First probation

The first 14 days of February were Isaac's and my first probation as Jesuits. Jesuits have three probationary experiences before final vows. The first is known simply as first probation (it's roughly equivalent to postulancy or pre-novitiate in other orders, though much shorter), and lasts about two weeks. The second is the scholasticate, which lasts about fifteen years, give or take several years. The third is tertianship, which lasts a year or slightly under.

So what did we do? Here's a typical day.

I'd get up around 7:45 to have breakfast, etc. We'd then gather in the lounge (all group activities other than eating meals took place in the lounge) at 9 am for morning prayer. Brendan, the novice master, usually led that, though towards the end of the two weeks we each took a day to lead morning and evening prayer. Prayer would include psalms and/or other scripture and reflections from various spiritual writing as well as petitionary prayers.

Around 9:15, we began the first discussion session of the day. We would have read (or would take some time during the first session to read independently) a brief passage to discuss together. There were three main sources we drew from. The first was the autobiography of St Ignatius, especially his initial experiences of conversion and discernment about how he should be following Christ. The second was the general examen from the introduction to the Constitutions. This is a set of questions recommended to the Jesuit examiners to ask us to determine whether we should be accepted and, if so, in what sort of roles we could best serve the society. The third was the set of decrees of the last five Jesuit general congregations. These congregations examined the place of the society in the world of today, and how we can more faithfully and effectively carry out our mission of witness to Christ. There were various other readings, generally along similar lines. We also spent some time telling our own stories.

We'd take a break for morning tea and resume around 11 to continue discussions. This would last until 12:30 (though we often ran over time). We then individually prayed the examen, the prayer Ignatius considered to be a Jesuit's highest priority, which we pray twice each day. Lunch was at 12:45.

Lunch usually finished around 1:30, and then afternoons were mostly free. One of us would prepare dinner, and we usually had some reading assigned. But other than that, our time was our own. My usual pattern (when I wasn't cooking) was to read (and pray, if I felt the desire) from the end of lunch until 3:30 or 4 or so, then go swimming. There were boogie boards available, and I had good fun catching some waves (they were usually on the small side). Some days I went for a walk instead, but I can walk anywhere, so I usually chose swimming.

At 5:30, we had Mass. Tupou, one of our second year novices, is already a priest, so he and Brendan would alternate celebrating. This went until 6:15 or so; dinner was schedule at 6:30 but usually began a little later. We'd spend the intervening time just relaxing: sitting on the deck watching the waves, reading, chatting, etc.

By the time we had eaten and cleaned up, it was usually almost 8 o'clock. It was then time for a movie. Brendan chose them to complement our formation in some ways: sometimes the connection with Jesuit mission was very obvious (e.g. a film about Jesuits called The Mission); sometimes indirect (e.g. As It Is in Heaven). We would discuss the film at the start of the next morning's session.

On the rare occasions we finished early, we would have evening prayer together. Otherwise, it would be up to us to pray the examen on our own before bed around 10:30.

That was the usual pattern, but there were a few exceptions.

The second Monday was a villa day (day off). We began by going to Jamberoo Abbey to visit the Benedictine nuns. They were celebrating the 25th anniversary of profession of one of the nuns there, so we joined the little morning tea they had. I was particularly pleased to talk with Sr Petra, who had just been clothed (moved from postulancy to novitiate), and was hence just a few days senior to Isaac and me in religious life. From there we went to Kiama to see the blowholes and have some lunch, and to Killalea State Park to enjoy the magnificent views over the hills down to the beach. We were back at Gerroa in time for our usual afternoon swim. We ended the day with dinner at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the lunar new year.

Then Thursday to Saturday at the end of that week was a triduum of silent prayer. During this time, we were advised to set aside three sessions for explicit prayer: I chose right after breakfast, lunch and dinner. Immediately following each of these, we should spend some time noting what we felt during our prayer time. We would have a discussion with Brendan each morning to see how we were progressing. We had breakfast and lunch on our own schedules, dinner together but with background music rather than talking. We still had 5:30 Mass each day and evening prayer together at 9. Other than that, time was for exercise (I would walk each morning and swim each afternoon), spiritual reading, and generally just being calm to help reflection.

The first day of the triduum focused on Jesus, the second on Peter, and the third on Mary. Brendan suggested a few scripture passages to help guide our prayer.

Sunday, the last day of first probation, was mostly a cleaning day. We began with Mass at Gerroa, then came home and got started on getting the house ready for the next event (to be described in the next post). My jobs were cleaning the kitchen and the TV room and stripping the beds. I also tried to fix a lightbulb that Isaac said wasn't working. First I changed the bulb, but it still didn't work. Next I changed the starter, but it still didn't work. Finally, I asked whether he was sure he was using the right switch: Brendan went to the other end of the corridor, turned the light on, and it worked fine! In Isaac's defence, it was an illogical arrangement: there was a series of three identical lights in a row, and the switch at one end of the corridor only turned on the first two. We had dinner at the Fishermen's Club to celebrate the end of first probation, then went home and watched The Giver.