Page 104 - The Gonzaga Record 1986
P. 104
Lives of Vision and Purpose
As the students leav~ Gonzaga our hopes for them are that they be
happy; that, humbly aware that they are gifted and privileged and conse-
quently have a greater responsibility, they become mature Christians,
sensitive to the pains and needs of the world, even committed followers
of Jesus; that they become, in Fr Arrupe's phrase, 'men for others'. This
is a sort of mission shared by staff, students and parents alike. It is our
hope that our graduates are not complacent consumers, compulsively
driven to have more and more things and to keep up with the Joneses,
a mentality which excessive competitiveness can foster; nor people easily
seduced by the success-at-all-costs ethic, or by debilitating leisure habits
that easily go with affluence and that numb sensitivity; nor superficial
agnostics that do not know how to be challenged by or how to challenge
the world with the often unpopular values of the Gospel. Characteristics
such as these can destroy and dehumanize a person.
Christians surely are called to be the healing presence of God in the
world - people usually discover God in the genuine concern and care
of and for others. So, our students are called to be men for others: men
who respect all people and champion their dignity, especially that of
'small people' who are so easily walked on; men who speak the truth in
love and are relentessly honest; men who pursue what is just in their
families, in their studies, in their place of work and relaxation, always
alert to the larger world horizon which can be so uneven in its treatment
of people. The Gospel urges us not to be overcome by evil, but, in the
power of God, to overcome evil with good. Then will our lives have vision
and purpose. And that is the intention of all pastoral care.
Peter Sexton SJ
Director of Pastoral Care
102
As the students leav~ Gonzaga our hopes for them are that they be
happy; that, humbly aware that they are gifted and privileged and conse-
quently have a greater responsibility, they become mature Christians,
sensitive to the pains and needs of the world, even committed followers
of Jesus; that they become, in Fr Arrupe's phrase, 'men for others'. This
is a sort of mission shared by staff, students and parents alike. It is our
hope that our graduates are not complacent consumers, compulsively
driven to have more and more things and to keep up with the Joneses,
a mentality which excessive competitiveness can foster; nor people easily
seduced by the success-at-all-costs ethic, or by debilitating leisure habits
that easily go with affluence and that numb sensitivity; nor superficial
agnostics that do not know how to be challenged by or how to challenge
the world with the often unpopular values of the Gospel. Characteristics
such as these can destroy and dehumanize a person.
Christians surely are called to be the healing presence of God in the
world - people usually discover God in the genuine concern and care
of and for others. So, our students are called to be men for others: men
who respect all people and champion their dignity, especially that of
'small people' who are so easily walked on; men who speak the truth in
love and are relentessly honest; men who pursue what is just in their
families, in their studies, in their place of work and relaxation, always
alert to the larger world horizon which can be so uneven in its treatment
of people. The Gospel urges us not to be overcome by evil, but, in the
power of God, to overcome evil with good. Then will our lives have vision
and purpose. And that is the intention of all pastoral care.
Peter Sexton SJ
Director of Pastoral Care
102
