We are in the 4th centenary of the arrival of the first companions in Paray-le-Monial (1619), a few weeks before the Feast of the Sacred Heart (June 28, 2019) and the cause for the beatification of Pedro Arrupe has opened in Rome. The conjunction of these two events prompts us to invite you to rediscover an amazing passage from one of Pedro Arrupe's last conferences before his cerebral thrombosis. This text has lost none of its strength and challenges us, especially in the context of our apostolic preferences.

At the end of his conference on February 6, 1981 (*), Father Arrupe delivered like a call to the whole Society: "I think I am saying something to the Society that I think I should not keep quiet. "It is, in fact, the secret of his entire life and his apostolic dynamism since the novitiate: a particular attachment to the Heart of Jesus through devotion to the Sacred Heart: "I was still nourishing and nourishing the certainty that the very high value of such a deep spirituality, which the Supreme Pontiffs have called supreme, which resorts to such a universal and human biblical symbol and to a word,'heart' would soon reappear again. »

Father Arrupe was convinced that this devotion of the Church delivered "an extraordinary effectiveness, both for personal perfection and for apostolic fruitfulness. "And to continue:" I regard this devotion as one of the most intimate sources of my inner life. ...] My deep conviction is that all of us, as the Society of Jesus, have to reflect and discern in the presence of the crucified Christ on what this devotion has meant and must, precisely today, mean for the Society. In the present circumstances, the world offers us both challenges and questions that we can only fully face with the strength of this love, which is that of the Heart of Christ. »

But Father Arrupe goes even further in what is called his final message: "If you wanted advice[...] I would tell you that in this devotion to the Heart of Christ lies an immense strength; it is up to each one to discover it[...] The Society needs the "dynamism" enclosed in this symbol and in the reality he announces to us. I am convinced that little evidence could be as clear of the spiritual renewal of the Society as a vigorous and general devotion to the Heart of Jesus. Our apostolate would find new vigour in it and we would soon see the effects, both in our personal lives and in our apostolic activities. »

Astonishing statement to be discovered in its entirety on the Province's website... To be weighed, to be meditated on...

We can testify that this is what we experience in the ministries we live here in Paray-le-Monial, or on the occasion of apostolic operations to promote the Heart of Jesus throughout the Province (prayer groups, parishes, spiritual centres).

As well as in the testimonies we receive from the Companions when they leave, after having chosen to come here for a few days to rest, recharge their batteries, make their retreat... So you who read this article, in the coming months do not hesitate: rediscover Pedro Arrupe's letter and come and rest a few days at the Community of Paray, to the rhythm of the beats of the Heart of Jesus!

 (*) https://arrupe.jesuitgeneral.org/fr/

In the heart of Burgundy, the town of Paray-le-Monial and its 9,000 inhabitants welcome 60,000 pilgrims each year, in addition to 30,000 visitors. Each year, the summer sessions of the Emmanuel community bring together no less than 24,000 people. In Paray, pilgrims and visitors come to open themselves to the mystery of the Heart of Jesus through the figure of Marguerite-Marie Alacoque and that of her confessor, the Jesuit Saint Claude La Colombière. We invite you to take a step back in time to the origins of the Jesuit community.