By Teresa Martinez - Belen Jesuit Preparatory School
Photographer: Teresa Martinez
Belen Jesuit alumnus Michael Martinez holds hands with his family during the Our Father at the schoolwide Mass of the Holy Spirit where he made his first vows to the Society of Jesus, in front of the entire student body.
MIAMI | Belen Jesuit Preparatory School alumnus Michael Martinez made his first vows to the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) at a schoolwide Mass Aug. 28.
The Mass of the Holy Spirit is traditional in all Catholic schools at the beginning of the academic year. At Belen, the Mass is an important event to highlight the Jesuit values upon which the school was established.
The main celebrant this year was Jesuit Father Javier Vidal, provincial of the Antilles Province. Jesuit Father Pedro Suarez, Belen's president, and other Miami Jesuits concelebrated.
“We begin the new school year 2015-16 with gratitude to God for the many blessings bestowed upon our students, parents, faculty, staff, benefactors, and alumni, and for the many accomplishments achieved last year in academics, spiritual growth, athletics and extracurricular activities,” said Father Suarez. “It is a blessing for our students to witness the first vows of a young alumnus and a wonderful way to begin the academic year with enthusiasm and renewed energy.”
Michael Anthony Martinez, 24, was born and raised in Miami. He graduated from Belen in 2009 and continued his studies at Fordham, a Jesuit university in the Bronx, New York, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology with a concentration in American Catholic studies. Upon graduation, he entered the Jesuits' Antilles Province (Cuba, Miami and Dominican Republic) and began his formation in the novitiate in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
As a Jesuit, “I am little by little discovering what it means to be ‘fully alive,’" said Martinez. "Over the course of these two years in the novitiate - praying, studying, living in community and working with the poor - I synthesize all my experiences in one line: ‘all is gift; all is grace’ (S.E. 322). It is the mantra that keeps me ever grateful in moments of difficulty and growth. I learned this on the 30-day silent retreat (the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola)."
He added that the novitiate was a challenging, life-changing experience that invited him to live the Christian life in a profound and radical way in the Society of Jesus. “I want to live ‘eucharistically’: blessed, broken and shared with and for others,” he said.
Martínez will continue his graduate education in social philosophy and digital media and storytelling at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois as a Jesuit Scholastic.
Photographer: Teresa Martinez
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School alumnus Michael Martinez made his first vows to the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) at the schoolwide Mass Aug. 28. He is pictured with the main celebrant, Jesuit Father Javier Vidal, provincial of the Antilles Province, and Jesuit Father Pedro Suarez, Belen Jesuit School president.
