I arrived in Timor-Leste six months ago, and I already feel very much at home here! During most of my Jesuit life in Australia I have been involved in three main ministries: (1) young adults, (2) refugees and forcibly displaced peoples and (3) Ignatian spirituality. In my last two years in Sydney, I also served in one of our Jesuit Parishes. Now in Timor-Leste, I am working full-time at Instituto São João de Brito (ISJB) in Kasait, ministering to young men and women training to be secondary school teachers.
In this short article, I’ve been asked to address two questions: (1) What does Ignatian Spirituality mean to me and (2) How has Ignatian Spirituality shaped the way I serve others as a Jesuit missionary in the East Timor Region?
Ignatian spirituality is simply a ‘spirituality for everyday life’. It proposes that God is present in our world—in work, relationships, culture, the arts, the intellectual life, nature and creation itself ; that God wants to communicate with us (wants to have a personal relationship with us), and that God is active in our lives (never distant or absent). In summary, Ignatian spirituality is a pathway to deeper prayer, good decisions guided by deep discernment, and an active life of service to others.
This sense of God’s loving presence always accompanying me has been a gift of my Jesuit life. And in my short time in Timor-Leste, I have truly experienced this presence in many ways: in conversations with my students and fellow teachers, in celebrating Masses, in visiting villages outside of Dili, in watching sunsets in Kasait…
An Ignatian spiritual life focuses on God at work now. It fosters an active attentiveness to God joined with a prompt responsiveness to God. God calls; we respond. This call-response rhythm of the inner life makes discernment and decision making especially important, inviting us to constant reflection and self-awareness.
“How are you calling me, Lord, today?” “How do you want me to respond, Lord, today?” These are questions I ask myself every day! I do feel that the Lord has called me to be here, in Timor-Leste, at this stage in my life. I do believe that God has called me to be here as a Jesuit priest and to be here as a teacher and as a formator! But I need to keep asking: how am I to be here, how am I to be a Jesuit priest, how am I to be a teacher and formator? And the answers to these questions often change depending on the person who is in front of me at any given time!
Ignatian spirituality emphasizes personal interior freedom. To choose rightly, we should strive to be free of personal preferences, attachments, and preformed opinions. At the same time, it also places great value on collaboration and teamwork. Thus, mission and service in the Ignatian mode is seen not as an individualistic enterprise, but as work done in collaboration with Christ and others.
One of the things I am enjoying most in my work at ISJB is being able to collaborate with my colleagues. I am new here, and they know much better than me what is best for our students and the best way in which we can support them. I am learning from them, hoping that in the future I can contribute more to our common mission here.
Those formed by Ignatian spirituality are often called “contemplatives in action”. They are reflective people with a rich inner life who are deeply engaged in God’s work in the world, called to be ‘men and women with and for others’. The heart of this service is the radical generosity that Ignatius asked for in his most famous prayer: Lord, teach me to be generous…
A strong sense of generosity is palpable in my daily life here in Kasait. I witness it in the teachers who spent extra time with our students, accompanying them, encouraging them. I witness it in parishioners caring for one another and offering their time and talents in service for this faith community. I experience it in people around me, caring for me, looking after me. I am grateful for their generosity and pray that I too may continue to grow in this virtue during my time here.
Written by: Pe. Sacha Bermudez-Goldman, SJ