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Celebrating the Year of St. Ignatius

 

 

Our Parish is named after St. Ignatius of Loyola. This is because St. Ignatius is our Patron Saint. This is probably the only church in Japan that is called by the name of a saint (in Japan, it is customary to call a church by the name of its location). In spite of the fact that the church is named after St. Ignatius, few people know who is St. Ignatius of Loyola.

 

He was originally a soldier. He lived a life of honor and liked martial arts, but almost died of a serious injury in a battle at Pamplona, Spain in 1521. This triggered a conversion in him which made him promise to live as a true knight who thereafter wanted to serve only Jesus. After his conversion, while studying to become a priest in Paris, he met St. Francis Xavier and others, and eventually founded the Society of Jesus in Rome. Since then, the Jesuits have spread all over the world, with churches named after St. Ignatius in many countries, many of which are quite large in various cities around the globe.

One of his main achievements was writing the "Spiritual Exercises" based on his personal spiritual experience and knowledge. The “Spiritual Exercises” is a prayer guidebook which has helped many people go through deep spiritual experiences. Also, the spirit of the "Spiritual Exercises" does not simply aim at experiencing God in a way which is unrelated to this world, but rather finds the will of God in daily life.

May 20 this year commemorates the 500th anniversary of the young Ignatius being injured in battle, which eventually led to his conversion. As part of the commemoration of this event, the Jesuit Superior General Fr. Arturo Sosa SJ has announced the celebration of an “Ignatian Year” starting on May 20, 2021 and ending on July 31, 2022, the feast day of St. Ignatius. In addition, the Provincial Superior of the Japan Province, Fr. Renzo De Luca SJ, has called on not only the Jesuits but also the coworkers of Jesuit institutions to participate in and experience the blessings of these Ignatian Year celebrations. The Ignatian Year events are more about valuing our inner spiritual experiences than just having a commemorative event.

Therefore, together as a parish, we want to experience the blessings of the "Spiritual Exercises" more deeply in this “Year of St. Ignatius.” We hope that this will nurture our journey of faith and help us discern the will of God so that we can organize our lives more in accord with that will.

“Mission 2030” is a set of guidelines for our parish activities and plans for the next 10 years. One among those guidelines, one is to "deepen our prayer experience, nurture our relationship with God, and thus achieve spiritual growth through the spirituality of St. Ignatius.” The Jesuit ministry priorities (UAP-Universal Apostolic Preferences) for the coming 10 years (2019-2029) also have been announced and one of these is "to show the way to God through Spiritual Exercise and discernment." Since this point is very important in Ignatian spirituality, we would like, as much as possible, to put it into practice in our various parish ministries.

Keeping in mind the aforementioned points, the parish has planned in detail and formulated the following projects. (These projects are subject to change depending on the corona pandemic situation).

There will be a weekly online talk (in Japanese) based on the Spiritual Exercises. This online talk series will be available on the parish YouTube channel every Friday at 16:00 pm starting from Friday May 21. Link below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Zwcc_MbnyglsQdyOByc-Q

We will be happy if everyone can make use of this online talk series for their personal meditation and prayer.

Every Thursday from 18:45 pm, there will adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the main church, during which points for meditation form the Spiritual Exercise will be given.

Lectures on the Ignatian way of living and the Spiritual Exercises are also being planned. (The number of participants will be very limited. Please check with the parish office for details.) These sessions will be presented by:

Fr. Daniel Collins SJ and Fr. Manuel Silgo SJ (topic: Spiritual Exercises in our daily lives)

Fr. Hanafusa Ryuichiro SJ, Sr. Shinagawa Yoshiko, Sr. Nomoto Yoshiko (topic: Study of Ignatian Spirituality)

Everybody is encouraged to read books related to themes on Ignatian spirituality. Some recommended books (all in Japanese) are:

  1. Aru Junreisha no Monogatari (The Story of a Pilgrim) (This is the autobiography of St. Ignatius), Iwanami Press.
  2. Kami no Yubi Koko ni Ari (The Finger of God is Here) by Fr. Lee Sung-il SJ, Don Bosco Press.  


 

by Fr. Ryuichiro Hanafusa S.J.

 

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