Message Board

Dear Friends in the Lord,

Warm greetings of a happy and grace-filled New Year to each one of you!

As we step into this New Year, I invite you to renew your commitment to live a hopeful, purposeful, and meaningful Jesuit life - personally and as a community. Every New Year is a precious gift from God; an opportunity graciously added to our life on earth. We cannot allow this gift to pass by in futility; rather, we are called to dedicate ourselves anew to work generously for the greater glory of God.

As the saying reminds us, what we are is God’s gift to us; what we become is our gift to God. We are called to be men who nurture hope in a wounded world, men who live each day with clarity of purpose, and men who find meaning through faithful response to God’s call every day. Scripture reminds us: Yahweh declares, “I have sent you to redeem my people” (cf. Ex 3:10), and Jesus says, “I am sending you to bring Good News to the poor” (cf. Lk 4:18; Lk 10:3). God’s call is always purposeful and life-giving.

St. Ignatius, writing to the Jesuits in Coimbra, reminds us: “It is not much knowledge that fills and satisfies the soul, but the intimate understanding and relish of the truth.” Our religious life, therefore, cannot be lived superficially or content with the minimum. We are invited to live with interior depth—rooted in prayer, and men of Magis. As the General Congregation 36 affirms: “Jesuits are called to allow themselves to be transformed by God, so that they may cooperate more fully in God’s mission of reconciliation and justice” (GC 36, D.1).

Our communities, too, are central to this call. They are not merely places of residence, but homes of grace where God meets us through one another. As companions of Jesus, we are sent together, not as isolated individuals. General Congregation 32 reminds us that “community itself is mission,” and General Congregation 35 affirms: “Mission unites us; it binds us together in a common life” (GC 35, D.2). United in Jesus Christ—the vine to whom we are branches—our life-mission becomes hopeful, purposeful, and meaningful.

In a world marked by superficiality and fragmentation, we are called to be men of hope, rooted in Christ. When we are grounded in God, our lives gain direction, our choices become purposeful, and our mission becomes fruitful. This was the daily experience of our founder St. Ignatius and his companions. It is good to remind ourselves of the invitation placed before us by Pope Leo XIV:  “Like Ignatius and the Jesuit martyrs who followed him, you are called to discern, innovate and trust in Christ, ‘with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace’ (Eph 6:14-15). When the Spirit leads the apostolic body elsewhere for a greater good, this may require letting go of long-cherished structures or roles – an exercise of Ignatian ‘holy indifference’. He further reminded us: “To accomplish this, I encourage you to remain close to Jesus. As the Gospel tells us, the first disciples stayed with him ‘the whole day’ (cf. Jn 1). Remain with him through personal prayer, the celebration of the Sacraments, devotion to His Sacred Heart and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In a different yet still powerful way, remain with him by recognizing His presence in community life. From this rootedness, you will have the courage to walk anywhere: to speak truth, to reconcile, to heal, to labor for justice, and to set captives free. No frontier will be beyond your reach if you walk with Christ.”

As we begin this New Year, may we walk together as companions of Jesus – men of hope, purpose, and meaning – seeking and finding God in all things, for the greater glory of God.

Fr. Thomas Amirtham, S.J.,

Provincial, The Jesuit Madurai Province