My daily life as a Jesuit Candidate significantly shapes me to grow in my spiritual, community, academic, affective, and pastoral life. These five aspects make up the foundation for becoming a future Jesuit. Through them, I am able to discover the will of God for me and what God wants me to be in this life. So, I would like to describe my daily life in this candidacy house, based on these aspects that guide my journey here.

· Spiritual

My day normally starts with morning meditation, reflecting on a Bible verse, followed by mass, where the candidates take turns preparing the liturgy and readings based on a schedule. Also, before lunch and dinner, I do an Examen of Conscience in the chapel. The chapel is the place I use to connect my soul to God. I usually join community prayer and meditate on the Bible verse during communal prayer.

In addition, we also participate in weekly, monthly, and annual activities. Every Sunday, together with my ‘Emmaus’ companion, we review and share the experiences of the week, and our monthly recollections help us to do the same for the activities of each month. We also have monthly adoration at Casa Gonzaga (our residence) and an annual retreat together as candidates, usually during the last month of the year. This helps me reflect on my experiences, see my growth in discernment, and identify areas for improvement.  These spiritual programs are helpful because they nurture my connection with God and help me feel comfortable when I pray.

· Community

Community life is also one of the important aspects that helps me in my growth. Together with the spiritual activities I mentioned before, I also give priority to my life in this Casa Gonzaga community. I enjoy getting involved in various activities that encourage me to be a person who knows how to laugh, how to talk, how to joke, how to tell stories and how to help others. So, I always do “manualia” (physical work) with my companions, tidy up the kitchen and do anything that brings benefit to the community as a whole. Besides these activities, I use my time to learn new things like playing guitar, reading, learning languages through movies, and also surfing the net to finding new resources. For our recreation time, sometimes we go to the beach as a community and play football. We also play cards, practice choir and sometimes work together to fix drainage pipes and so on. I feel that all these activities shape me to be a man who is free and open to others.

· Academic

My academic life is a journey of discovery and growth intellectually. I learn various subjects that help me think critically and deepen my understanding at University. My classes are also interactive, with group discussions that provide new insights and help me express my perspectives. Sometimes, I feel a bit bored because of too many assignments, but of course, I know that assignments are essential because they help me do more research, read more and spend much needed time in the library.

As a candidate, I have also been able to join some extracurricular activities like a five-week speaking workshop, an essay writing competition, a three-month English basic course, and a Portuguese basic course. These extracurricular activities are very helpful because besides doing assignments, I can also learn new things through them. So, in terms of my academic life, I do not only focus on study but sometimes I participate in some extracurricular activities that further my critical thinking and also enrich my knowledge.

· Pastoral

Normally, on weekends I go to Railaco with my companions to do our pastoral work  as candidates. When we arrive there, they send us to Tocoluli and Fatuquero villages. However, before I go there, I join the Feeding Program first and talk with the children, play with them and sometimes we sing together. After that, I go back and then immediately I go to the community to stay there. We also have some activities in the chapel which include Bible sharing with the catechetical groups and helping the choir prepare for Sunday mass.  I believe all these activities are shaping me on how to become a Jesuit in the future and what I will do as a Jesuit sent on mission.

All the activities I mentioned above can also be very helpful at times in managing my emotional challenges—negative energy and sexual desires, harmful thinking and other problems. I find playing guitar, reading, playing video games and even tidying up the kitchen and doing laundry very helpful in dealing with these challenges!

In conclusion, I am grateful that my daily life as a Jesuit candidate is full of rewarding activities and moments that are shaping me and helping me grow in the spiritual, community, academic, pastoral and also affective areas of my life.

Written by: Lazaro da Costa Madeira, Jesuit Candidate