The charismatic Pedro Arrupe still has an important impact on the life of the Society of Jesus. Full of imagination and enthusiasm, with freedom, vision, and courage, he aroused, like any good leader, both devoted followers and resolute enemies. For this he suffered. But his spirit was indomitable and his trust in the Lord ever solid. He stood close to reality, ready to discern the signs of the times, and the needs of the poor. His “swan song” was the Jesuit Refugee Service, a bequest to the Society.
At his golden jubilee in the Society in 1977, then aged 70 years, he recalled decisive turning points in his life. It may help us to recall the ones he mentioned and add some later historic moments in Pedro Arrupe’s journey. These unexpected turning points were, he claimed, surely the hand of God, giving a bold twist to the direction of his life’s path. Reflecting on his example we may ask ourselves at which moments has the hand of God altered the course of our lives?
“My vocation to the Society of Jesus, after having begun the study of medicine, a subject that interested me so greatly, and right in the middle of my university career.” (15 January 1927)
“My vocation to Japan (a mission to which I had no attraction at all, prior to God’s call), which my superiors refused me for 10 years while they were preparing me to become a professor of moral theology.” (15 October 1938)
“My presence in the city over which the first atom bomb exploded.” (6 August 1945)
“My election as General Superior of the Society.” (25 May 1965)
Arrupe commented: “These were such sudden and unexpected happenings and at the same time they carried with them so clearly the ‘mark’ of God, that in fact I have viewed and still view them as a series of those ‘irruptions’ by which God’s loving providence is pleased to reveal its presence and its absolute dominion over each of us.”
We may add some more moments of historic importance in Pedro Arrupe’s life:
“I have decided to set up … a service to coordinate Jesuit refugee work… I consider this as a new modern apostolate for the Society as a whole, of great importance for today and the future, and of much spiritual benefit also to the Society… I hope you will accept this letter and the request it makes in a spirit of alacrity and availability.” (14 November 1980)
Meeting in Bangkok a group of Jesuits working among the refugees, he said “Pray. Don’t give up. We are in the front line of a new apostolate for the Society. We need to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Pray.” (6 August 1981)
That night he took a Thai flight to Rome. On arrival, while collecting his baggage, he suffered a stroke. There was an embolism in the carotid left artery. From this moment he began a long silent pilgrimage of suffering in silence. (7 August 1981)
“More than ever, I now find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life, from my youth. And this is still the one thing I want. But now there is a difference: the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in his hands.” Words read on his behalf to General Congregation 33. (3 September 1983)
“Is death a jump into uncertainty? Certainly not. It is a jump into the arms of the Lord.” Wrote Pedro Arrupe to a friend in 1981. Ten years later, on the anniversary of the martyrs of Nagasaki, he made that leap, aged 83. (5 February 1991)
“I cannot consider my life to be extraordinary. The extraordinary thing is that, although I have been much lacking in what the orientation of my life should have been, the Lord continued to make possible his plan in my life. He has loved me as I am.” (Arrupe in an undated interview)
In a dedication to Pedro Arrupe, Jon Sobrino SJ said of him that he made the Society a bit more like Jesus. “Here lies a man so human: he had a heart larger than the world in which he lived. One cannot help but love him.”
Mark Raper SJ
5 February 2022
31st death anniversary of Fr Pedro Arrupe