A relic of St Francis Xavier has begun a three-month “Pilgrimage of Grace” in Australia. The relic is Xavier’s right forearm, which has been kept in the Church of the Gesu, the Society’s mother Church in Rome for the past 400 years.
Fr C Amal SJ, an Indian Jesuit missioned to Myanmar, was recently in Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state, where many of our Myanmar scholastics are from. He offers this reflection on the Church there.
Fr C Amal SJ, an Indian Jesuit missioned to Myanmar, was recently in Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state, at the request of the Bishop to accompany 102 diocesan priests in retreats. He offers two reflections on Loikaw, where many of our Myanmar scholastics are from. This first reflection is on Loikaw, the second reflection is on the Church there.
The Christian Life Community in Australia has made giving and promoting the First Spiritual Exercises an apostolic work. For the last six years, the First Spiritual Exercises have been given in Australia and Malaysia, by Jesuit, religious and lay teams in parishes, spirituality centres and other groups.
We know that death comes to everyone, nothing is more certain. Yet somehow, Zulo has been with us forever and why should that change? Yet death, so common, so utterly usual, normal, has come to claim him and to surprise us. Even in his diminishment these last 5 or 7 years the essential Zulo was ever present. Through years of dialysis with its obvious discomfort, he retained his inscrutable, penetrating, quizzical gaze. His face had a Mona Lisa quality. Was that a smile, a question, or a comment?
Seventeen Jesuit scholastics were ordained deacon in Manila on September 8. They were an international group from nine Provinces and Regions in three Conferences, Asia Pacific, South Asia and Africa. Six of the new deacons are from the Philippine Province and the other 11 from Arrupe International Residence (AIR).
A group of 20 – 19 Jesuits and a Protestant pastor – gathered in Tokyo in August to explore the links between Ignatian Spirituality and Buddhism in the third Buddhist Christian Dialogue Workshop. Held in Tokyo from August 14 to 16, the workshop was themed “Buddha and Ignatius”.
Dialogue with people of other faiths is particularly important for Jesuits working in Asia, which is home to several major religions such as Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism, and inter-religious dialogue is a major dimension of the Jesuit commitment to be companions of Jesus and servants of his mission.
Filipino Scholastic Mark Lopez SJ shares on his experience of a five-day Vipassana Meditation Retreat he did in Chiang Mai last summer under the Venerable Abbot Piyatassi Bhikku. The retreat was part of the month-long East Asian Theological Encounter Programme, which provides Jesuits in formation with opportunities to deepen their dialogue with other faiths, particularly Buddhism, and to enrich their perspectives on theology in Asia.
At the International Colloquium on Jesuit Secondary Education in Boston, Fr Danny Huang SJ, Regional Assistant for Asia Pacific, posed 10 points of reflection from the Procurates, that he said would be useful to discuss in Jesuit schools, Provinces and Regions.
1. Apostolic instruments
Do we understand ourselves and function as apostolic missions? How?
Students from five countries in Asia Pacific gathered in the Philippines in July for a reflective and experiential forum designed to give them an understanding of what it means to be Ignatian leaders.