Recently, Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, invited Jesuits and Jesuit institutions to implement the second phase of the Universal Apostolic Preferences. He encourages us to use our imagination as we embark on the second stage (watch the video linked here, it’s under two minutes).

Among other things, two of these invitations have helped me in my prayer and reflection over the past few days: 

• Imagine our retreat centers, our social centers passionately collaborating so that our spirituality is integrated with our thirst for justice and reconciliation. 

• Imagine the poor and the excluded talking to us, changing us. 

Using imagination in our spirituality is not easy. It requires a certain inner freedom to let ourselves be carried away and to respond to our deepest desires. The creativity that springs from imagination is indeed the action of the Spirit of God working in us. 

I invite us all to imagine how we can integrate our spirituality with our thirst for justice and reconciliation; and to allow ourselves to be transformed by listening to the poor. After all, Ignatius said it best back in 1547, “La amistad con los pobres, nos hace amigos del Rey Eterno."

Friendship with the poor makes us friends of the Eternal King.

Read all of the OIS March 2024 newsletter here.