From 15 December 2025 to 15 January 2026, sixteen of us, Jesuit scholastics from two international formation houses, CIF Bogotá in Colombia and CIF Belo Horizonte in Brazil, came together for our Arrupe Month. We represented three regions: the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar, and CPAL, the Jesuit Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean. We embarked on a month-long journey of deep reflection and prayer, friendship, sharing, and mission. We visited places marked by the witness of martyrs, including Blessed Rutilio Grande, SJ and Saint Oscar Romero, in El Salvador, a land that still bears the memory of their sacrifice.
Arrupe Month is a special time for all Jesuits finishing their theology studies. It is a time to pray, reflect, deepen our friendship with the Lord, and truly understand what it means to answer our call as Jesuits, especially as we prepare for ordination. Fr. Hernán Quezada, SJ, the CPAL delegate for formation, accompanied us throughout the Program, guiding and supporting us.
Of all the moments we experienced during that month, one remains particularly vivid and continues to echo in my heart. There is a line in John’s Gospel: “If every one of them (the things that Jesus did) were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” That is how it felt. We visited the tombs and sacred sites associated with our Jesuit brother, Blessed Rutilio Grande, and other martyrs. We stood in the chapel where Monsignor Oscar Romero was killed. That experience, standing on holy ground, taught me what it truly means to give everything to God, to be a disciple who holds nothing back. Their sacrifice brought home the cost and the beauty of loving and serving the people entrusted to me.
Inside Monsignor Romero’s museum, I stopped in front of the saint’s words: “I beg you; I command you in the name of God: please stop the repression.” I couldn’t hold back tears reading that. Romero’s courage and faith, the way he comforted and defended his people, are honestly hard to grasp. He became the voice for those who had none and pushed back against the injustice his people suffered. His words carry something deeply human, and something of God as well. He reminds me that being a priest means being ready for whatever comes, no matter the cost.
Later, when we entered the chapel where Rutilio Grande is buried, I felt it all over again. He chose to stay with his people, walk with them, defend them, and protect their dignity. He never abandoned them. In the end, he shared their fate, struck down by violence but never defeated in faith. Even now, his life and death keep speaking. He lived the Gospel all the way to the end.
The blood of the martyrs taught me the true meaning of fully dedicating myself to God’s will and what it means to be a genuine follower and disciple of Jesus. Their sacrifice revealed the importance of self-giving to those I am called to serve and love.
Muchas gracias.
Written by: Sch. Nelson Marques SJ