Ignatian News Network provides a behind-the-scenes look at Hearts on Fire, an Ignatian retreat programme for young adults, which is offered by the Apostleship of Prayer in the United States. The day and a half retreat, for single or married people aged 18 to 39, is led by young Jesuit priests and scholastics. In this experience, the retreatants are led through the Spiritual Exercises and are given one-hour guided meditations.
Three Filipino Jesuits came up with an interactive version of the Spiritual Exercises for Ateneo de Manila University’s Ignatian Festival in July. Using installation art, Br Eric Esteba SJ, Sch Alvin Laput SJ and Sch Eric S Escandor SJ developed CONTEMPLATIO, a 45-minute prayer exercise designed mainly for young people who want to deepen their faith and enrich their Ignatian identity.
Sogang University undergraduate Sol Jee Ahn was at MAGIS and World Youth Day 2013 with a group of 27 pilgrims from Korea. She shares with us how MAGIS helped her feel closer to God and loved as a child of God.
In the early hours of June 18, 73 Cambodians, a mix of students from the Arrupe Welcoming Centre for the disabled and St Joseph’s Parish Tahen, boarded a plane to Singapore for a two week cultural dance tour. A mixture of excitement and anticipation flowed through the aircraft, as teachers and support staff tried to complete the Singapore immigration documents before landing. The Battambang Arrupe Tahen Dance Troupe had been invited to Singapore to perform at the CHARIS humanitarian forum on June 22.
The Jesuit Post interviewed Father General Adolfo Nicolás SJ during MAGIS 2013 in Brazil. The interview has been divided into five video clips, focussed on Youth Ministry, New & Social Media, Silence, Vocations, and Pope Francis.
On the Youth Ministry
On New & Social Media
Xavier Catholic College Hervey Bay student Julie-Anne Doan’s face lights up as she talks about the experience of meeting and chatting with the young people she’s encountered on the Timor-Leste Immersion Program.
“We’ve been looking at the history, and seeing how much they’ve gone through,” she says. “Yet they’re able to smile and to give to others just as if we’re part of the family. I don’t really want to leave to be honest.”
SALVADOR, Brazil (CNS) — Using the example of a big-hearted giraffe, the superior general of the Jesuits, Father Adolfo Nicolas, told 2,000 World Youth Day pilgrims: “Keep your eyes and your hearts open.”
The young people from around the world — mostly students from Jesuit universities — had gathered in Salvador on July 12 for a 10-day, pre-World Youth Day programme known as Magis, which means “the more” in Latin. The programme is designed for the young people to examine their lives to see how they can do more for Christ and for others.
Young adults will be able to continue their Ignatian formation as they enter university life with the opening of Jesuit House in Sydney. In this letter to the Province, Australian Provincial Fr Steve Curtin SJ says the house, part of The Cardoner Project, now has a community of young men living there and has begun functioning as a venue for formation and prayer, as well as socialising.
Energised and inspired by its first experience of MAGIS in Madrid in 2011, the Korean Province is deep into preparations for MAGIS-World Youth Day (WYD) 2013 in Brazil. Fr Joseph Songyong Choe SJ shares their preparations with us.
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.