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Fr. Robert Beckman, SJ

Had I been asked at age twenty, when I entered the Jesuit novitiate, to project a scenario of the life that lay ahead for me, never in a million years could I have come even remotely close to what has become my reality. And that in itself, perhaps, provides a key as to what has been my life as a Jesuit, what it means to be a Jesuit today, a certain openness and inner freedom: a flexibility and availability; a readiness to go wherever and to whatever would provide loving service for hose most in need: a basic trust, and handing of self over to the Lord. This inner freedom and openness to the Spirit means that all is potentially for me, yet I make claim to no thing (Poverty), to no person (Chastity), nor even to my own gifts and my own self (Obedience), as my very own. I dedicate them all to the service of Christ and His People.

How has this spelled itself out in my Jesuit life? Well, right out of Tertianship (Jesuit formation), I was assigned to be Assistant Principal at St. Ignatius High School in Chicago, where I had done my Regency experience. It is probably not the assignment that I would have chosen for myself had I been given the opportunity, yet in retrospect I can detect the hand of the Lord steering me along the way of my personal salvation history as indicated in Psalm 139; or to change the reference, the Potter in chapter 18 of Jeremiah, fashioning the clay that is becoming the Earthen Vessel that is me. The constant interchange and ongoing dialogue with high school students, parents and faculty proved to be a very deepening and enriching growth experience for me, the first steps indicating the direction of my life of service to others in the Society of Jesus: education, administration and personal counseling and direction.

Those were the days of the late 50's, when Pope John XXIII was calling for volunteers from American Religious congregations to come to the aid of the struggling Church in Latin America. Though I felt no strong urge or personal desire to uproot myself and leave my native land, there was a deep sense that I should be open to be of service wherever the Spirit might be calling. So I made myself available for whatever, wherever - and shortly thereafter came the call missioning me to Peru.

The year 1960 marked my arrival in Peru, and the full extent of my knowledge of Spanish at that time was three words - fiesta, siesta and manana - three words, I might add, which stood me in very good stead! For the next fifteen years, my service took the form of being Director- President, Rector, Principal - of Colegio San Jose, a Jesuit institution of primary and secondary education in Arequipa, 8000 feet up in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru. Touching so many lives of so many persons so closely, at that time of such radical change and such profound crisis, provided a tremendous challenge and a marvelous opportunity to bring forth new life in His Kingdom, forcing me to reach out to a presence and a Strength that could only come from Him.

The next five years found me still in Peru, but not I was asked to work out of my base in the capital city of Lima, another challenge and another opportunity to assist other people to find Him in other ways, and all the time He was drawing me closer to Himself through them! Now I was engaged in formation and direction of individuals and groups, both lay and religious, principally of those who were most in need and most involved in forming and living in comunidades de base, at the local level. This led me to squalid urban barriadas, and to riding burros along narrow trails to isolated mountain settlements, as a sort of circuit rider, to share the Good News and to celebrate His Sacramental Presence with His People.

And now? Well, now I have been asked to return from whence I cam, in a sort of reverse apostolic mission, to share the values and insights and riches of the People of God in Perus with my own Jesuit brothers as I minister to them in my own native city of Cincinnati.

Through all these years I am experiencing a growing inner freedom to go where He calls, to bring Him to others in new ways, only to find that He reveals Himself to me in new ways through others in a sort of process of mutual evangelization. In my attempt to live out the spirit of Ignatius expressed in the Prayer for Generosity and in the Suscipe, I am finding that the more I can let go, to give to others and to Him, the greater are the riches I receive in return. Truly I feel myself the richest and happiest of men.

Fr. Beckman originally wrote this story some years ago. Bob has since returned to Peru where he is the superior of one of the Jesuit residences in Lima.

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