At the opening of the mass, Fr. Provincial Vincent Pham Van Mam invited the whole community to focus on the radical conversion of St Ignatius and St Francis Xavier which inspired them to “a new movement, a new vision and a new life” to serve God and his Church. “The canonization of the two saints is fruits of God’s grace upon their lives. Therefore, we are also called to become Jesus’ apostles like St Ignatius and St Francis to serve the Lord and help souls respond to the grace of God in their lives,” Fr Mam said.
In his homily, Fr. Provincial reflected on two points inspired from the Ignatian spirituality which also reflects the spirit of the coming Synod on Synodality: Prayer as a mutual conversation with God and discernment of God’s will through interior movements.
“Prayer is a personal conversation between retreatants and God. Retreatants listen and talk not only with a retreat director but also with God who reveals himself to them. Through this conversation, the retreatants enter into an intimate relationship with Jesus to know Him more, to love Him more and to follow Him more in His journey,” Fr Mam explained.
“Sharing and listening are also the keys focused by the Synod on Synodality to realize God’s loving presence and to know His will though a process of discernment in which we are trying to listen to the Holy Spirit working in our interior movements. By this spiritual sharing and discerning, we can recognize things God wants and things God don’t want in our life, inspired from listening to others and listening to our hearts. Each of us can recall and learn this process in experiences of the two saints,” Fr Mam emphasized.
Before the final blessing, on behalf of the whole Province, Fr Mam expressed his sincere gratitude to all community of faith, especially those who were working hard to prepare for this celebration. In the end, he requested the community to pray for conversion of each Jesuit.
