Peter Faber and the Eucharistic Christ

Peter Faber is the first companion to be ordained a priest. In fact, Peter Faber is the celebrant of the Mass at the Montmartre chapel where the first seven companions in Paris make their promises about going to the Holy Land. Faber appears to be the one, after Ignatius, that all the first companions are drawn to. He is the one who listens; he is the one whose wisdom and counsel they readily accept. He truly merits the designation companion.

Faber captures, I believe, the relationship with God mirrored in the Third Week of the Exercises. He is the one who knows what it means to "stay with," to be compassionate, even with the older and struggling student Ignatius. As the first priest of the Parisian group, he relates to the Eucharistic Christ. Peter Faber as the first priest received the gift of living out this Third Week grace in a way that stands out beyond all the other companions. He lived out the Jesuit charism of finding the Eucharist the centre of his spiritual life and his prayer life as a Jesuit. From the Eucharist, he drew his strength to be companion - one who shares the Bread of eternal life - which makes the community one Body. From the Eucharist, identifying with Jesus who is in the eternal stance of giving over his life to his Father and to us, his sisters and brothers, Peter could give his life over to the work of reconciling the first Lutheran reformers. Faber was truly our first Jesuit ecumenist, and he did it lovingly. His letters and instructions always show him to be an irenic man. He holds to the truth as he believes it, but he is always willing to enter into dialogue with those who see it otherwise. He is always slow to condemn, for who can take the place of God the Judge? Just as eucharist always means an expression of gratitude, Faber lives a life of gratitude to God. He lives his Eucharist.

Although Faber is the first of Jesuit priests, he remains a symbol for all Jesuits, ordained or not, to find our deepest relationship to the Eucharistic Christ. The Eucharist must remain the central daily celebration of the ones who designate themselves as Companions of Christ. The Eucharistic Christ is the centre of the community life, the centre of personal and community prayer, and the centre of strengthening missionary outreach. For Jesuits, it is their daily "sending," the root of their "missioning" obedience.

The Eucharist expresses the reality of our spiritual attitude: a people ever grateful to God in our whole way of proceeding. We celebrate this year these three holy Jesuits: models, intercessors and brothers (in a special way for us Jesuits). Each of them highlights for us the integration of our relationships with God in the living of our Ignatian spirituality.