Homily
Edward Siebert, S.J., rector of the Jesuit Community Reflects on the 50th Anniversary of Loyola and Marymount.
In 1553 St. Ignatius Loyola, whose feast we celebrate today, wrote a letter to the Jesuits in Lisbon Portugal. Let’s just say this wasn’t a happy letter. The Jesuit Order was 13 years old and if any of you lived with or know any 13-year-olds, they’re not quite ready for adulthood.
Growing pains are part of any new organization and whether those are in adolescence, or an institution still awaiting its silver jubilee, growth does not come easily.
Many of us may know that St. Ignatius Loyola began the Jesuit order with great hope and expectation. He had attracted dynamic companions such as Francis Xavier and Peter Faber who joined him in becoming saints. He was beloved by nobility and aristocrats for having a new vision and mission for the Catholic Church. And he was poised to accept many new followers. But within a decade of the Jesuit’s foundation significant problems began to emerge. The problem which occasioned his letter to the Jesuits in Portugal was that the “inmates were running the asylum.”
For those who don’t know what this means, it is that the leaders have lost all power and those under their jurisdiction have taken control. As the superior of the Jesuit community, some of you might snicker, “What’s changed?”
For the record I can assure you that plenty has changed. What Ignatius did in his 1553 letter was to call his brothers to love patience, humility, and virtue in keeping with their vows as Jesuits. He knew that a shaky foundation could threaten the entire organization if it wasn’t strengthened.
Each year we read this gospel where we are called to set our faith on a firm foundation with the caution that failing to do so could lead to collapse. While some might think of this as a one-time event at the beginning of something new, St. Ignatius’ letters remind us that a firm foundation requires continued reflection and commitment.
As children we all played the game, “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” And while rock might seem the most invincible force, the rules of that game suggests that paper suffocates rock and renders it vulnerable.
As we celebrate the feast of one of our oldest founders, recognizing the charism of our other founders, this is an opportune time to reflect on our foundation.
When I moved into the rector’s office here on campus, I inherited a library. One of the more interesting reads was on the history of LMU. Most of us know something about how we transitioned from being Loyola Los Angeles to being Loyola Marymount, but I’ve enjoyed learning the backstory of the merger.
Part of the backstory revealed the naivete of the all-male Loyola community about what a co-educational institution was all about.
A student body president from the all-female Marymount college said it’s one thing for us to mingle at socials, dances, and other such occasions, it’s quite something else to study side-by-side in a classroom.
I’m not saying that the Loyola students were misogynists, but that could be because they didn’t know how to spell the word yet!
It wasn’t just the student body that struggled with the merger, the presidents of the various institutions which would make up Loyola Marymount had to confront their own explicit and implicit biases. The letters between Father Casassa and Sister Raymunde reveal extensive negotiations with each keeping something in his or her back pocket.
And just as the Articles of Incorporation of the new Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, were being filed with the Secretary of State, Sister Raymunde announced to Father Casassa that an affiliation with the Sisters of Orange was complete.
To Father Casassa’s surprise, there were now three dynamic religious groups, all with their own charism – solidly rooted in Ignatian Spiritualty – coming together on the bluff.
I’m sure they showed a good public face and claimed victory with their constituents back home, but they all tested the strength and the resilience of this new institution.
This is the second year in a row that I have preached on this feast to the university community, not to mention my past homilies to the Jesuit Community. Whenever I think that this feast is becoming routine or mundane, I just reflect for a moment on all that it took to get us here and how far we still have to go.
I doubt that Father Casassa or Sister Raymunde would recognize our current campus in all of its splendor.
They would probably need a translator to talk to today’s student, whose vocabulary includes such expressions as digital platform, chatbot, artificial intelligence, binary/nonbinary gender fluidity, crypto currency, carbon footprint reduction or even CrossFit.
What they would recognize are the perennial challenges which have always confronted human existence: What is the meaning of life? What does God want from me? How do we serve the greater good? How do we build transforming leaders? While the context, vocabulary, and nuance may be radically different than 1973, the strength and weaknesses in our foundation are no different in 2023.
Today’s gospel calls us to radical freedom. Jesus is very provocative when he says that discipleship may force us to hate our own family, it may force us to renounce all our possessions, it may even force us to hate ourselves.
Let’s not think that this gives us reason to not go home. Jesus is not being a homewrecker. He’s showing us what it takes to build a strong foundation.
Whenever we take what is familiar – what is comfortable, what is easy – for granted, we risk overlooking the cracks in our foundation.
Whenever we assume that we have all the answers, that our way is the right way, and that we don’t have to engage one another, we risk overlooking the cracks in our foundation.
And whenever we doubt ourselves, question the graces from our prayer or the hope in our own ingenuity, we risk overlooking the cracks in our foundation.
The correspondence between St. Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits in Portugal in 1553, the communication between Father Casassa and Sister Raymunde in 1973 and the challenges we now face in 2023 are part of a similar narrative.
Faith, hope, and love are the foundation of Loyola Marymount University. And the mission of the school, educating students for the future is the foundation of a society.
Our mission is not just for ourselves, but rather to lay a firm foundation for the city, the nation, and a world which our students will serve. Our commitment to this mission will define where we will be in 2073.
Let us pray for the courage to follow the direction of those who led us to this day.