Paths to compassion

I recently celebrated a mass at Bilibid, the maximum security prison south of Manila. On the wall of the Jesuit community I was struck by a quotation from the 1550 Formula of the Institute. In that document Ignatius visualises Jesuits as men drawn from different parts of the world, who are engaged both in spiritual ministries and ministries of compassion.

Ignatius gave priority to the spiritual ministries of preaching the Word, teaching Christian doctrine, giving the Spiritual Exercises, hearing confessions, and administering the other sacraments. But he also said that a Jesuit ‘should show himself ready to reconcile the estranged, compassionately assist and serve those in prisons or hospitals and indeed to perform any other works of charity’. So Jesuits are asked to perform both kinds of ministry wherever possible, rather than to choose between them. The Jesuits in Bilibid boast that they engage in all the ministries on Ignatius’ list.

Christians involved in ministries of compassion have always been dragged before lions and tigers. This year we recall the tenth anniversary of the death of Fr Tarcissius Dewanto and of Fr Karl Albrecht who died in East Timor in the violence that followed the 1999 referendum.

As they remember this anniversary, the Jesuits at Arrupe International Residence will also recall their own martyrs. Richie Fernando from the Philippines died violently during his regency in Cambodia in 1196. Fr A T Thomas was killed in Hazaribag in 1997. Arrupe Residence, which is approaching its 20th anniversary, forms Jesuits from around the Assistancy to bring together in their lives spiritual and compassionate commitments.

The work of Arrupe would be dear to St Ignatius because it brings together young Jesuits of different nations. He would be reminded of his early companions, a feisty and articulate group drawn from many nations, who committed themselves to a prayerful search for God’s will in order to achieve agreement. We still experience the fruits of their deliberations and sharing of their hearts.

The Arrupe community is drawn from over a dozen nationalities, and many more mother tongues. It gives the lie to the claim that our diversity thwarts cooperation. Such differences are revealed as superficial. Foundations are laid here for fruitful apostolic international cooperation in the future.

During his recent visits to Asia, Fr Nicolás was asked what languages our scholastics and brothers should learn in addition to English, now our common language. He replied that we should first learn another language of our Asia Pacific region, and then a language of the international Society, such as Spanish. A tall order! But it is when we are familiar with the languages of other Jesuits that we will be able to communicate and work together as an international body.

The Cambodian ordination earlier this year of Jub Phoktavi displayed the international scope of the Society. Jub’s family and friends, who supported him in his long service with Jesuit Refugee Service in Thailand, Cambodia, East Timor and Angola, joined him at Battambang. Now he settles to the life of parish priest to the east of the huge Tonle Sap Lake in central Cambodia.

The link between local Jesuit works and the Assistancy can also be seen in East Timor. The Jesuits there are planning a new school. They need to decide whether it will continue to serve only senior secondary students, whether it will include teacher training, and how it will serve the broader educational needs of East Timor. In answering these large questions they will draw on the resources of the whole Assistancy.

It is clear that any major decision in one Province or Region involves the whole Assistancy.

Mark Raper SJ