Coinciding with the end of the Ignatian year, the EJiF – European Jesuits in Formation - has taken place in Spain this summer. 14 Jesuits in formation from all over the Conference made a journey guided by the topic “Returning to the roots”.

Fr. General met twice with the group, at the beginning, in Barcelona, and at the end, in Loyola. He reminded us that the Ignatian year has been a time of inner transformation “to see all things new in Christ”. Ignatius experienced a conversion, a process that started with a cannon ball and continued to take place every day throughout all his life. This means that, each day, he put Christ in the center. Those are the roots of the experience of Ignatius. Looking for those roots, the EJiF visited some of the first places of the conversion of Ignatius in Manresa and Barcelona. At the same time, as the roots are alive, the group reflected about the Universal Apostolic Preferences of today and experienced in different ways how they are incarnated, through visits to present day Jesuit works in Barcelona.

The 8-day Spiritual Exercises took place in Barcelona, directed by Pablo Veiga (ESP). After that, the group moved to Loyola to finish the meeting with the closing mass of the Ignatian year, the evaluation of the meeting and the election of the new CoCo: Francisco Delgado (ESP), Eduardo Amaral (POR) and Pavel Band’ouch (BOH) (Left to right).

The EJiF 2023 will take place in Portugal, from mid-July to mid-August, including within it the participation in MAGIS 2023 and World Youth Day in Lisbon.

Luis Delgado S.J.