Sanctuary for the Heart
Sanctuar y for the Heart
Howard Gray S.J.
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Sanctuary
for the Heart
By Howard Gray, S.J.
Introduction. Marilynne Robinson’s trilogy
(Gilead, Home, and Lila) has been widely praised
for the density of its themes, the palpable
sympathy for its characters, and the elegant simplicity of
its style. The series celebrates the theology that lies
within human experience. One of Robinson’s
recurring themes in the trilogy is that of human
loneliness and the longing for a home. What some
commentators on the trilogy have noted is the
parable-like structure of the narratives, pointing
beyond themselves to a deeper and wider reality
about North American culture, specifically our
hunger to belong and our pilgrimage for a
wel
Publ8ished bCyOe-NPVuEblRicSaAtiToInOs@NMSOarNqueJtEteS,U2I0T17HIGHER EDUCATION
coming and safe environment that we can call this enforced alienation is wickedly a violation of
“home,” as a place where we belong. Before I pursue what it means to be human. As the pilgrim himself,
this theme, I want to emphasize that this longing is Ignatius learned to respond to the plight of the
outnot exclusively American or unique to our contem- cast. As a new religious order, finding its identity and
porary culture. It is a longing embedded in our sa- its mission by following the sometime obscure
jourcred narratives, the Exodus of the Hebrew people ney God called them to undertake, Jesuits became
Jeand their dream of the Promised Land, as well as in suits. The experiences of Ignatius and of his early
our formative literary tradition, the journeys of companions explain why Jerome Nadal could say that
Odysseus. It is also an Ignatian theme caught in Ig- the Society of Jesus was founded to care for those for
natius’ self-designation as “the pilgrim” and in the whom no one cared. Ignatian humanism is to
recogearly Jesuits’ self-description of their order as a nize that “Christ plays in ten thousand places.”
“pathway to God.” To be human is to want to find a How does all this fit into Jesuit-sponsored
place where we can belong. higher education? Let me call attention to one of the
Nonetheless, we find ourselves at a cultural and most succinct presentations about Jesuit education.
political moment when many AJCU personnel expe- It is to be found in Part IV of the ten-part
Constiturience directly or vicariously challenges to the secu- tions of the Society of Jesus, the introductory
reflecrity and certitude of being at home. Often political tions on the education of young Jesuits. There the
divisions resist genuine communication and cooper- aims are succinctly laid out: to live a good life, to
ation; racial and ethnic distinctions are exploited by learn well, and to communicate effectively. These are
demagogues into islands of mutual fear and resent- what Ignatius expected his young recruits to
bement; meanness, caricature, and downright lying come: good people who practice what they preach,
and exaggeration too frequently displace dialogue intelligent and effective ministers of the word of God
and civil discourse. These might not be the worst of and its significance for life. Let me employ this
partimes but they are certainly not the best of times. We adigm to our work in higher education.
experience and share in this sense of social
imbalance and ethical ambiguity, sometimes bewildered The sanctuary of higher education. The word
about how to respond without ourselves becoming sanctuary refers to the custom of designating sacred
part of the problem, struggling to check our own re- sites like a cathedral or church to house fugitives from
sentments, tame our own fears, and discipline our imprisonment or even death by the state. Recall the
own drift towards polarization. Yes, we have a tra- plot contrivance employed in Victor Hugo’s The
dition of seeing our loneliness as a witness to soli- Hunchback of Notre Dame, where the gypsy Esmeralda
darity with the human family. Yes, we have a is whisked from imminent execution by the
hunchcommunal hope to find a safe resting place for love back Quasimodo and swept into the sanctuary of
and understanding, for compassion and forgiveness, Notre Dame, safe from her persecutors.
and for reconciliation and new beginnings. Like the As I write this essay, the movement to declare
wayward son in the Lucan parable we just want to some sites, such as churches or schools, sanctuaries
come home. Or as Robert Frost put it, “Home is the for undocumented immigrants has attracted interest
place where, when you have to go there, they have and active participants. I want to use the metaphor of
to take you in.” sanctuary to describe an important aspect of Jesuit
Telling anyone that there is no room for them higher education as a sanctuary from the inhumanity
here, no home for them to rest and be safe, to identify that has cast a cloud over our contemporary culture.
them only as the stranger, (...truncated)