What does S.J. mean?

In Latin: Societas Jesu
In Pilipino: Kapisanan ni Hesus
In English: Society of Jesus (Companions of Jesus)
In Spanish: Compa?ia de Jesus (Compa?eros de Jesus)
Popular name: Jesuits or mga Heswita

The Society of Jesus today has around 25,382 members (72% Priests, 15% Brothers and 13% Scholastics), the largest single order of priests and brothers in the world. There are about 5,226 in North America, 3,588 in South America, 10,203 in Europe, 1,090 in Africa, 5,275 in Asia, and 340 in Australia. In the Philippines, we have around 440 men in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

What does it mean to be Jesuit?

"It is to know that one is a sinner,
yet called to be a companion of Jesus,
as Ignatius was, who begged the Blessed
Virgin to place him with her Son,
and who then saw the Father Himself
ask Jesus, carrying His cross,
to take this pilgrim into his company…"

"It is to engage, under the standard of the cross,
in the crucial struggle of our time
the struggle for faith
and that struggle for justice
which it includes."

- from the 32nd General Congregation Decree on “Jesuits Today”

What is the meaning of Jesuit vows?

The Jesuit takes religious vows which are apostolic. He commits himself until death to the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. This is so that he may be totally united to Christ and share His own freedom to be at the service of all God’s people. And so, the Jesuit formalizes this commitment, by public vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

In binding the Jesuits, the vows set them free:

free by their vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor, relying on God’s providence, and to use whatever resources they may have not for their own security and comfort, but for service;

free by their vow of chastity, to be men-for-others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share their mission of service;

free by their vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to them by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of their superiors, especially the Father General, who has all authority over them.

Moreover, following Ignatius they have asked Christ our Lord to let them render this service in a manner that gives them a personality of their own. They have chosen to give it in the form of a consecrated life, placing themselves at the service not only of the local churches but of the universal Church, by a special vow of obedience to his who presides over the universal Church, namely, the Pope.