A Mass of Final Vows

Fr. Jerry Hayes, SJ will take his final vows on Sunday, December 7, the Second Sunday of Advent, at the 10 am Mass. Here is a personal reflection from Fr. Jerry. 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

As I consider the story of my life and vocation in the Society of Jesus, I think they grew out of a deep desire to serve God with my whole life. From early on, I was drawn to prayer, community, and the mystery of how God works through ordinary people and moments. The Jesuits captured my heart because of their spirituality—their call to find God in all things—and their mission to bring faith and justice together in the service of others.

As I discerned more deeply, I came to see that God was inviting me to something both beautiful and demanding: to follow Christ, poor, chaste, and obedient in the companionship of the Society of Jesus. Each of these vows has become a way of freedom for me. Poverty helps me live simply and depend on God’s grace rather than possessions and success. Chastity opens my heart to love more broadly and inclusively, reflecting God’s own generous love. And obedience keeps me rooted in the mission, trusting that God’s will unfolds through the community and the Church, wherever I find myself serving.

Over the years, I’ve found that my own Jesuit life is less and less about perfection and more about freedom and availability—being ready to go where I’m needed and to find Christ already at work there. Whether I’m in ministry, community life, or prayer, I continue to discover the joy of being a “contemplative in action,” one who seeks and serves God in all things. My journey as a Jesuit is still unfolding, and every day brings new graces and new invitations to deeper love and service. So, as I prepare to celebrate my final vows, I find that they are not so final. They are an invitation to greater service and trust that God continues to shape my heart in freedom and love. Each day, I’m reminded that these vows are less an ending and more a deepening—a call to surrender more fully to the mystery of God’s will. They invite me to place my life again and again in God’s hands, trusting that wherever I am sent, Christ is already present, laboring with me and leading me toward a greater love that has no end. At its heart, my vocation is a response to the simple question Ignatius asked: “What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to do for Christ?”

Peace,

Fr. Jerry

What are “Final Vows”?

Fr. Jerry, took “first vows” after completing a two-year novitiate. He vowed to be poor, chaste and obedient, in imitation of Christ. In his first vows he promised to enter the Society of Jesus. Since then he has further trained and received positive evaluations from Jesuits who answered affirmatively to broad questions such as, “Does his life as a Jesuit give witness as a man consecrated to God?” These evaluations were sent to the Jesuits West province, and from there to Rome, where the superior general of the Society of Jesus approved “full incorporation” into the Jesuits through an invitation to take his final vows.