The Ignatian Year (20 May 2021 – 31 July 2022) is a particularly grace-filled season for all who have been influenced and touched by the gift of Ignatius of Loyola’s life and charism.
On 12 March 2022, the mid-point of the celebration, we commemorate the fourth centenary of the canonization of Ignatius together with Francis Xavier, Teresa of Jesus, Philip Neri, and Isidore Labrador. We begin this celebration at the time of his conversion experience following his injury at the battle of Pamplona on 20 May, five hundred years ago. The cannonball fractured his right leg and damaged his left. That injury led him to re-examine his life, repent of his sins, and turn to the Lord for mercy. Those worldly desires of having fame and glory for himself were shattered. Those self-centered ambitions were crushed, and his life-long journey of seeking God and doing God’s mission started. For Ignatius, it was not a one-time transformation. It was progressive and multifaceted.
For instance, Ignatius’ persistent search for the will of God led him to shift from a very personal, almost exclusive to a more inclusive view of salvation. He realised that salvation cannot remain between him and God only. It was not enough to follow the footsteps of Jesus in Jerusalem, live an ascetic life, deepen one’s personal relationship with God, and be saved. Thus, he became convinced that he had to have a community of friends in the Lord as he did when he was studying in Paris, and together they started to discern the mission of God for them. Even with this development, he and his early companions had no clear and inclusive vision of serving the Church through the Pope. The crucial moment was in Venice in 1537 as the ten companions waited for a ship to take them to Jerusalem for their pilgrimage. When it became clear that this was not possible, they discerned whether or not to submit themselves to the Pope as one body and go wherever he wanted to mission them. This then led to the foundation of the Society of Jesus in 1540. The purpose was plain and simple: to serve the Lord alone and the Church under the Roman Pontiff. Over time, the exclusive and personal view of salvation of Ignatius had become more inclusive and more universal. Discernment shifted from purely personal to include a community of friends together searching for the will of God.
Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ insists that the focus of this celebration is Christ, not Ignatius. This is not the time to put Ignatius up on a pedestal. The motto of the Ignatian Year captures the spirit of the celebration: “to see all things new in Christ”. This was also the experience of Ignatius during his conversion. Christ dealt with him at the moment of his fragility. When he hated himself for his sins, the Lord granted him mercy, and showed him a pathway to God. In his autobiography, he started to experience “everything in a new way”.
In the celebration of the Ignatian Year, we are encouraged to experience this newness of life-mission in Christ. The pursuit of the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), released in 2019, is a roadmap for our transformation. In the UAPs, we desire to show the ways to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment, to walk with the poor and all those whose dignity has been violated, to accompany the young people, and to collaborate in the care of our common home. These desires are only possible if we ourselves are familiar with the ways of God, if we learn and listen to the poor, if we are willing to be led by the young, and if we make a turnaround in the way we live our lives to save Mother Earth. All these presuppose some level of conversion on our end.
In his address to the Jesuits and companions in mission, Fr General notes that in this celebration of the Ignatian Year “we are entering into what can be a transformative moment for the Society of Jesus. It can be a moment that releases new energy, new freedom, new initiatives, new love for others, and for our most afflicted brothers and sisters.” It can generate new engagements with God, within humanity, and with creation founded on hope. In this time of the pandemic when people are horrified by the immense suffering of humanity due to hunger, joblessness, sickness, and deaths, it can be a time of venturing into new possibilities and new dreams.
May the Ignatian Year be for us a truly transformative moment.
Tony Moreno SJ
President, Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
Teresita NPC Araneta
With you, I am deeply convinced that as we are shaken by the circumstances of our time, we should go for bigger dreams in the pursuit of what is truly human.