Six months a novice.

Believe it or not, but it's been six months since August 21, 2004, the day my classmates and I entered the novitiate. I can't say that "it feels like yesterday" or "it feels like years ago," because neither accurately captures my perception of Entrance Day. In some sense the events of the day feel very distant, but I remember them with crystal clarity. Likewise, many of my experiences over the past six months feel like part of some far-off past - a past more remote, in some ways, than my recollections of events that took place before Entrance Day - and yet I can still imagine them in vivid detail. Reflecting on relationships in the novitiate, in some respects it seems like my classmates and I have known each other for ages and yet in some ways we're all just beginning to get acquainted. At the very least, I can say that living in community is a much different experience that I expected to it be - very different, certainly, than the group living situations I found myself in when I was in college and law school. Some readers (perhaps especially candidates for the Society) may want more detail on this topic, but I've said as much as I'll say about it in this space. As a Jesuit I know at Georgetown is fond of saying, "a religious community has the right to have its own private life," and to protect that privacy I've always tried to err on the side of discretion in posting on this blog. I will say, however, that my understanding of community life is probably what has changed most for me in the six months I've been a novice. I'll also say that I'd do it all again if I could, and that just as I've enjoyed my first six months as a Jesuit I'm looking forward to the next six months and (I hope and pray) all the years to come. AMDG.