Mike Lex , S.J.

First, the basics.  My name is Michael Lex and I am a first year Scholastic in the Bellarmine House of Studies in Saint Louis, MO.  I am currently in my third year as a Jesuit after two years of novitiate which I did in Saint Paul, MN.  Originally I am from a sleepy little town in southeastern Wisconsin known as Oconomowoc, but because of my affiliations to Marquette University High School (Class of 2000) and Marquette University (Class of 2004) I almost always say I am from Milwaukee.
            Now the main question…why am I a Jesuit?  Mainly it had to do with my time in high school and in college.  The first time I met a Jesuit was my freshmen year of high school way back in 1996 and it was the first time I saw priests in a non-parish environment.  I was intrigued by this and I wanted to learn more.  I already had begun discernment with the archdiocese of Milwaukee as to whether I wanted to be a priest, but I didn’t feel called to parish life (I thought it was boring).  As the years passed by, I became more and more interested in Jesuit life.  I loved listening to Tom Doyle, SJ lecturing about the Church with passion and interest.  Rob Kroll, SJ was a spiritual director to me and walked me through a version of the Spiritual Exercises.  And every Jesuit I knew wrote to and encouraged me as I participated in the retreats that Marquette High offered.  By the time I entered college I knew priesthood was where God was calling me as my prayer seemed to focus in on that.  I joined a discernment group led by Tim Lannon, SJ at MU and got involved in liturgical choir.  Then, in 2002 I went to World Youth Day in Toronto with Will Prospero, SJ where I finalized my discernment to apply to the Society of Jesus.  As I listened to John Paul II give his homily he spoke of the sins that had been committed.  Then I felt like he was speaking directly to me as he said, “The world you are inheriting is a world which desperately needs a new sense of brotherhood and human solidarity. It is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God's love. It needs witnesses to that love. The world needs salt. It needs you…”  I felt that I was being confirmed in my discernment and my decision to enter the Society.
            Now that you know why I’m a Jesuit, why do I remain one?  Much of it has to do with the peace and joy that I get through living this life.  I would not trade all the experiences I have had through the Spiritual Exercises, my time in a L’Arche community in Toronto, my pilgrimage to New York City, and my semester teaching on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota for anything in this world.  The graces I have received continue to flow and become new even as I study and work in Saint Louis.  I see the love and joy in the faces of the children I work with and I see Christ in them just as, I hope and pray, they see Christ working through me.  I always try to trust in Christ as it is He that has called me to where I am.  I try to keep my eyes upon Him and His outstretched hands, beckoning me over the next hill to the next space that His love can flow through me into another.
            As for advice, above all pray.  Have a solid relationship with God and He will lead you truly and rightly to where you are called to be.  And be sure to read books about the Society and its history.  I received many graces and insights as I read the lives of Jesuit saints and martyrs, plus I got a chance to see the inside of where I ended up.  Finally I would just say to trust.  Trust in God, trust in yourself, and trust those helping you along the path of discernment.  May God grant you peace and blessings

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