” The King will come, Lord of the Earth, and will take away the yoke of our slavery.”
The first thought that came to my mind meditating on this antiphon at the Magnificat as part of the Christmas Novena, is a deep thanks to the Lord for the experience of the novitiate.

Because I believe that the process of dismantling the yoke of our slavery – as the antiphon says – have undergone a strong acceleration with our arrival in Genoa.

It could be considered a violent uprooting of everything that keeps us at a safe distance from Jesus.

Apart from the many moments of joy, cheerfulness and fraternal sharing, in our way we also face difficult situations: sometimes the person that we were before entering the novitiate is sorely tested by a genuine process of dispossession of the self.

A strong boost to the arms of Jesus, to a new personality where we give more space to the Lord or – as San Paolo says – a boost that makes us alive with Christ.

Mother Teresa said “It is forgetting ourselves that if we find ourselves.” This is actually the main gift of the Novitiate, perhaps one of the most important steps for our journey as Jesuits.

Is inevitable the connection with a passage from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 11, 28-30) in which Jesus invites us all to follow him with the metaphor of a sweet yoke and a light load.
These two oxymorons with great immediacy express the synthesis of our walk with and towards Jesus, a path fraught with obstacles that bring freedom and heaviness that give lightness; A real gym for a humble and gentle heart, ready to welcome Jesus Every Day.

So is the Novitiate: a fundamental path of liberation from our bondage, from our ego in the first place, where we are alone with ourselves before Jesus without distractions and escape.

I would indeed like to thank the Lord for all those times when I would run away to the mountains for a weekend and instead I remain in the novitiate, for all those times when I would love to go to the movies, and instead I remain in the novitiate, for all those times when I would need to go to drink a beer with friends and instead I remain in the novitiate.

In these last days of Advent I would also ask the grace to the Lord to live with joy all those situations that – although difficult – prepare our heart to welcome Jesus in our lives, not only this Christmas but always.