“Don’t let them talk you into becoming a priest.”
Fr. Eric Jensen, SJ, still remembers the warning his Anglican mother gave him after he learned to serve Mass at St. Aloysius School in Montreal. No one ever tried to persuade him to become a priest, but by the time he reached Grade 10 at Catholic High School of Montreal, he had begun to sense that God might be calling him to that path.
A teacher introduced him to Fr. Iréné Beaubien, SJ, at l’Église du Gesù, the first Jesuit he ever met. The friendship and spiritual guidance he found there continued at Loyola College, where several Jesuit professors inspired him by the way they lived and taught. After graduating, teaching for a year and spending a summer in Europe, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Guelph at the age of 22.
Over the decades, Fr. Jensen’s ministry has included teaching at St. Paul’s High School in Winnipeg, counselling students at Loyola High School in Montreal, directing retreats, and accompanying people through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius at Loyola House in Guelph. He has also shared his love of Ignatian spirituality through his writing and several books published with Novalis.
When asked about the greatest consolation of his life, Fr. Jensen speaks not about his own accomplishments but about his father. From the age of 6, he prayed that his father would one day embrace the Catholic faith. Decades later, at the age of 80, his father surprised him by asking to be baptized. It remains one of the moments for which he is most grateful.
Today, at 89, Fr. Jensen’s ministry is quieter but no less important. He continues to write and to pray for the Church and for the world. His message to benefactors is simple: “The most important thing you can do is pray for us.” For a Jesuit whose life has been shaped by prayer and accompaniment, it is both a request and a testimony.
