(Queen of the Society of Jesus)
Today, the Jesuit liturgical calendar invites those who share in the Jesuit charism to celebrate Mary, Mother and Queen of the Society of Jesus. The greatest gift that Mary gives us, of course, is her Son, and in today’s gospel (John 3:16-21), Jesus tells us why he has come: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”
Some Christians take pleasure in condemning others, but this pleasure condemns them. If the life of Jesus is one that seeks to save rather than condemn, then someone who delights in condemnation of someone for whom Jesus gives his life is clearly not sharing the life and love that Jesus offers for that poor soul. On the other hand, someone who gives his or her life for the life of those for whom Christ gives his own life shares not only in the life of Christ, but his light as well. Let us ask for the grace to live from the truth that Jesus offers us and so to “come to the light,” so that our “works may be clearly seen as done in God.”