The celebration of first vows in the Loyola Sanctuary has become an annual event for thanking God that He keeps calling young men to follow Him in the Society of Jesus. A day of celebration for the vow men, for their families, friends, Jesuits, other religious, collaborators of the Society of Jesus and all that have come to share the joy of a handful of young men that confirm a special vocation for their lives.
So it was also on 5 September 2015 for Carlos Maza (35 years, Valencia), Luis Delgado (31 years, Seville), Juan Boronat (26 years, Valladolid) and Luis Clemente (22 years, Huelva) who, gathered in a full Loyola basilica, professed their vows. The Spanish provincial of the Society of Jesus, Jesús Francisco José Ruiz Pérez SJ, presided over the Eucharist and in his homily indicated that, just as Jesus informed his disciples that he had chosen them before they chose him, now too these four young men, “feeling chosen before they themselves could choose, relate everything in poverty, chastity, and obedience in order to live according to that first love and to help others to someday discover the same.
In the name of the four men, Luis Clemente took the opportunity to give thanks, firstly for Jesus our Lord “who is the one that has called us,” for the Society of Jesus, especially their formateurs who accompanied them at every step, “who helped us to know Jesus more and to discover for ourselves who we are before God.” They also had sentiments for their families, “that had walked this road with us,” and they gave thanks for the generosity of the various works and institutions with which they have had contact these years in San Sebastian in pastoral and social justice settings.
Their process of formation has barely started. Next the four will study philosophy: Juan in Salamanca, and Carlos, Luis Clemente, and Luis Delgado in Rome. These last three are headed to the new community of studies (San Saba) of the combined Jesuit provinces of southern Europe, part of an interprovince formation project in Europe.
Meanwhile, life continues in the novitiate of St Francis Xavier in San Sebastian, where five new young men have begun their novitiate.
