister of the Church. It has been challenging, especially when listening to the ways that the Lakota have been hurt by other ministers of the Church. I often wonder what I can do to be more helpful to the people. It's then that I try to quiet myself again and listen for and follow the guidance of the Spirit.

Ashuli Phimu Joseph, SJ

Ka Rympei Arrupe Jesuit Novitiate, Mawshohroh, Shillong India.

'Whoa! Living in an 'airconditioned' house! Where are the communication facilities - e-mail, internet? How do you survive?' in shock inquired my friend, now a doctor. I smiled and said, 'I have a mosquito net 'malaria proof ' what more do I need?'

Understandably, it is difficult for most to imagine that religious could live in a bamboo house with a tin roof, without electricity and any means of communication except newspapers once or twice a week. What work could a modern man do without electricity? In these circumstances, one's attitude matters. I told myself that if rural folks have lived like this for centuries, so could I - and that solved the entire issue.

Unlike other regents of the Kohima Region, whose lives and activities are restricted to schools and boarding houses, I am fortunate, indeed, to be in a newly set up novitiate closely associated with mission stations and their works. Sunday ministry in the village communities with novices has a special place in my heart. Children are longing to learn catechism and English; parents and adults are anxious to hear the word of God. The simple, village folk with bare minimum requirements for survival are very generous and hospitable towards others. We are learning a lot of Christian values from them!

Though I have learned enough Khasi language over the past few months to be able to converse, my inability to communicate effectively in depth the word of God is my biggest challenge and disappointment. At times my best response is a smile.

My experience during regency has helped me understand that adaptability and flexibility of mind to the environment, situations, and people matter most in the life of a missionary. When the mind is bombarded with modern technology, people tend to ignore and neglect basic reality and nature. People living close to nature have a different story to tell. I am also learning that the work of a pioneer is rough and tough, the results often unpredictable. Yet "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases," and in God's providential care things move on steadily every day.

My initial fears have disappeared. Regency has prepared me to handle a challenging life today and provided me with ample opportunities to develop a thicker skin to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Above all, this time has reformed and transformed me in many ways, re-energized my spiritual batteries, and given me a foretaste of a pioneering missionary life. I am truly grateful!

Elias Mokua, SJ

This is my second year as a regent in northwestern Tanzania working as a director of an FM radio station. The station was set up in 1995 by Jesuit Refugee Services in response to an influx of refugees from Rwanda following the infamous 1994 massacre there. A year later, a massive inflow of Burundian refugees followed (numbering about 500,000) to the same area. Since then, the radio station has continued to serve this community of refugees but as well the local community that relies on its daily services for information, entertainment, and educational programs.

My time is spent coordinating radio station activities. With 43 staff, several freelancers, personnel issues that go along with such a staff (in addition to making all major decisions regarding the use of the human and material resources given to the project), I find myself learning an enormous amount of management skills. I spend a lot of time building relationships with international organizations working in the same area such as United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Red Cross, and UNICEF. As well, my work demands public relations with the government of Tanzania and the local church. As a project director, I am accountable to JRS. Thus, I write reports as often as required including proposals for the project.

These activities require a degree of dedication, planning, prioritizing objectives, and especially following up on their implementation. In most cases, as a Jesuit - sinner yet called - discernment becomes the process through which I have to accomplish the goals. After all, for over a year I stayed "alone" - my community being about 500 kilometers away. Living in a politically sensitive area with security risks in certain parts of our daily operation invites me to go through the second and third week of the Spiritual Exercises simultaneously. Often I remind myself that if I die in an ambush, I would not have left a wife and children thanks to the vow of chastity.

Working with thousands of refugees whose lives are at risk and whose dignity has been abused can be very stressful. My consolation is the choice to serve such people as a religious. I am there for them, albeit indirectly, even though I cannot provide a tiny fraction of their basic needs. I testify that I have seen the power of the media and hope to contribute in building the Kingdom of God using the same.