“Jesuits are like candles who will consume themselves to light the way for others.” In startling red letters on a yellow backdrop, this image stands out from among the numerous images posted in the Facebook page of the Jesuit Tribute 2014.  

Jesuit Tribute 2014 is an online initiative by students, ex-students, collaborators, beneficiaries, friends and families of the Jesuits to acknowledge their contribution and say “Thank You”.  It has the support of the Conference of South Asia and was timed to coincide with the commemoration of the bicentennial of the Restoration of the Society of Jesus this year.

In the website, a simple prayer is offered for the Jesuits in behalf of everyone who has benefited from their guidance: “Thank you for teaching us that Education means more than just acquiring knowledge, that what we do with that knowledge is just as important, that knowledge with spirituality and mind with heart help us make ethical choices.”

The movement invites people to leave a signature in the website “to give back to the men who started it all, to those who work selflessly to take the legacy of the early Jesuits forward and to those who live by the dictum ‘To Give and Not To Count the Cost’”.  Personal messages can also be posted in the website, and Facebook or Twitter pages, and will be published when the tribute is released.  As of March 27, there were more than 280,000 signatures.

For more information on Jesuit Tribute 2014, visit www.jesuittribute.com