Week 11: That'll Learn Ya

I know it’s been a long time since I last posted something. You can blame one part of that on my gluttony for academic punishment and two parts on nature-induced amnesia. That is to say, for much of our Easter Break, I’ve been getting my final papers and projects out of the way so that I’m not as pressured come May. These past few days, however, I’ve been lucky enough to find myself in rural Mississippi, working the land Green Acres-style in between bouts of berry picking and fishing.

And I went to the smallest church I’ve ever seen for Easter Mass. Speaking of which, I hope everyone enjoyed their Sunday. I had forgotten how long it had been since I last had a proper Easter brunch.

Anyway, I’ll try to shift both my mind and this post into academic mode, despite their reluctance to do so. When we get back, our Ignatius Loyola class will be shifting into academic mode, too. No, I’m not saying that we’ve been slacking off this whole semester. Wednesday we’ll begin our study of Jesuit education.

It’s an interesting notion that we need to be taught about Jesuit education, even though we attend a Jesuit institution. But that’s one of the things I love about the Jesuits and about Loyola in particular: they’re not pushy about their Jesuit identity. Rather, their tenets and beliefs are all-pervasive in their words and actions.

In particular, I recall my first semester at Loyola – I think even my first month. All of the freshmen were called upon to perform an act of service for the New Orleans community. Those who came were divided into groups, corresponding to the particular act of service they were to perform.

I can’t recall all the groups, but suffice it to say that they were rather variegated. My own group was sent to a cemetery, not to dig graves, but to dig drainage trenches, clear rubbish, and generally clean it up.

It was backbreaking work, I don’t mind telling you. What was worse, it seemed to go on forever. In fact, the trench I helped dig was probably only extended by a meter and a half in the several hours we were there. Needless to say, it wasn’t exactly an experience that endeared me to the Jesuits.

But it was on the ride back to campus that I gained my first glimpse into Jesuit education. As we sat in the bus, everyone physically and morally exhausted, we were informed that the cemetery was owned and operated by the city, for those who can’t afford to bury their loved ones in a private plot. As such, no one really takes care of it, because it’s the relatives of those buried who are responsible for its maintenance, most of whom don’t have the means.

We were asked to reflect on this, and consider how much our effort, however small, might mean to the families who would otherwise visit a grave covered with trash or flooded with rainwater.

Commitment to service and special concern for the poor and oppressed may be only small aspects of the Jesuits, but they are the ones that I recall whenever contemplating what it means to attend a Jesuit institution. They let me know that all my work is worthwhile in times when I’m unsure; they let me take a step back and see the bigger picture; they are what make education “Jesuit” to me.