In October, a group of discerners from coast to coast travelled to Montreal for their first Come and See weekend, enjoying the hospitality of the five novices and the staff of the Pedro Arrupe Novitiate. Participants flew from Vancouver, Winnipeg and St. John’s, while others drove from the GTA. During the weekend, the men heard several vocation talks from the novices, participated in meals and manualia (housework), and had a tour and holy hour at the Gesù Church downtown.
“I can say very confidently that I experienced Christ’s presence those past few days,” said one discerner. “In the sacraments, in the fraternity, and in a new (or renewed) sense of vocation.”
The Come and See weekend is an annual event designed to help men along their path of vocational discernment. According to Fr. John O’Brien, SJ, the provincial’s assistant for vocations, Come and See gives discerners an enlarged view of the first stage of Jesuit life and also shows them they are not alone in considering this vocation.
The next major vocations event is the Jesuit Discernment Retreat at the Martyrs’ Shrine, December 17-19.
