Ben Bocher , S.J.

Hi!
My name is Ben Bocher, SJ. I am a Jesuit scholastic in the First Studies at Bellarmine House of Studies at St. Louis University (3rd Yr).

I was born and raised in Watertown, Wisconsin.  I went to college at Marquette University in Milwaukee where I studied civil engineering.  Then, I entered the Jesuits on August 24, 2002.  After two years in the Novitiate in St Paul, Minnesota, I joined my classmates in pronouncing vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.  I moved to St Louis to begin studies in Philosophy and Theology, and finish my B.S. in Engineering.  I recently completed an M.S. Civil Engineering at Washington University, St. Louis. There, I did research on alternative energy sources using biogas. I started Engineers Without Borders at Wash U, and coordinated New Orleans rehabilitation projects, Old North St. Louis restoration work, and some El Salvador water distribution systems.

Why did I decide to become a Jesuit?  The easy answer is that the Holy Spirit inspired me to become a Jesuit, but we all know that the Holy Spirit, God, Jesus, or whatever name you ascribe to the One who “plays in “ten-thousand places,” as Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote.  What inspired me to enter the Society of Jesus?  Certainly the question for me is: Who?  People are my places. 

A mother who has a faith that remains her source of strength despite my lack of understanding or my brothers and I lovingly, usually, poking fun of it.  A Jesuit professor, Wally Stohrer, who teaches me how to examine my own life so that I may truly live it.  A girlfriend, Susan Barth, who lives a similar life to me, but is gratefully aware, unlike me at the time, of the One who gives her the strength to do it all.   A moment of prayer after Easter Vigil where I know in my heart that God is inviting me to be a priest. (This moment did not seem like a blessing at that time I assure you.)  A retreat with scholastics John Lynch, Jim McDermott, Dan Hendrickson and other young men discerning a vocation to religious life where I, for the first time, welcome the invitation to be a Jesuit. 

Mary Utzerath, differential equations teacher (of all people!), who asked me if I had ever thought about being a priest.  (Excuse me?  I’m here for help with really complicated math.  What does religion, let alone that question, have to do with that question?)  Countless hours around holy men like John Naus, Bob Leiweke, Frank Majka—joking, in spiritual direction, at lunch, or just sitting and talking.  A discernment group led by Tim Lannon and Chris Collins.  I learned Jesuits were a lot like me—men who liked to laugh, play sports, and give each other a hard time, but who also wanted the focus of their lives to be serving and loving Christ by serving and loving others.

Prayer keeps me going.  Some days that means running keeps me going.  Other days that means I need to lie flat on my back, say here I am Lord, aware of Your presence, and just waste time with Jesus, as anyone would do with their best friend.  Prayer keeps me constantly aware of the little gifts in life—the smile from a passerby, the way the sun split the clouds just for a minute and bathed me on the walk home, or when one of the middle school boys I teach finally learns all of their multiplication facts.  My Jesuit brothers are a huge source of strength—a reminder of how to live and love.

Learn how you pray.  I pray with my body and with nature.  I run on trails.  I climb rocks.  I bike.  And no matter what, even if it’s the Bob Leiweke 20 second: Thank-you-for-this-day prayer, I pray.  Some prefer chapels, I prefer forests.  Surround yourself with reminders of God—notes on the wall, people who are close to God, or whatever brings you back to the Source of “your” strength.  Stay there, close to that One, and you will hear your personal invitation, your personal vocation, and you will not only know how to used your gifts fully, but you will indeed use them to their full potential.

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